Catholics denied foster parent status due to religious beliefs

Brookswood

Brookswood

Senior Member
Helped by the Becket Law legal aid group, Mike and Kitty Burke filed suit on Aug. 8 against state officials who rejected their application to be foster parents. In an exhaustive screening process, state agents gave the Burkes high marks and glowing comments, but the state turned them down because their Catholic “faith is not supportive” of the state’s promotion of transgender medical procedures. The Burkes’ beliefs on sexuality were the sole reason for the denial.
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This looks like another case for the Supreme Court.
 

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One thing I learned about making laws is that no matter what you do, even doing nothing, you are going to "gore someone's ox". If a government agency follows the law, and that's the law, it's not the agency's fault for following it. Legislatures aren't infallible.
 
I wonder if the Vatican or Archdiocese could help. They have a team of lawyers handy. Not being Catholic, I don't know if the church would get involved in these types of proceedings.
 
Anyone who has the equipment (sorry trying to be polite and keep the language clean here!) if they're lucky enough can get pregnant and give birth to a child. No one asks for credentials or sexual gender after you give birth. Also, just for fun, having a baby isn't delivered with a ... manual of instructions. You give the best of yourself to take care of that precious child.

Rules and regulations galore, beliefs and whatnot interfere with the goal at the end of the day, to save a child and give it a family. Sadly, it's the same for animals at the shelters but that is understandable if the pet came from an abusive household.

Regardless, how many children born in the last 20 years or so, have come naturally into what was supposed to be a loving family and then lost their young lives to an abusive mother, father or both.

Views on gender is ridiculous, we all had children situation where they've been taken care of properly and turn out to have been bad kids. Feelings that they should be female even though they were born male. I've a friend that dresses as a woman with extra parts as she doesn't want to go through the hormone therapy nor the operation. She's a good friend for over 10 years now, I don't mind. Neither does her wife!!!

I've seen pregnancy terminated due to possible birth defects. It's horrible to imagine. A disable child is still a child you've been blessed with. Just give it the loving and caring it needs.

Seriously, it's crazy, these kids need loving homes and families but denied the opportunity because of this. Sorry but only one word comes to mind: DISGUSTING!!!
 
Yes, it will wind up as a religious discrimination case for the Supreme Court.

This is for foster parents. Foster parents don't decide on surgery for a child do they? No matter what kind of surgery it is wouldn't the Dept. of Social Services or whoever oversees foster children make the final decision according to a doctor's recommendation?

Adoption is different. Is MA stopping adoption to Catholics too?

In either case the state government would deny a child a good home. This is something that comes up only in a small number of kids. Government is too much into social engineering instead of what they are supposed to be doing, IMO.
 
Myrtle said:
Yes, it will wind up as a religious discrimination case for the Supreme Court.

This is for foster parents. Foster parents don't decide on surgery for a child do they? No matter what kind of surgery it is wouldn't the Dept. of Social Services or whoever oversees foster children make the final decision according to a doctor's recommendation?

Adoption is different. Is MA stopping adoption to Catholics too?

In either case the state government would deny a child a good home. This is something that comes up only in a small number of kids. Government is too much into social engineering instead of what they are supposed to be doing, IMO.
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No, foster parents can't make medical decisions. A foster child is a ward of the state, and the county where the child lives is tasked with doing whatever the state requires to ensure the child's safety and well-being.

My foster son's mom had to sign a document to give me the authority to decide what school he would go to.
 
Prior to the decision by the state, was this couple extremely vocal about their disapproval of transgenders?
 
If you want to find some people who seek attention, just for the sake of attention....look to places like Social Services...they all are a bunch of people with no clear purpose and all very isolated within their own lives...
 
Jules said:
Prior to the decision by the state, was this couple extremely vocal about their disapproval of transgenders?
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No. In fact, they told social services they would accept a foster child's gender identity and would not interfere in any foster child's decision to seek medical help for a gender change.

according to El Castor's link
 
Murrmurr said:
No. In fact, they told social services they would accept a foster child's gender identity and would not interfere in any foster child's decision to seek medical help for a gender change.

according to El Castor's link
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The USC 1983 Federal Complaint is online, but here is a snip from the Law firm link:

...During their application process, the Burkes underwent hours of training, extensive interviews, and an examination of their home. Mike and Kitty completed the training successfully and received high marks from the instructors. However, during their home interviews, the Burkes were troubled that many questions centered on their Catholic views about sexual orientation and gender dysphoria.

In response, the Burkes emphasized that they would love and accept any child, no matter the child’s future sexual orientation or struggles with gender identity.

However, because Mike and Kitty said they would continue to hold to their religious beliefs about gender and human sexuality, they were denied the ability to foster. The couple’s home study said, “Their faith is not supportive.”
 
Murrmurr said:
Do you mean that it makes sense it's happening in Massachusetts?

I'm asking because the same thing is happening here in "liberal" Calif, which makes no sense at all.
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What I meant was that it makes more sense that it is adoption instead of foster parents but apparently it is foster parents, as well. No wonder it was confusing.

Massachusetts is very liberal so it makes sense to me that both those states would be the ones to attempt to do this. Am I still missing something? :)
 
There's more to this than meets the eye. The Washington Examiner is a conservative publication so I looked for a less biased source.

According to https://www.boston.com/news/local-n...barred-from-fostering-children-lgbtq-beliefs/
this was in the report:

Asked how she would feel if her child identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, or another sexuality, she (potential foster mother) reportedly replied, “There’s nothing wrong with it, I’m going to love you the same, but I believe you would need to live a chaste life.”

“Kitty expressed that she does not believe in gender affirming care for children,” the report noted, adding that she referred to such care as “chemical castration” and said she doesn’t believe that people can choose their pronouns.

In a later email, the social worker noted that the Burkes “have a lot of strengths” and “really seems to understand adoption/foster care.” However, she wrote, “their faith is not supportive [of LGBTQ+ youth] and neither are they.”

The social worker ultimately recommended that they be approved with conditions, “specifically around religion and LGBTQIA++ related issues.”

DCF denied the couple’s foster care license earlier this year.
 
ohioboy said:
The USC 1983 Federal Complaint is online, but here is a snip from the Law firm link:

...During their application process, the Burkes underwent hours of training, extensive interviews, and an examination of their home. Mike and Kitty completed the training successfully and received high marks from the instructors. However, during their home interviews, the Burkes were troubled that many questions centered on their Catholic views about ****** orientation and gender dysphoria.

In response, the Burkes emphasized that they would love and accept any child, no matter the child’s future ****** orientation or struggles with gender identity.

However, because Mike and Kitty said they would continue to hold to their religious beliefs about gender and human sexuality, they were denied the ability to foster. The couple’s home study said, “Their faith is not supportive.”
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I'm going to keep an eye on this case. I assume the judge (or moderator) will have to decide if the Burkes can keep their faith separate from the foster care.

I'm really interested because a similar situation is happening with my former foster son and his twin siblings. On one hand, you've got an unrelated couple who plans to adopt them who takes them to a fundamentalist, old-time religion church every Wednesday and twice on Sunday.

On the other, you've got an immediate family member who wants to adopt them; their father's brother. During a phone interview, the caseworker asked Ethan if he has children of his own. He said "No, it's just me and my husband," and the caseworker hung up on him. Now she's not taking his calls and not responding to his voicemails and emails.

He hired an attorney.
 
StarSong said:
Wanted to add that if the potential foster mother truly believes "there's nothing wrong with it" then why think the person who identifies as non-hetero would need to live a "chaste life"?
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Because she believes everyone should remain chaste.

The county has classes for prospective foster parents that teach LBGT acceptance. Normally, the county's next step would be to enroll the Burkes in that class (it's also available online). After they complete the class, they can go for their license again.
 
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One more thing - if the applying foster parents were Black Muslims who said the same thing regarding their faith's rules of sexuality and/or their position on children who identify as LGBTQ+, how many would be clutching their pearls over this case, Washington Examiner included?

A lot of this attention is due to the applying family's status as White, Catholic type Christian, church-going folk.
 
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StarSong said:
One more thing - if the applying foster parents were Black Muslims who said the same thing their faith's rules of sexuality and or their position on children who identify as LGBTQ+, how many would be clutching their pearls over this case, Washington Examiner, included?

A lot of this attention is due to the applying family's status as White, Catholic type Christian, church-going folk.
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Good point!
 
Murrmurr said:
Do you mean that it makes sense it's happening in Massachusetts?

I'm asking because the same thing is happening here in "liberal" Calif, which makes no sense at all.
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As a Californian all I can say is Yikes! I don‘t doubt you, but this is news to me, and after a brief search can‘t find any evidence. I would like to know the basis of your report so I can let some politicians, or institutions, know what I think of their misguided appalling policies.
 

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