Catholic Charities won the right to keep serving nearly 2,000 foster children in Illinois for at least another month, as a judge refused Tuesday to let the state cut ties with the agency that has balked at placing children with gay and unwed couples.
The temporary decree struck at the heart of one of the most contentious debates since Illinois made civil unions legal.
Despite the state's arguments that no contracts exist because state officials already declined to renew them, Judge John Schmidt ruled in Sangamon County Circuit Court that contracts between the state and Catholic Charities of Joliet, Peoria and Springfield through June 30 would remain intact.
"We're not going to be removing children from homes," Schmidt said. "I can't be any clearer. … We're going back to June 30."
Though the contracts had been renewed virtually automatically for years, negotiations seemed to be breaking down, and the state declined to renew the contracts last week. Since March, state officials have been investigating whether religious agencies that receive public funds to license foster care parents are breaking anti-discrimination laws if they turn away openly gay parents.
The judge set Aug. 15 for a full-scale hearing. In the meantime, he said, children in Catholic Charities' care will not be shifted to other social service agencies because that could risk "irreparable injury."
Catholic Charities argued the state's interpretation of the civil union law is discriminatory because it would require placing children with gay or unwed couples. Such an action would violate religious protections built into the law, said attorney Tom Brejcha, who represented the group.
An attempt by Catholic Charities to pass protective legislation failed in the Legislature during the spring, and the group threatened to close its foster care and adoption services if the law was not changed. But Brejcha argued the legislative debate for the civil union law shows legislators considered services provided by Catholic Charities as protected.
"The law says it doesn't regulate or interfere with religious practice," Brejcha said. "Religious practices (were) defined on the floor of the Illinois Legislature as including the rendition of social services. That's what the Gospel and the Sermon on the Mount are all about. Frankly, we've been incredulous."
Maura Possley, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Lisa Madigan, defended the Quinn administration's actions.
"We're working with DCFS (the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services) to determine the appropriate next steps," Possley said. "Our goal remains to ensure the care and well-being of the children in the state's foster care system."
In a statement, Peoria Bishop Daniel Jenky said he was "encouraged by the judge's recognition today of the grave harm that would result if Catholic Charities was forced out of its long-standing mission of serving children in foster care and adoption."
Attorney Benjamin Wolf, of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, who represents juvenile state wards as part of a court-monitored consent decree with DCFS, said the temporary stay offers added stability. But it also gives the judge "an opportunity to hear about the terrible harm to children done by discrimination."
From Becky Wilhoit's perspective, Schmidt's ruling buys the three sisters — ages 6, 7 and 9 — in her home a little more time to heal before they return home.
Thrust into the foster care system just six months ago, the girls' caseworkers and counselors haven't yet gained their trust to pinpoint roadblocks and help them overcome their challenges, said Wilhoit, 39, of McLean. Transferring them from Catholic Charities could turn back the clock, she said.
It's enough to make Wilhoit and her husband, Stan, reconsider their calling to be foster parents 18 years ago.
"It's a very small issue to shut an entire agency down that's doing so much good in a community," said Becky Wilhoit, an evangelical Christian who is not Catholic. "We specifically chose Catholic Charities as the agency we wanted to work with knowing they were religious and that they had resources to provide what we needed for our family. We know other agencies in the town can't provide that for us. It becomes an issue for us to continue fostering."
No comments:
Post a Comment