A couple in Scotland who have seen their grandchildren taken from them and placed with a homosexual couple are set to receive financial help to challenge the move in the courts. And the council responsible for the decision to place the children with the two men could be facing an inquiry.

A wealthy businessman has told the couple he will finance their case to prevent social workers from Edinburgh City Council from allowing their children to be adopted by the homosexual couple.

Meanwhile, a Conservative councillor in Edinburgh is calling for an investigation over the move.

Jeremy Balfour said: “I have written to the director of social work to clarify this situation. If the allegations made are correct, I have a couple of concerns. Firstly, how the grandparents have been treated. Secondly, there seems to be an issue of age discrimination. If this is the case, it seems to me there needs to be an investigation.”

The couple, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had fought for two years for the right to care for their grandchildren, whose 26-year-old mother is a recovering heroin addict. The couple agreed to an adoption only after they faced being financially ruined by legal bills and were promised continued contact with the children.

The developments came after the grandparents made an official complaint to council bosses. The couple claim they were warned they would never see the children again unless they dropped their opposition to the adoption, and were threatened with the same fate for speaking out publicly.

There were several heterosexual couples on the council’s books prepared to adopt the children and provide them with a mother and a father, and suspicions have been voiced that the council was operating a politically-correct quota system.

The move flew in the face of social-work reports that show the girl is ‘wary’ of men.

Peter Kearney, a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, said: “This is a devastating decision which will have a serious impact on the welfare of the children involved.”