Foster parents claim judge took away adopted daughter because they are gay

A couple in Utah are upset after learning that their foster child will be removed from their care sent to another home after only three months.

April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce, who are gay, claim Judge Scott Johansen believes the baby girl would be "better-off" with heterosexual foster parents.

"We are shattered," April told KUTV upon learning that Johansen ordered the baby to be removed.

The lesbian couple is legally married and were approved as foster parents earlier this year, following a rigorous series of interviews and inspections. The judge allegedly claimed in court "a myriad" of studies show that children who are raised in same-sex households fare worse than those raised by straight parents.

%shareLinks-quote="It hurts me really badly because I haven't done anything wrong." type="quote" author="April Hoagland" authordesc="Foster mother" isquoteoftheday="false"%

The couple has been raising the baby for the past three months and were planning on fully adopting the girl into the family.

The women have a lot of support behind them. Not only do the foster-child's state-appointed attorney and her own biological mother want the girl to say with the foster mothers, so does presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who tweeted her disproval of the judge's decision.

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The order puts the state's Division of Child and Family Services in a tough place.

%shareLinks-quote="On the one hand, I'm not going to expect my caseworkers to violate a court order, but on the other hand, I'm not going to expect my caseworkers to violate the law." type="quote" author="Brent Platt" authordesc="Director, Utah DCFS" isquoteoftheday="false"%

April and Beckie both believe the judge, who went to law school at the Mormon-affiliated Brigham Young University, imposed his religious beliefs when making the decision. Last week, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints voted to exclude the children of same-sex couples until they are adults.

The lawyer for child's biological mother said the judge never cited any of the research he referenced in church and plans to appeal the order. The mothers are also searching for an attorney and fight for the baby girl.

Watch what happened when a gay couple invited presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton to their wedding:

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