State severs foster-care ties with Catholic Charities

[_Abyssinia]

The state of Illinois has declined to renew its foster care and adoption contracts with Catholic Charities across Illinois, possibly ending a historic public and private partnership initiated by the Roman Catholic Church a half century ago and potentially severing the relationship between 2,500 foster children and their caseworkers.

Lawyers for three of the Catholic Charities agencies will seek an injunction from a Sangamon County judge on Tuesday.

In a letter sent last week to Catholic Charities in the dioceses of Peoria, Joliet, Springfield and Belleville, the Department of Children and Family Services told all four agencies that the state could not accept its signed contracts for the 2012 fiscal year because “your agency has made it clear that it does not intend to comply with the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act.”

“That law applies to foster care and adoption services,” each letter stated. “Thus, there is no meeting of the minds as to the [Fiscal Year 2012] Foster Care and Adoption Contracts.”

chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-state-severs-fostercare-ties-with-catholic-charities-20110711,0,3982892.story

 

[Corki]

Why is this law called the “Illinois **Religious Freedom Protection **and Civil Union Act” is it does the exact opposite of protecting religious freedom?

 

[Rence]

Why is this law called the “Illinois **Religious Freedom Protection **and Civil Union Act” is it does the exact opposite of protecting religious freedom?

It’s called the “Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act” to protect people from being discriminated against because they don’t meet the foster-care company’s (Catholic Charities) criteria, such as being rejected because the applicant is of another religion, or in this case, of different sexual orientation, etc. Remember that adoption and foster care is a function of the State. Catholic Charities works/brokers on behalf of the State. There is no “Catholic adoption” or “Catholic foster care”. They are still functions of the State. And if you want to broker or work for the State, you have to follow State laws. The Catholic Church can still be involved in adoptions and foster care privately out in the communities.

 

[Corki]

It’s called the “Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act” to protect people from being discriminated against because they don’t meet the foster-care company’s (Catholic Charities) criteria, such as being rejected because the applicant is of another religion, or in this case, of different sexual orientation, etc. Remember that adoption and foster care is a function of the State. Catholic Charities works/brokers on behalf of the State. There is no “Catholic adoption” or “Catholic foster care”. They are still functions of the State. And if you want to broker or work for the State, you have to follow State laws. The Catholic Church can still be involved in adoptions and foster care privately out in the communities.

That’s non-discrimination. It’s not religious freedom. But, hey, it’s the government. They can call it the “Free Soup for Lunch” act if they want. The whole situation is so sad.

 

[Dale_M]

It’s called the “Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act” to protect people from being discriminated against because they don’t meet the foster-care company’s (Catholic Charities) criteria, such as being rejected because the applicant is of another religion, or in this case, of different sexual orientation, etc. Remember that adoption and foster care is a function of the State.

Foster care is a function of the state, and adoption sometimes is. But the new law doesn’t forbid privately funded adoption agencies from discriminating according to its own criteria. Such agencies can still get a license to operate. What the new law forbids is publicly funded adoption agencies from such discrimination. Those agencies which wish to discriminate according to their own criteria are not eligible for government contracts from the Department of Children and Family Services.

And if you want to broker or work for the State, you have to follow State laws. The Catholic Church can still be involved in adoptions and foster care privately out in the communities.

Right. Unfortunately, Catholic Charities in several diocese of the US have simply decided that they can’t operate without government funds, so they close down. I dunno… I haven’t seen their financial numbers, so perhaps they have good reason for believing such. But I would like to think that donations from supporters of Catholic adoption could enable at least a downsized operation.

 

[Holly3278]

This disgusts me. To me, this impedes on our religious freedom by saying that Catholics must violate their consciences by adopting out to homosexuals or not adopt out at all. To me, this is unacceptable. There needs to be more laws out there protecting religious organizations from being forced to violate their own moral values.

 

[markomalley]

What disturbs me almost as much as the State’s actions are the actions of some of the former Catholic Charities employees. From the end of the Tribune article cited in the OP:Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Rockford voluntarily ended its publicly funded foster care and adoption services last month. Youth Service Bureau of Illinois Valley, an Ottawa agency, expanded and took over all of Catholic Charities’ cases,** staff and real estate.**
(snip)

Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Chicago ended its foster care services in 2007 after losing its insurance coverage. Cases and caseworkers scattered to a number of different agencies.
Archbishop Chaput warned of this only a few weeks ago:“The more that Catholic universities or hospitals mute their religious identity; the more that Catholic social ministries weaken their religious character … the less useful to the Gospel they become,” he said.
Archbishop Chaput delivered a dual message to Catholic social workers this week, urging them to not let their Christian identity wane…
(snip)
“Being faithful to Catholic teaching isn’t something optional for a Catholic social worker. It’s basic to his or her identity,” he said, adding that the faith “is much more than a list of dos and don’ts.”
Rather, Catholic teaching is part “of a much larger view of the human person, human dignity and our eternal destiny,” he said. “The content of this teaching comes from God through his son Jesus Christ. It’s defined by the universal Church and then preached, taught and applied by the local bishop.”
The Tribune article makes it appear that the social workers simply moved from a Catholic social service agency (Catholic Charities of whichever diocese), where they were not allowed to place children with homosexual couples, to a secular social service agency, where this restriction does not exist.

I recognize that the Trib article may not have given the whole story, but if it is reporting this accurately, then I have to question how deeply the social workers in question actually believed the teachings of the Church. It also makes me wonder how widespread this problem is. After all, the President and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, Father Larry J Snyder, is ***still ***an Obama adviser (see here) – despite the stated and repeatedly proven hostility of the Obama administration to Catholic moral doctrine (particularly in regards to abortion and homosexuality).

 

[Rence]

Foster care is a function of the state, and adoption sometimes is. But the new law doesn’t forbid privately funded adoption agencies from discriminating according to its own criteria. Such agencies can still get a license to operate. What the new law forbids is publicly funded adoption agencies from such discrimination. Those agencies which wish to discriminate according to their own criteria are not eligible for government contracts from the Department of Children and Family Services.

Right. Unfortunately, Catholic Charities in several diocese of the US have simply decided that they can’t operate without government funds, so they close down. I dunno… I haven’t seen their financial numbers, so perhaps they have good reason for believing such. But I would like to think that donations from supporters of Catholic adoption could enable at least a downsized operation.

I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but to me, taking public funds and then whining about having to play by the State’s rules is just laughable to me. If Catholic Charities can’t operate without State funds, then they have to either play by the States rules or come up with their own cash. Frankly, as brokers for a State function I’m surprised that taking public funds is the only thing that requires them to follow the States rules. Now the whole Catholic Charities vs. the world is even sillier to me. Certain people are complaining about ‘religious freedoms’ being taken away by enforcing State laws on Catholic Charties, when in fact, what it boils down to is money. State money. Sorry, but that has NOTHING to do with freedom of religion. If you take money from the State, you have to play by the State’s rules. Why bother complaining about it.

 

[Jack_Bauer]

It’s time for Catholic Charities to no longer accept public funds for their services. The same is true for hospitals. I’m in support of churches giving up their “right” to tax exemption status. The sooner we get that through our heads the quicker we can go about doing the Lord’s work, not society’s.

 

[rossum]

This disgusts me. To me, this impedes on our religious freedom by saying that Catholics must violate their consciences by adopting out to homosexuals or not adopt out at all. To me, this is unacceptable. There needs to be more laws out there protecting religious organizations from being forced to violate their own moral values.

You might want to re-read the OP: “The state of Illinois has declined to renew its foster care and adoption contracts with Catholic Charities across Illinois”
This is a matter of the State letting contracts, it has nothing to do with religious freedom. If you want to bid for a contract from the State then you need to conform to the same conditions that all the other bidders will conform to. The State is letting the contracts so it is up to the State to decide the conditions of the contract.

If the Catholic Church wishes to continue in the adoption business then it can do so as a private adoption agency.

rossum

 

[Corki]

If the Catholic Church wishes to continue in the adoption business then it can do so as a private adoption agency.

rossum

Actually, I don’t think it can - at least in Illinois. I just read the published law. It applies directly to adoption and family law, not just to funding. The only “religious protection” in the “Illinois **Religious Freedom Protection **and Civil Union Act” is that the Church can’t be forced to perform marriages for same-sex couples - something they couldn’t have done anyway.

 

[irishpatrick]

The shocking thing to me is that so few people understand that these moves are acts of religious persecution. It is beyond obvious…one can call a duck a bear, yet it remains a duck. Likewise, persecution is persecution no matter what clothes (words) you dress it in.

Ten, or twenty years from now Americans will wake-up and say, “how did this happen…”

 

[Dale_M]

Actually, I don’t think it can - at least in Illinois. I just read the published law. It applies directly to adoption and family law, not just to funding.

Hmm… certainly the situation is complex. Here is the text of the law:
ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?name=096-1513&GA=96&SessionId=76&DocTypeId=SB&DocNum=1716&GAID=10&Session=

It doesn’t mention adoption or foster care, but does say that civil unions are equivalent to marriage, with couples in both protected by the same rights.
Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act:

Section 20. Protections, obligations, and responsibilities. A party to a civil union is entitled to the same legal obligations, responsibilities, protections, and benefits as are afforded or recognized by the law of Illinois to spouses, whether they derive from statute, administrative rule, policy, common law, or any other source of civil or criminal law.

So the application to foster care or adoption requires looking up those codes. I did so a week or so ago, and my understanding is that adoption agencies are granted licenses without any obligation as to antidiscrimination laws. Foster care, however, is bound by antidiscrimination laws because all foster care is under the jurisdiction of the state government, and is contracted out. The application of antidiscrimination laws to adoption only comes if the adoption agency wants to receive a contract from the Department of Children and Family Services.

 

[Corki]

Hmm… certainly the situation is complex. Here is the text of the law:
ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?name=096-1513&GA=96&SessionId=76&DocTypeId=SB&DocNum=1716&GAID=10&Session=

It doesn’t mention adoption or foster care, but does say that civil unions are equivalent to marriage, with couples in both protected by the same rights.

So the application to foster care or adoption requires looking up those codes. I did so a week or so ago, and my understanding is that **adoption agencies are granted licenses without any obligation as to antidiscrimination laws. Foster care, however, is bound by antidiscrimination laws **because all foster care is under the jurisdiction of the state government, and is contracted out. The application of antidiscrimination laws to adoption only comes if the adoption agency wants to receive a contract from the Department of Children and Family Services.

But here’s the problem. According to the linked OP article.

Since March, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Gov. Pat Quinn’s legal team and DCFS have been researching the Illinois Human Rights Act, the Civil Union Act and the Illinois Constitution to determine whether they barred agencies from considering sexual orientation as a factor in foster care and adoption. (In Illinois, all adults who adopt or become foster care providers must obtain foster care licenses from the agencies.)

Since an agency that wants to do adoptions must first have the authority to issue foster care licences, the law seems to cover all adoptions (maybe even private ones by the way this is written) by way of the foster care limitation.

This paragraph, at least, isn’t about funding at all, its about “barring agencies from considering sexual orientation as a factor”.

Also from the linked article

Lutheran Child and Family Services and the Evangelical Child and Family Agency both have had policies that require foster care parents to be married. LCFS has renewed its contract and promised to abide by state law. Marlowe said the state will seek a similar promise from ECFA.

Ken Withrow, executive director of ECFA, said the agency will continue to uphold the same policies and principles, which includes licensing only married, evangelical Christian couples unless the prospective foster parent is related. Family comes first, Withrow said. He added that lawyers reviewed this year’s DCFS contracts before signing them and saw no language that prevented them from signing in “good faith.”

It sounds like the Evangelical agency was even more selective, limiting not only to married couples but also to Evangelical Christian couples. It will be interesting to see if the state takes the same tact with the ECFA as it did with CC.

 

[irishpatrick]

What impact (experts please post) would there be if the Catholic Church went private with adoptions? Can it do that? How would they do that?

 

[OrdinaryMelkite]

You might want to re-read the OP: “The state of Illinois has declined to renew its foster care and adoption contracts with Catholic Charities across Illinois”
This is a matter of the State letting contracts, it has nothing to do with religious freedom. If you want to bid for a contract from the State then you need to conform to the same conditions that all the other bidders will conform to. The State is letting the contracts so it is up to the State to decide the conditions of the contract.

If the Catholic Church wishes to continue in the adoption business then it can do so as a private adoption agency.

rossum

But then, it will not stop there. even whe a Catholic charity goes private--------there is still the issue of people being suef for “hate speech” and “discrimination”-----which will be pushed in one way or another until it forces the CC to comply.

 

[sedonaman]

Why is this law called the “Illinois **Religious Freedom Protection **and Civil Union Act” is it does the exact opposite of protecting religious freedom?

Loosely, it is what is known as “Newspeak”, and its purpose is to control thought.

 

[irishpatrick]

The only way for the CC to respond in today’s hostile environment is to go completely private…to reject all government funds of all kinds and to do all it can with money from Catholics. That way the CC can make its own destiny without owing Ceasar anything.