Lesbian couple lose foster son after posting pic to Facebook of him dressed as a girl

by Patrick B. Craine

SYDNEY, Australia, September 13, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A six-year-old boy in Australia was removed from his lesbian foster parents after they posted a photo of him dressed as a girl onto Facebook, a Supreme Court judgment revealed last month.

One of the women is reportedly seeking to undergo a ‘sex change’, while the other is hoping to bear a child through artificial reproduction.

Dawn Stefanowicz, an author and speaker who was raised by her homosexual father, told LifeSiteNews that the incident highlights the dangers of placing children in “experimental family structures.”  She says children in such situations are prone to confusion about their sexuality and gender.

The boy’s mother had been trying to regain custody, but the country’s Supreme Court rejected her plea.  Dubbed ‘Campbell’ by the New South Wales Children’s Court, the boy was removed from his parents along with four stepbrothers and two stepsisters in 2006 because of complaints about physical and mental abuse.

He and his 12-year-old sister were placed with the lesbian couple in 2009, and he has now been placed with new foster parents who have said they hope to adopt him.

Families Minister Pru Goward has called for an explanation from child welfare service Barnardos, which placed the child and his 12-year-old sister in the lesbians’ care.

“I am seeking advice from Barnardos to confirm that care arrangements were appropriate and the well-being of the children was paramount,” she said.

“Oh my God - what are we doing?” asked former Children’s Court magistrate Barbara Holborow in an interview with Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.  She said she had called for an inquiry into the decision to place the six-year-old with the lesbian couple.

Stefanowicz, the author of Out from Under: The Impact of Homosexual Parenting, said the lesbian couple’s decision to dress the boy as a girl and put the photo on Facebook was “abusive and disturbing” whether he wanted to wear the dress or not.  “To place children in the most experimental family structures where both gender and sexuality are open to whatever you want it to mean is treacherous and unstable,” she said.

“Gender identity, gender roles, and sexuality are often considered fluid and boundless in homosexual households, diminishing both the value and importance of our own birth gender as children,” she continued.

She said that growing up in a household in which her father had sex with other men “deeply affected” her “sense of self as a girl and young woman.”

“I felt rejected and not as important as the males in my life,” she explained.  “I didn’t see a significant woman in my life - mother - being loved. This lead me to believe that maybe it would have been better to have been born a boy.”