Florida Agency: Gill Should Keep Kids

The head of the Florida child welfare agency said Monday that even if an appeals court upholds the state’s ban on adoptions by gay couples, the agency would not attempt to take the two children at the center of the case from their father, Martin Gill.

According to the News Service of Florida, “Department of Children and Families Secretary George Sheldon said that even if the Third District Court of Appeal — or eventually the Supreme Court — rules that the adoption of two boys by Martin Gill, a gay man, should not have been allowed, the state won't move to remove the children from his home.

“’Those children appear to be safe, well-adjusted,' Sheldon said. 'We're not in the business of doing that [removing them].’”

The state appealed a 2008 ruling from Miami-Dade circuit court judge Cindy Lederman, which found the ban on adoptions by gay people to be unconstitutional. The appeals court has not yet issued its decision.

Last week Gov. Charlie Crist, an independent candidate for U.S. Senate, said that he supports the right of gay people to adopt children and that he was reviewing whether the appeal should proceed.