September 29, 2007
Utah’s “Family Values” A Crock; State Won’t Give Kids Loving Home
Utah County gay couple fight DCFS for custody of children
Loving couple. Loving home. Steady jobs. No criminal history. Kids like them and the birth mother wants it.
Despite all that, Michael Valez and Michael Oberg are wading upriver through the state child protection system to be able to take care of four kids belonging to Valez’s niece. The two Salem men say it’s because they’re gay.
“They’d rather pull them out of a loving, caring home and put them into a foster home,” Valez said. “You walk into our house without anybody here and it’s going to be like any other house.”
To the state, it’s a simple matter of the law, which says that to adopt or be a foster parent, you must be legally married or single and not cohabitating. Officials asked for clarification of a judge’s directive that Valez have custody of the children, requesting that the court take custody or grant custody to the state’s Division of Child and Family Services. On Friday, the courts took custody, then turned around and granted Valez temporary custody of the children.
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There are only three states that have outright bans on homosexual parents: Florida, Mississippi and Utah, though Utah’s is tied to the cohabitation rule and not expressly against homosexuals. In fact, people who are gay could adopt or be a foster parent, as long as they aren’t living with a partner…
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Filed under: Parenting
