The Latest: Welfare agency: Judge could still take baby away
By Associated Press
Nov 13, 2015 12:38 PM CST
Foster parents April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce are photographed on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2015 in Salt Lake City. A judge who ordered that a baby be taken away from April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce, her lesbian foster parents and placed with a heterosexual couple should follow the law and not inject...   (Associated Press)

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The latest on the custody of a Utah baby who had been ordered taken from her lesbian foster parents (all times local):

11:40 a.m.

Utah's child welfare agency is applauding a judge's decision to allow a baby to stay with her lesbian foster parents, but officials say that order could be temporary.

Ashley Sumner, spokeswoman for the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, said a revised order by Judge Scott Johansen means the agency won't have to pull the 9-month-old baby from April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce's home next week, as originally ordered.

Sumner says Johansen's decision, which was released Friday, doesn't rule out the possibility that he could order the child removed from the home after a custody hearing scheduled for Dec. 4.

She says child welfare officials are working to keep the family together and hope that the public outcry surrounding the case sends a strong message to the judge.

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10:50 a.m.

A Utah judge has reversed his decision to take a baby away from her lesbian foster parents and place her with a heterosexual couple after widespread backlash.

Court officials on Friday released an order signed by Judge Scott Johansen that will allow the 9-month-old baby to stay with April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce.

It comes after Johansen said in court Tuesday that the baby would be removed from the couple's home. Utah officials and the couple filed court challenges demanding the judge rescind the order.

In his first decision, Johansen cited research that shows children do better when raised by heterosexual families. However, the American Psychological Association has said there's no scientific basis that gay couples are unfit parents based on sexual orientation.

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