Clare Baker, 34, and
her husband, Paul, were 10 months into the application process when they were
asked if they were smokers, according to The Daily
Telegraph.

Although neither of
them smoke, Paul thought honesty was the best policy and admitted puffing on a
single cigar at a wedding and another one at a work party.

The couple were
heartbroken when they were told the following day that they were not fit to be
foster parents because Paul had smoked.

Essex County Council
rules bar people from fostering if they have smoked in the past
year.

But the couple, who
have four children, have slammed the ruling as overly zealous and have the
backing of Paul’s GP who has written to say his patient is a non-smoker.

Clare raged: “It is a
joke – this is political correctness gone mad and when the council has policies
like that, there is just no hope of giving children a
chance.

“My dad was adopted
when he was 18 months old so fostering or adopting was something that I always
wanted to do.

“We are devastated
but so frustrated too.”

The couple are now
considering appealing against the “over the top” ruling.

Paul, a recruitment
consultant, added: “I felt absolutely gutted – I regret saying I had a cigar but
honest is how I have always been.

“I felt responsible
but I also felt that the decision was completely over the
top.”

“If I had been told
that you needed to be tobacco-free for a year then I would not have had that
cigar at the work do.

“I think 12 months is
excessive and there should be a set standard across the
UK.”

The couple, who have
a six-bedroom house with room for another child, applied to become foster carers
and were visited by a member of the council’s fostering team in November
2010.

Paul informed the
team that he had smoked a cigar nine months earlier at a wedding in South
Africa.

The couple did not
receive any negative feedback after the visit and even attended a three-day
induction course in April this year.

Paul then smoked the
second cigar at the work party in May and informed a social worker during a
visit last month.

But the next day
housewife Clare received a phone call saying their application had been
rejected.

An Essex County
Council spokeswoman said: “Essex County Council has a policy of not placing
children under five with foster parents who smoke to ensure the health and
wellbeing of children.

“This policy is
shared with prospective parents during the application
process.

“If there is a smoker
in the family, they are asked to consider fostering children over
five.

“We are not able to
comment on individual cases but deciding not to pursue an application is not a
decision that is taken lightly.”

The couple’s four
children are Mitchell, 14, Fraser, seven, Ellis, five and three-year-old
Isobelle.