NDP MLA And His South Asian Husband Rejected For Adoption

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VANCOUVER – An NDP MLA from Vancouver and his South Asian husband have been rejected for adoption by the provincial agency that is involved in the adoption process.

Spencer Chandra Herbert and his husband Romi Chandra, a same-sex couple, were excited when their social worker told them this week they were a good match for a baby which had been abandoned by its family.

“They were looking for a new home,” Chandra Herbert told CBC news. “Romi and I met the match, they said, that culturally we could offer support, and that we were the right kind of family as we would be willing to foster a child with the possibility of adopting later.”

Herbert says social workers were looking for a household that wasn’t completely white and that would have a better understanding of issues facing non-white children.

Chandra Herbert says he and Romi talked it over and decided they would foster with a view toward eventually adopting.

Later that same day, he received an email.

“‘Sorry, unfortunately no, you can’t adopt or foster this child,’ it said,” says Chandra Herbert, “‘because the extended family don’t want you to look after their child. They said no because you’re a same sex couple.'”

Chandra Herbert and his husband have been together for 14 years and have been married for four years.

His husband, Romi says the reasons they were given were “hard to hear” but he has heard similar stories from other same sex couples.

Chandra Herbert says allowing the extended family to step in and disapprove of a stable, loving home for a child seems wrong.

He says the system should be removing barriers that stop kids from going to good homes, not putting them up.

Courtesy CBC News

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