Elton John barred from adopting HIV-positive Ukrainian boy

Elton John has been told that he and his partner can’t adopt a baby boy from the country because he is too old and they are not married. The singer had been hoping to adopt a14-month-old HIV-positive baby named Lev who he met while visiting an orphanage on Saturday as part of an anti-Aids charity project. "I don't know how we do that, but he has stolen my heart. And he has stolen David's heart and it would be wonderful if we can have a home," John said.

But Ukranian government minister Yuriy Pavlenko has pointed out that under Ukranian law, the age difference between Elton, 62 and baby Lev is too great for him to be allowed to adopt. John and Furnish's civil partnership was another stumbling block because in Ukraine it cannot be recognised as an official marriage, the minister added. "Citizens who are single have no right to adopt children," he said. "And the age difference between the adopter and the child cannot be more than 45 years. The law is the same for everybody. For a president, for a minister, for Elton John."

John and Furnish tied the knot in 2005 in one of the first legalised civil unions in Britain, but Pavlenko said Ukraine does not recognise gay unions as marriage. Pavlenko said his country was grateful for the singer's charity work and expressed hope that his desire to adopt Lev would spur more Ukranians to adopt more children with health problems, which is still rare in the eastern European nation. But the rules were depriving the boy of a chance to find a family and love, pointed out Svyatoslav Sheremet, head of Ukraine's Gay Forum, a leading gay rights organisation in Ukraine. He told news agencies "If I were that child, I would feel very bitter and sad.”

A spokesman for the charity Save The Children UK, Adrian Lovett, said “while we’re sure Elton John is acting with the best intentions, his comments risk sending out a dangerous message about international adoption,” the Guardian newspaper reported". "Most orphans in institutions, including in Ukraine, have one or both parents still living or have an extended family that could care for them with the right support."

Ukraine has one of the fastest rising HIV rates in Europe, according to figures from Agence France Presse news agency. Two years ago Sir Elton gave a free concert in the country’s main square in Kiev attended by tens of thousands of people to raise awareness of HIV/Aids.