Elton John to 'support' young Ukrainian boy he wanted to adopt

Elton John to 'support' young Ukrainian boy he wanted to adopt Dec 8 2009 SIR ELTON JOHN is to "support" the young Ukrainian child who touched his heart - even though he has given up hope of adoption. The musician's partner, David Furnish, said today that they were now campaigning for a change in the law in Ukraine and added that he was "gutted" they could not bring young Lev to the UK to live with them. Furnish told BBC Radio 5 Live's Victoria Derbyshire that he and Sir Elton were trying to ensure the youngster and his brother have the best chances in life while staying in their home country. But he admitted they had abandoned plans for adoption. He said: "It's not possible - the laws don't support the adoption. And we are finding ways of supporting Lev and his brother from here, keeping them in their own country and just making sure that they have the best health care, education and family options available to them." Sir Elton met the youngster when he visited an orphanage in the Ukraine for HIV-positive children in the summer. But his wish to adopt Lev and his brother was curtailed by the authorities because the millionaire star was deemed too old at 62 and was also in a same-sex relationship. Furnish continued: "We'd love to adopt them and bring them back here to Britain but the laws don't support us in that regard so we're going to do everything we can from here and keep them in their own country." He said he was "gutted, massively gutted" when they learned they would not be able to bring the children up. "I'm hugely disappointed. Really felt we could make a huge difference in their lives, but we'll make a difference from here. "And we'll do as much as we can from here and support them as much as we can. And we're going to continue to campaign about those laws. "I think there's a lot of things they need to catch up in terms of adoption and the status of the child that's HIV positive and what the status of their adoption is within their country." He added: "It won't apply to Lev and his brother because we just want to get them out of the orphanage and with a good family as soon as possible. But for future children, they can have a better and a smoother path." Furnish - who is to open a 'pop-up shop' in London's Covent Garden later this week to sell-off many of Sir Elton's designer outfits - also claimed friends of troubled singer George Michael had called them asking that they step in to help the star. It comes just days after an interview in which Michael admitted being caught in possession of crack cocaine and told Sir Elton to stop interfering with his life. "Elton just needs to shut his mouth and get on with his own life," he told The Guardian. But today Furnish echoed previous concerns saying: "The difficult thing for Elton and me is a lot of George's friends keep calling us saying, 'You have to do something, George is in a bad way, he's in a bad state.' We're only reacting to what his close friends say to us. "I respect George, I love George, I think he's a huge talent. I just hope he's well and happy and continues to be the great artist he is."

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