Clock ticking as family battle to halt gay adoption

THE family fighting plans for a gay couple to adopt two children are facing a race against time to halt the controversial move.

It is understood the five-year-old boy and his sister, four, are weeks away from moving from a foster family to live with the two men lined up as their new parents.

A mystery multi-millionaire has reportedly told the youngster's family he will pay for a legal challenge but the Evening News understands the children are likely to remain with the gay couple during any court action if legal papers are not lodged before the adoption goes through.

Any court challenge would be expected to take months and legal experts today cast doubt on whether it would be successful, given the fact the children have not lived with the grandparents – thought to live in the south of the city – for nearly three years.

Meanwhile, council chiefs today started an investigation into the conduct of social work staff following an official complaint that the family was pressured into giving up their carers' rights.

It has emerged one of the two men, who live in the Edinburgh area, will be adopting the children as Scottish law currently does not allow gay couples to adopt. In June new legislation will change this.

Church and gay rights groups were at loggerheads over the row today, while legal experts cast doubt over whether a challenge in the courts would be successful.

Rachael Kelsey, a director at Edinburgh family law specialists Sheehan Kelsey Oswald, said: "I think there would be difficulty in challenging if a particular person is fit to adopt given the months of checks and double-checks there are in the adoption process.

"A judicial review might address the council's policy but I see difficulty here because it is clear in law that children can be adopted by gay people."

The legal options open to the family include seeking a judicial review of the council's policy. Another option is for the grandparents – who were ruled by social workers to be too old, at 46 and 59, to adopt – to apply for a 'parental responsibility order', asking the courts to give them custody.

The children's mother is unable to get involved in the legal process because her right to appeal in court has time expired.

Another family law expert, who asked not be named, added: "I doubt there is much scope for challenging the policy.

In terms of the bullying and pressuring allegations, it does happen but it would be a case of proving this."

The grandparents said they are not homophobic, but believe the children would be better off with a mother and a father.

A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said: "We would support this legal challenge and hope that they are successful in having the decision reviewed and ultimately changed."

But Christina Stokes, of gay rights group Stonewall Scotland, said: " The sexual orientation of the adopting family is not relevant. The quality of family life they can provide is what matters."

A spokeswoman for the city council confirmed a complaint from the family had been received and will now be investigated.

SNP MSP Gil Paterson is reportedly using freedom of information legislation to request details of the council's legal fees for the two-year court battle.

He reportedly said: "It is one of the most bizarre things I have come across, that social workers are breaking up a family to create a new family."