Boy, 6, removed from Cairns gay fathers in FBI child porn probe
Boy, 6, removed from Cairns gay fathers in FBI child porn probe
By Peter Michael
The Courier-Mail
February 09, 20121:46PM
Boy put into foster care six months ago
Child removed on a US holiday last year
Parents appeal to Rudd to get him back
A QUEENSLAND gay couple are fighting for custody of their six-year-old boy after they were accused by US child protection authorities as being members of an international pedophile ring.
Queensland police today confirmed they were investigating the allegations along with the FBI, after child safety officials in Los Angeles took the boy and put him into foster care nearly four months ago.
His Cairns-based parents, who protest their innocence, have made a desperate appeal to Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd to get their son back after he was removed on a holiday to the US in October.
According to a newspaper article, a report by the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services says the FBI is also investigating allegations that one of the men "is suspected of sexually abusing (the child). They are also suspected of exploiting (the child) through child pornography and obtaining (the child) for the sole purpose of exploitation".
One of the gay men, who had the boy with a surrogate Russian mother in 2005, said US officials found no signs of harm to their son and they faced no charges - but they had lost access to their son.
The distressed dad said they became embroiled in international scandal after three gay men who they had contact with through social media were arrested as members of a international child porn ring.
They believe they are victims of prejudice against gay fathers.
"This is wrong beyond belief," said the father, who is in the US.
"We spent so many years of our lives as a same-sex couple trying to have a child in the first place, then a few more years trying to secure our rights as parents.
"For six years we were the proudest and happiest family in the world.
"This kind of torment should not be inflicted on anyone without serious signs of harm or abuse to the child.
"We don't have a voice in this matter at all.
"With no trial we cannot even defend ourselves."
His Cairns school community have rallied behind the boy and are trying to get him back to Australia.
"He is a little six-year-old boy under a whole lot of stress," said the school matriarch.
"He has been taken away from his parents and put into foster care, in a foreign country, for more than three months.
"He is all alone.
"We don't want him to get lost in the system."
A close friend told The Courier-Mail she did not believe the pair were guilty.
"He is very well looked after and well loved boy. He is a quiet, very well groomed, delightful child, with beautiful manners.
"The guys are in real distress. I don't believe they would be making it public and appealing to all their friends for support if they were guilty."
Queensland police, at the request of the FBI, raided the family home and seized a home computer.
Among the material reportedly in the hands of the FBI is a video that shows the son "watching a film of pornography with another child and speaking in an explicit sexual manner". Another is said to show him in public with a child "speaking in a sexual and profane manner" as they partly undress.
The men, who claim to be victims of prejudice in Australia and the US against gay fathers, have been canvassing support for their cause in Cairns and in the gay press. They remain in Los Angeles.