Lesbian couple dress adopted boy in girl's clothes, post pics online

A lesbian foster couple in Australia are said to have dressed up a six-year-old boy placed in their care in girl's clothes and then posted pictures of him in the attire on their Facebook page

One of the women is said to be preparing for a sex change to become a man at the time, while her girlfriend was undergoing fertility treatment.

The boy and his 12-year-old sister have since been moved, but former Children's Court magistrate Barbara Holborow called for a full inquiry into the decision to put them there.

"Oh my God, what are we doing?" the Daily Telegraph quoted Holborow, who has fostered eight children, as saying.

Families Minister Pru Goward has demanded a full explanation from child welfare service Barnardos, which had recruited the couple.

"I am seeking advice from Barnardos to confirm that care arrangements were appropriate and the wellbeing of the children was paramount," Goward said.

The children's story, described as one of the saddest in the state, has been revealed in a Supreme Court judgment posted last month in Children's Law news compiled by the NSW Children's Court.

Their mother had tried but failed in the Supreme Court to win back custody of her son, given the pseudonym Campbell by the court, and his current foster parents want to adopt him.

Campbell was taken into care in November 2006 at the age of 18 months along with his four stepbrothers and two stepsisters after complaints of physical and mental abuse at the hands of the parents.

Campbell and his sister Abby, then 12, were placed with the lesbian couple in early 2009.

The placement did not work out for Abby and after she was moved, Campbell was dressed in girl's clothes and his photograph placed on the couple's Facebook page.