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Elton John denied adoption by Ukraine

By Kate Matharu on Tuesday 15 September 2009

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Marie Claire celebrity photos: Elton John and David Furnish, The Oscars 2008

Elton John’s hopes of adopting a Ukrainian boy have already been quashed after a government minister for the country said the Ukrainian laws would not permit it.

The news broke over the weekend that Sir Elton hoped to adopt a 14-month-old Ukrainian baby named Lev, who is HIV positive, after visiting an orphanage in the country on behalf of his Aids Foundation.

The singer confessed that baby Lev had ‘stolen his heart’ and having always ruled out adoption, his feelings had changed.

However, Ukraine’s family, youth and sports minister Yuriy Pavlenko has dashed Sir Elton and his partner David Furnish’s hopes to start a family, saying the singer is too old to adopt and is not married.

Ukrainian law states that prospective adoptive parents must be married and the country does not accept same-sex marriages, like that of Sir Elton and David.

UK charities yesterday urged Sir Elton to consider looking closer to home if he plans to adopt, highlighting the need to provide homes for British orphans too.

Save The Children spokesman Adrian Lovett commented: ‘International adoption can actually exacerbate the problem it hopes to solve.

'’The very existence of institutions can encourage parents to abandon children in the hope that they will have a better life.

'’It can mean that thousands of children are placed at potential risk of abuse in the closed environment of an institution.’

Sir Elton’s spokesman said the singer had no comment to make on the latest news from the Ukraine.