Elton John's plans to adopt criticised

Published on Sunday 13 September 2009 22:09

ELTON John's plan to adopt a child from Ukraine could result in more youngsters being abandoned, a children's charity has warned.

EveryChild, an international children's charity, said it was concerned by the singer's announcement yesterday that he and partner David Furnish, 46, wanted to adopt a 14-month-old boy called Lev.

The organisation said that while it praised John's help in raising awareness of the plight of children affected by HIV in Ukraine, it said the answer to the country's deepening HIV and Aids crisis does not lie in international adoption, arguing that more children may be abandoned in children's homes as a result of another high-profile, celebrity adoption.

Anna Feuchtwang, chief executive of EveryChild, said: "High-profile adoption stories involving celebrities send out the wrong message. Research conducted in Ukraine by Liverpool University found that vulnerable mothers were encouraged by news of wealthy foreigners adopting from children's homes to place their own children in care in the hope that they would get a better life.

"Most children placed in children's homes are not adopted internationally; the majority face a bleak future."