Seventh District Juvenile Court Judge Scott Johansen rescinded part of his Nov. 10 ruling and decided to allow a same-sex couple from Price keep a child that had been placed in their care by the Utah Division of Child and Family Services. The judge has scheduled a permanency hearing on the matter for Dec. 4.
Ruling challenged
The change of ruling came after pressure from state political leaders and from a DCFS legal action that questioned the original ruling. The Utah State Courts and Attorney General’s Office released the judge’s revised order on Friday, nixing the decision which stated that “The court believes that it is not in the best interest of children to be raised by same-sex couples,” and ordered the 9-month-old baby to be placed in a heterosexual foster home within seven days.
The change in the ruling was announced in a press conference that was held in front of the Courthouse in Price Friday afternoon. The Sun Advocate was not informed of the press conference, which invited Salt Lake media and used the local courthouse building as a backdrop.
Johansen was told by DCFS that the child had bonded with her foster caregivers, was happy and was developing well, but the judge ordered the girl to be put “with a duly married, heterosexual foster-adoptive couple within one week.”
After the reversal of the ruling Friday the foster parents, April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce, said that they were happy and really didn’t want to stir up such controversy. They just wanted to keep the little girl.
“We are happy and relieved with the reversal on the decision,” the couple told the Sun Advocate in a text message.
After Tuesday’s ruling they looked for ways to contest the decision and decided to hire their own legal counsel. The deadline for the removal was Nov. 17. Because DCFS officials were concerned about the ruling they filed a motion on Thursday evening asking that Johansen reconsider the original order. The new order that came out on Friday leaves the baby in the custody of DCFS which will eventually put the baby up for adoption once the parents rights have been severed. The foster parents said they hope to adopt the little girl.
DCFS had been under a lot of pressure because of the ruling and Ashley Sumner, speaking for the agency, said the outcome was good for all when interviewed by KSL television.
“We were under a lot of pressure, and we feel like that has been relieved,” Sumner said. “We’re cautiously optimistic about the trajectory of this case.”
The press conference on Friday was scheduled by Equality Utah, an organization that represents gay rights.
Hoagland and Peirce were married last year when the ban on gay marriage in the state was overturned and since October of last year same-sex couples have been permitted to be foster parents by DCFS.
On Thursday Governor Gary Herbert said during his regular press conference that he didn’t want to see activist judges in any way and that they should follow the law and the law only.
“He may not like the law but he should follow the law. We don’t want to have activism on the bench in any way, shape or form,” he stated during the conference which was being taped for KUED.