THE Catholic church in Scotland is seeking exemption from controversial adoption laws that will allow children to be placed with gay couples.

It wants Holyrood to grant a “conscience clause” giving the church and other faith-based groups the right to reject applicants to their adoption agencies on the basis of gender.

Senior bishops fear Catholic-run adoption societies will be challenged under new laws expected to come into force next year and talks have been held privately with the Scottish executive in an attempt to reach a compromise.

The proposal has angered adoption groups and gay rights campaigners, who claim that same-sex couples can provide a stable and loving environment for abused children.

Church figures believe the sanctity of heterosexual marriage is under threat and claim that the effects on children of being raised by a gay couple are not fully understood.

“If the proposals go ahead as they stand, the bishops would certainly expect an exemption for faith-based adoption agencies,” said the Right Rev John Cunningham, Bishop of Galloway and chair of the national committee for pastoral and social care.

“We are disappointed that the executive do not seem to have recognised the unique contribution that a stable married couple can make to the upbringing of children.

“We also have grave reservations concerning the ability of same-sex couples or unmarried heterosexual couples, however loving they might be, to provide the stability and the role models a married couple can.”

Government ministers insist the shake-up in adoption laws is needed to widen the number of people eligible to adopt the growing numbers of children in temporary foster care. Last year there were 3,468 children in foster care — the highest total for 20 years. Yet since the 1980s the adoption rate in Scotland has fallen from 1,000 a year to under 400.

The Catholic church supports two agencies, based in Edinburgh and Glasgow, which between them place about 50 children with new families each year. The majority are from broken homes.

At present one person in an unmarried couple can adopt, with the other applying for a residency order. The new law will grant both of them equal parental rights and give same- sex couples the opportunity to adopt. Similar rights are already enjoyed south of the border.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the leader of Scotland’s Roman Catholics, has warned that Scotland’s adopted children must not become “guinea pigs in some distorted social experiment aimed at redefining marriage, subverting the family and threatening the good of society”.

Last week Stephen Small, director of St Andrew’s Children’s Society in Edinburgh, confirmed that it was seeking an opt-out from the executive’s new adoption laws.

“We have met civil servants regarding an exemption,” said Small.

Calum Irving, director of Stonewall Scotland, the gay rights campaign group, said: “We would have an issue with anyone providing an adoption service which specifically excluded same-sex couples.

“The Catholic church is continually asking for its belief system to be imposed on the rest of Scottish society and I hope that the executive legislates in a non-discriminatory way. Granting the Catholic church exemptions is a slippery slope.”

Barbara Hudson, director of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (Scotland), said: “We understand the Catholic church’s position but regret that at a time when there is such a need for new parents, that not all agencies are united in a common message. Peoples’ sexual orientation should not be a factor.”

Last week one senior cleric, while stopping short of saying that the Catholic church would flout the law, indicated that it would face a crisis of conscience if an exemption was not granted. “I think (it) would cause great difficulty,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the executive said: “In light of the consultation, talks are ongoing with regards to the proposed bill.”

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