MA requires foster parents to respect 'a child's sexual orientation or gender identity'
A devout Catholic couple claims that Massachusetts banned them from participating in the state foster care system due to their religious beliefs.
In a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday by religious liberty group Becket Law, Mike and Catherine "Kitty" Burke specifically claim the state restricted them from fostering children in the state due to their adherence to Catholic teachings on gender, sexuality and marriage.
"After months of interviews and training, and after years of heartbreak, we were on the verge of finally becoming parents," the couple said in a statement. "We were absolutely devastated to learn that Massachusetts would rather children sleep in the hallways of hospitals than let us welcome children in need into our home."
The lawsuit claims that the state listed only one reason for denying the Burke's foster application, which was that they "would not be affirming to a child who identified as LGBTQIA."
Mike and Catherine "Kitty" Burke were banned from fostering children in Massachusetts due to their religious beliefs, according to a lawsuit. (Becket Law)
The lawsuit names Massachusets Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Children & Families Linda Spears, and others as defendants.
Massachusets Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh is named as the lead plaintiff in Becket Law's lawsuit. (Mass.gov)
The lawsuit includes a copy of the letter the Burkes received notifying them that their application to be foster parents was denied.
"In order to be licensed as a foster/adoptive parent, a foster/pre-adoptive parent applicant must meet the following requirements: (1) A foster/pre-adoptive parent applicant must demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the Department the ability: (d) to promote the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of a child placed in his or her care, including supporting and respecting a child's sexual orientation or gender identity; (e) to respect and make efforts to support the integrity of a child's racial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious background," the letter reads, quoting the state regulations for Standards for Licensure as a Foster/Pre-adoptive Parent.
Becket filed the lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
In addition, The CF Foster Child Bill of Rights states that every child "shall be...
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5 comments:
this one shouldn't even have to go to SCOTUS
MA has moved so far left, it's fallen off the edge of the world - and I'm neither Catholic nor particularly religious, but I can read the Constitution
I would think this is the perfect couple to be foster parents. It is clear that the state is trying to force out religion from any interaction with government, which is wrong.
They will try to take your children from you if you try raising them against state sanctioned beliefs. They tried it in some places with the kung flu.
Lock n load people, we HAVE reached that point. This really Is Happening, you aren'timagining it... Don't wait until the knock is at your door at 3 AM.
Those liberal/communist pricks just keep pushing the envelope, don't they.
-lg
You must understand, the leading Bolsheviks who took over Russia were not Russians.
They hated Russians.
They hated Christians.
Driven by ethnic hatred they tortured and slaughtered millions of Russians without a shred of human remorse.
It cannot be overstated.
Bolshevism committed the greatest human slaughter of all time.
The fact that most of the world is ignorant and uncaring about this enormous crime is proof that the global media is in the hands of the perpetrators.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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