Legal bid to place two children in lesbian home

Social workers have launched a fight to take two toddlers from their foster parents so they can be rehoused with a lesbian couple.

A court must now decide whether to remove the children, a girl of two and boy of three, from the care of the heterosexual couple with whom they have been living for more than a year.

Social workers at Labour-led Greenwich council believe the boy and his stepsister must be cared for by a lesbian couple because their mother was in a same-sex relationship.

The male social worker behind the action has been seeking lesbian couples prepared to care for the children.

But the move has provoked anger among others at the council. A source close to the case, being heard in a Family Proceedings Court, said: "If they are placed with a lesbian 'mummy' and 'daddy' they will be totally confused."

The children are said to have been living happily with their foster parents for the past year. Sources at Greenwich council told the Daily Mail that the foster parents were highly experienced carers who had looked after dozens of children.

Hugh McKinney of the National Family Campaign said: "It is an insult to decent, caring heterosexual parents throughout the country who would like to adopt."

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Greenwich council said: "We have no comment to make. As in any court hearing, the welfare of the children will be paramount."