As of today, it doesn't look like Elton John's wish to adopt a Ukrainian toddler will come true, but the pop star's overture has pointed an international spotlight on the nation's HIV-positive orphans.
Over the weekend John and his longtime partner, David Furnish, toured an orphanage and expressed interest in adopting an HIV-positive 14-month-old named Lev. John said he had previously resisted Furnish's desire to adopt, but that his mind had been changed by the recent loss of a friend and by meeting Lev.
Local officials have since said that any request from the couple would be denied because the law requires adoptive parents to be married (civil unions are not recognized in the Ukraine) and no more than 45 years older than the adopted child. (John is 62.)
"We are not treating this as a request to adopt but as a call to Ukrainians -- adopt these children, give them a chance to live, irrespective of whether they are healthy or have such a diagnosis," the nation's family minister said.
Ukraine has one of the highest rising rates of HIV infection but only about 20 families there have adopted HIV-positive children.
Photo: Getty Images
Unfortunately these orphanages are going to overflow as the numbers of HIV+ children wind up in them. And if we look around the rest of the world, it isn't the hetero married couples adopting them or fostering them in great numbers. Yes, EJ is 62. By today's standards, not so old. Apparently David falls within the age limits. And it turns out a civil union ain't as good as a marriage after all. (But most of us knew that already)Too bad for a kid who will always be lumped in that group of children known as tainted goods.
Posted by: Thomas (not Thom) | September 15, 2009 at 02:43 PM