Los Angeles:
A US judge has ordered a lesbian couple in Utah to give up their foster baby on grounds the child would be better off raised in a heterosexual family.
April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce, who took in the one-year-old girl three months ago and planned to adopt her, said they learned of the decision on Tuesday and were completely caught off guard.
"We love her and she loves us, and we haven't done anything wrong," Peirce told The Salt Lake Tribune.
"And the law, as I understand it, reads that any legally married couple can foster and adopt."
Hoagland said juvenile court judge Scott Johansen based his decision on "research to back that children do better in heterosexual homes."
The judge did not provide details on the research during the court session, the couple said.
Johansen could not be reached for comment on Thursday but a court spokeswoman confirmed to AFP he had issued an order in the case.
The couple, who are already raising Peirce's two biological teenage children, said they planned to appeal the ruling.
They said they believe Johansen was driven by his religious beliefs in making the decision.
"He's never been in our home, never spent time with the child in our home or our other children so he doesn't know anything about this," Peirce told the local station KUTV.