Lawsuit: Three Chapters of Illinois Catholic Charities Sue Illinois; Another Religious Group Shut Down UPDATED

“Catholic Charities offices from three dioceses in Illinois have filed suit against the state after having to shut down their adoption and foster care services following the enactment of the…State of Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act,” which became law on June 1, does not allow child welfare agencies to restrict their adoption and foster care work to married heterosexual couples, even in cases where these agencies partner with religious groups.”

“Rather than violate Catholic teaching, the three dioceses – along with the Diocese of Rockford which has not filed suit – chose to halt all state-funded adoptions and foster care placements.

However, in an effort to reverse the situation, attorneys from the Thomas More Society filed a brief on behalf of the charities Tuesday, arguing that the new civil unions law includes protections for the religious freedom of entities like Catholic Charities.

Attorneys argue that the Illinois Human Rights Act also exempts religious adoption agencies from the civil union law, and that civil union couples are free to choose among dozens of other organizations for adoption or foster care services.

Catholic Charities have served thousands of children and families since 1921 and handle about 20 percent of the adoption and foster care cases in Illinois.

“Religious and faith-based entities need not check their beliefs at the door when providing vital social services for the benefit of needy and vulnerable children and families in Illinois,” said Tom Brejcha of the Thomas More Society.

“Catholic Charities has a clear right under Illinois law to pursue its charitable good works in the true spirit of the Gospels and the Sermon on the Mount, faithful to the essential tenets of its Catholic faith,” he added

Illinois Catholic Charities suing state over adoption rules
[Catholic News Agency 6/7/11 by Marianne Medlin]

“Catholic Charities in the dioceses of Springfield, Peoria and Joliet are seeking an emergency injunction that would protect religious agencies from legal action if they turn away couples in civil unions seeking to adopt.

In a complaint filed Tuesday in Sangamon County Circuit Court, the three Catholic Charities agencies asked a judge for a temporary restraining order and injunction that would prevent the Illinois attorney general and state Department of Children and Family Services from enforcing new anti-discrimination policies that accommodate civil unions, which went into effect last week.”

“Catholic Charities asked the court’s permission to refer civil union couples to other child welfare agencies while exclusively granting licenses to married couples and singles living alone.

“Not a single prospective foster parent is being denied the right to apply by not having Catholic Charities work with them,” said lawyer Peter Breen, executive director of the Thomas More Society, which is representing Catholic Charities.

Steven Roach, executive director for Catholic Charities in the Springfield Diocese, said religious principles must be upheld for partnerships between government and religious institutions to work.”

“Natalie Bauer, a spokeswoman with the attorney general’s office, said the office had agreed to meet with Catholic Charities to discuss the investigation before the agencies turned over documents. Calls to set up those meetings were made last week, she said.”

“Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Chicago ended its foster and adoption services in 2007 when it lost insurance coverage.”

Catholic Charities sues state over foster care
[Chicago Tribune 6/7/11 by Manya A. Brachear]

“Last week, Catholic Charities in Joliet and Peoria notified the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services that they would temporarily suspend licensing of parents for adoption and foster care dioceses as of June 1, the date the civil union law went into effect. On May 26, Catholic Charities in Rockford notified DCFS that it would stop providing adoption and foster care services as of June 1.”

“The charities ask the court to declare that they are legally justified to continue their current practices of working only with married couples and single, noncohabiting individuals,” said the statement announcing the lawsuit. “Civil union couples are free to choose among dozens of other organizations for these services.”
Catholic Charities sues state over adoption and foster care practices
[The Herald News 6/8/11 by Bob Okon]

Update: “The state has declined to renew its foster care and adoption contracts with Catholic Charities across Illinois, possibly ending a historic partnership initiated by the Roman Catholic Church a half-century ago and potentially severing the relationship between nearly 2,000 foster children and their caseworkers.

Though four Catholic Charities agencies had already stopped licensing new foster parents, three of them will seek an injunction from a Sangamon County judge on Tuesday to continue serving families and abiding by Catholic principles that prohibit placing children with unmarried cohabiting couples.

“We’re not sure what the state is intending to do or how it’s intending to do it,” said Peter Breen, an attorney with the Thomas More Society representing Catholic Charities. “It’s a surprise. But it’s also very disturbing. The impact on the [nearly 2,000] children in Catholic Charities care will be catastrophic.”

In letters sent last week to Catholic Charities in the dioceses of Peoria, Joliet and Springfield and Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services said the state could not accept their signed contracts for the 2012 fiscal year. Each letter said funding was declined because “your agency has made it clear that it does not intend to comply with the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act,” which the state says requires prospective parents in civil unions to be treated the same as married couples.

“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.”

The three seeking an injunction on Tuesday — Catholic Charities in the dioceses of Springfield, Peoria and Joliet — sued the Illinois attorney general and DCFS last month for enforcing new policies that accommodate civil unions. In the lawsuit, the agencies sought the court’s permission to preserve their current policy of granting licenses to married couples and single, non-cohabiting individuals and referring couples in civil unions to other child welfare agencies.

“If the restraining order is not granted, we have other alternatives,” said Glenn Van Cura, director of Catholic Charities in Joliet, who received the state’s letter Monday morning. “There is nothing more important on my docket right now. It’s so important for the kids we have under our care.”

State officials said they are confident that other agencies complying with the civil union law will step up to take Catholic Charities’ caseloads. “We have a strong community of private-sector, not-for-profit child welfare agencies who stand ready to take these cases,” DCFS spokesman Kendall Marlowe said.

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.)

At an unrelated news conference Monday, Quinn, a practicing Catholic, reiterated his support of the civil union law and the state’s decision to sever ties with Catholic Charities.

“We’re not going back,” he said. “They made a choice. Any organization that decides that because of the civil unions law that they won’t participate voluntarily in a program, that’s their choice.”

At a meeting last month, lawyers for the attorney general’s office and DCFS reportedly told Catholic Charities that couples in civil unions must be treated the same as married couples when it comes to providing foster care services.

Robyn Ziegler, a spokeswoman for Madigan, confirmed that meeting, but refrained from saying much more because the matter is in litigation.

“We will respond to Catholic Charities’ arguments in court,” Ziegler said. “Our focus remains on doing what is best for the care and welfare of children in the foster care system in Illinois.”

Marlowe said the state couldn’t agree to do business with partners who have declared their intention to violate state law both in letters to DCFS and in court documents.

“We cannot enter into a contract for services with anyone who has publicly, affirmatively stated that ‘we will not follow the law in delivering those services,’” Marlowe said. “These agencies have chosen this course, and we must now plan to transition these cases with the least disruption for the children we serve.”

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.”

“All we’re doing here is doing what we normally do, which is working with families to keep them together,” he said. “When there are children that need to be placed elsewhere because of safety and risk issues, we’re working on placing kids with relatives.”

Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Chicago ended its foster care services in 2007 after losing its insurance coverage. Cases and caseworkers scattered to several agencies.

Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Rockford voluntarily ended its publicly funded foster care and adoption services last month. The Youth Service Bureau of Illinois Valley, an Ottawa agency, expanded and took over all of Catholic Charities’ cases, staff and real estate.”

State severs foster care ties with Catholic Charities
[Chicago Tribune 7/11/11 by Manya Brachear]

Update: On  July 12, 2011 “Illinois Judge John Schmidt granted three Illinois Catholic Charities a preliminary injunction, allowing them to continue their service to the nearly 2,000 Illinois children under their care for foster care and adoptions.

The injunction maintains the status quo under the prior contract, before the Department of Children and Family Services refused to renew the foster care and adoption contracts of Catholic Charities. During the hearing, Judge Schmidt observed that the termination letter sent by DCFS late Friday afternoon to Catholic Charities in Peoria, Springfield, and Joliet had the “appearance of gamesmanship.” Judge Schmidt also denied the Illinois Attorney General’s motion to dismiss on the grounds of “mootness.”

“This is a great win for the 2,000 children under the care of Catholic Charities, protecting these kids from the grave disruption that the state’s reckless decision to terminate would have caused,” said Peter Breen, executive director and legal counsel, Thomas More Society. “We will continue this fight until all young people in need now and in the future are guaranteed their right to receive the high-quality foster and adoption care that the Catholic Church has provided for over a century to Illinois children.”

The next hearing is scheduled for August 17, 2011 at 9 AM, where the judge will decide on the merits of the case.”

Illinois Catholic Charities Keeps Right to Serve Children with Foster Care/Adoption Services
Christian News Wire 7/12/11 by Tom Ciesielka]

The letter sent from Illinois DCFS to the Catholic Charities can be viewed in pdf here.

Update 2: “Catholic Charities once again will be able to take on new foster care cases despite the state’s efforts to block the group over a dispute about gay rights and civil unions.
A Sangamon County judge made the temporary ruling today when the state gave in and agreed with Catholic Charities to let the social services group take in new cases—at least for a few weeks.

Catholic Charities won’t place children with gay or unmarried couples.

Catholic Charities had alleged the state Department of Children and Family Services had violated last week’s order that required the state to keep the group’s contract in place while the issue played out in circuit court.

DCFS had let nearly 2,000 foster children placed by Catholic Charities remain in place and under the group’s oversight.

But the state had refused to allow Catholic Charities to place children in new foster care cases despite the order.

“Suddenly, they stopped,” said Tom Brejcha, an attorney representing Catholic Charities. “They did the opposite of what the order directed.”

Catholic Charities argued in court papers that it had been surprised by the DCFS decision to block new cases–and sought to keep the cases coming.

The group argued the DCFS action did not follow Sangamon County Judge John Schmidt’s order because it failed to keep operating as if the state and Catholic Charities still had a contract in place.

In court today, Catholic Charities and an assistant attorney general presented Schmidt with the agreement to let the group keep accepting the new cases.

Still pending is a mid-August hearing on whether Catholic Charities will be able to continue offering foster services over the long term.”

Illinois must refer foster kids to Catholic agency
[Chicago Tribune 7/18/11 by Ray Long]

Update 3: A fourth diocese, Belleville, joins the lawsuit after its services were severed by the state. That action affected 547 children. “A Sangamon County judge this month issued an injunction preventing the state from ending the contracts pending the outcome of the suit.

The Belleville’s Diocese’s affiliated foster-care service, Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois, wasn’t a party to the lawsuit originally, though that program was affected by the state’s decision in the same way. Officials at that program have previously said they were considering joining in on the suit.

“In large areas of Southern Illinois outside of the ‘metro east’ areas we are usually only one of two providers” of foster care services,” Gary Huelsmann, the Belleville program’s executive director, said in a statement today. “Eliminating CSS as a provider will disserve the best interest of the many children we serve and will deny vital choices for foster parents and children as to where and by whom they will be served.”

Belleville Diocese foster-care program joins suit against Illinois over same-sex issue
[St. Louis Post-Dispatch 7/25/11 by Kevin McDermott]

Update 4: The ACLU has inserted itself into the Catholic Charities v. State of Illinois case that is being heard in the courtroom of Judge John Schmidt in Sangamon County.    They are claiming to argue on behalf of children in DHS and their “best interest.”

“The ACLU also takes issue with the assertion that the possibility of disruption for children if Catholic Charities withdraws from providing services on behalf of DCFS trumps the constitutional and legal issues involved, as well as the best interests of children.”
ACLU News Release

Update 5:  “Sangamon County Judge John Schmidt Wednesday did not make an immediate ruling on the case, saying instead that he will issue a written decision in the future.

He did not set a date for that ruling.

Attorneys for the state and Catholic Charities spent more than an hour arguing the case in which the Department of Children and Family Services wants to cancel its contracts with Catholic Charities because the organization does not want to place children in homes of unmarried couples, including those in civil unions.

Attorneys for Catholic Charities said those placements would force the organization to violate its religious beliefs. They also said the state’s civil unions law contains a clause that allows religious organizations to not recognize civil unions if it conflicts with their religious beliefs.

“There has to be grounds in Illinois law for (canceling the contracts),” said Thomas Brejcha, an attorney for Catholic Charities. “There is none.”

Judge hears arguments in state foster care lawsuit
[The State Journal-Register 8/17/11 by Doug Finke]

A commenter in this article refers to the Illinois State Constitution. For your reference, here is the actual passage from Article 1, Bill of Rights, Section 3, Religious Freedom that he refers to:

“SECTION 3. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination, shall forever be guaranteed, and no person shall be denied any civil or political right, privilege or capacity, on account of his religious opinions; but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be construed to dispense with oaths or affirmations, excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace or safety of the State. No person shall be required to attend or support any ministry or place of worship against his consent, nor shall any preference be given by law to any religious denomination or mode of worship.
(Source: Illinois Constitution.)”
http://www.ilga.gov/commission/lrb/conent.htm

Update 6: Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge John Schmidt ruled Friday that “the state can decline to renew its contract with Catholic Charities in Illinois to provide foster care and adoption services.”

This is but one facet of the issue that occured when Illinois passed the Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act.

“During the hearing, Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge John Schmidt focused on whether the state violated the property rights of Catholic Charities in Joliet, Peoria, Springfield and Belleville when it declined to sign new contracts that would have funded foster care and adoption services during the next fiscal year. Previous contracts expired June 30.

Lawyers for the Illinois Attorney General argued that Catholic Charities policy of licensing only married couples and single parents living alone as foster parents, while referring couples in civil unions to other agencies, violates state anti-discrimination laws that now accommodate couples in civil unions.

But lawyers for Catholic Charities argued that the agencies had a reasonable expectation that the contracts wouldn’t end without sufficient warning or a public hearing, given the decades that they have existed and the infrastructure that has been built around them.

Schmidt said Catholic Charities’ history does not entitle them to an automatic renewal of contracts. They are “not required to perform these useful and beneficial services,” he said.”

Judge: State not required to renew contract with Catholic Charities
[Chicago Tribune 8/18/11 by Manya A. Brachear]

“The ruling does not address Catholic Charities’ contention that the State of Illinois cannot refuse to contract with someone based on that person’s exercise of religion. Thomas More Society attorneys are reviewing the ruling and considering next actions with the Charities.”

The three-page ruling can be viewed here.

Judge Rules on Illinois Catholic Charities Foster Care/Adoption Services Suit
[Thomas More Society 8/18/11]

Update 7:  “Catholic Charities plans to appeal a judge’s decision allowing the state to stop working with the group on adoptions and foster-care placements, an attorney for the not-for-profit agency said Monday.

Peter Breen said the group will ask for a stay of Sangamon County Circuit Judge John Schmidt’s Aug. 18 ruling that sided with the state, which severed work with Catholic Charities after the agency refused to recognize Illinois’ civil union law. Breen said the charity also will ask the judge to reconsider, then take the matter to a state appellate court if Schmidt declines.

Catholic Charities has argued that it developed a “property interest” in the work after 40 years of annually renewed contracts with the state and that the agency should be able to object to state action.

In his ruling, Schmidt said no one, including Catholic Charities, has a legal right to a contract with state government. He did not address the more sensitive issue of whether a state contractor that refuses to serve gays and lesbians is violating the state’s new civil unions law. ”

“Breen said Monday that Catholic Charities will seek a stay to give it time to appeal, believing “the financial impact on the charities of not receiving (such a reprieve) would be catastrophic.” Breen added that the not-for-profit agency’s “main thrust (on appeal) would be that you do not need to hold property in order to exercise religious rights.”

Catholic Charities to appeal foster-care ruling
[State Journal-Register 8/29/11 by Jim Suhr/Associated Press]

Update 8: This article explains the worry of current foster parents of ceasing of services. The couple “are licensed to accept “treatment children,” or youths who have significant emotional and behavioral issues.” A parental rights termination hearing is to take place in September but this ruling may affect that.  A few additional concerns: “Once the birth parents’ rights are terminated, it takes about two years for the adoption process to be finalized. Westcott is worried that if a transfer takes place, other child welfare agencies might be overbooked. She also fears a new caseworker might not understand the complexity of her foster son’s case.

Plus, not every agency deals with treatment children, she said.” Especially in this part of Illinois.

The foster family says ““My son feels comfortable with everyone there.” referring to the caseworkers and other professionals. DCFS spokesman admits the caseworkers would change and trivializes it to say that their job is to show up at hearings. ““Every case of a child in state care is supervised by a court,” Marlowe said, noting that adoptions are legal matters. “What will change is, instead of a Catholic Charities worker showing up at the appointed time (for a hearing), it would be (another social service agency).”

“Roach and Peter Breen, executive director and legal counsel for the Thomas More Society, which represents Catholic Charities in court, say not all agencies can guarantee the same quality of service as Catholic Charities. They also argue that no transition can be seamless.

“Most of these children are abused, whether it’s physically or sexually, and you’re going to take their therapist away? They’re going to have to change the psychology professional that they have been working with and confiding in. All this talk of seamless doesn’t match the reality on the ground for each child,” Breen said.

Roach said he believes more children will be separated from their caseworkers, and some foster parents will drop out of the system after their children are placed.

“Our concern is, obviously, if you reduce the pool of actual foster parents who are experienced and have great track records, you’re damaging kids in the future because those resources won’t be available,” he said.”

DCFS “Marlowe added that there is nothing distinct about how Catholic Charities makes referrals to physicians and other health professionals compared to other agencies,” but he does not guarantee that changes will not occur because he knows that they will.

Statistics

“DCFS is working on transferring about 2,000 cases under the care of Catholic Charities to other agencies. An attorney for Catholic Charities says the agency will appeal the ruling and ask for a stay.” The DCFS spokemans feels this is not a big deal because “In 2009, the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago ceased providing foster care.“At that time, we transferred those just under 1,000 cases to multiple private agencies,” Kendall Marlowe said.” That was in the more populated Chicago area where there were more agencies to transfer to. This is DOUBLE the number in an area with fewer agencies.

Moreover, when Illinois says that “they” have foster care, it really means they contract out foster care to private agencies as “80 percent of the state’s child-care cases are handled by private agencies.”

“The Springfield Diocese serves about 300 children in foster care and adoption programs across 28 counties.”

“The top six child welfare agencies that provide adoption and foster care services in Sangamon County by caseload:

Lutheran Child and Family Services, 129

Family Service Center of Sangamon County, 53

Catholic Charities Diocese of Springfield, 52

Camelot Community Care Inc. and Camelot Care Centers Inc., 39

Alliance Human Services Inc., 15

*Cases listed originated in Sangamon County. Foster children whose cases started in other counties also may be living in Sangamon County.

— Source: Illinois Department of Children and Family Services”

DCFS spokesman “did acknowledge that unlike Rockford, Catholic Charities in Springfield, Joliet, Peoria and Belleville would not be able to be transferred to one agency due to the volume of cases each serves.”

“Two of Sangamon County’s major child welfare services providers say they are capable of taking over additional foster care and adoption cases.

“We take no joy in the idea that Catholic Charities will be departing, if that is something that’s going to happen. That, for us, is a sad thing,” said Dave Roth, director of advocacy and civic engagement for Lutheran Child and Family Services. “Of course, under circumstances like this, we would work with DCFS and Catholic Charities to do whatever is helpful for the children and families involved.”
Family Service Center of Sangamon County has seen its caseload increase over the last month, executive director Josie Rocco said, but she does not know if the increase is because foster families from Catholic Charities have started to switch to other agencies.”

From the State Begging CC to Take More Cases to Shutting Them Out

“A lawyer representing Catholic Charities says the agency’s next steps are to seek a stay of the judge’s ruling pending further proceedings and to file a motion to reconsider.

“Our main contention on reconsideration is the Religious Freedom Restoration Act claim we’ve asserted,” Peter Breen, executive director and legal counsel for the Thomas More Society. “The state is substantially burdening the exercise of religion of Catholic Charities.”

Breen said a stay is needed because hundreds of employees’ salaries are being supported by the state contracts that are being revoked with Catholic Charities.

“Catholic Charities shouldn’t have to go out of business until a final ruling,” Breen said. “You’re talking slashing the entire budgets of these agencies in half or more for some of the dioceses.”

Catholic Charities of the Springfield Diocese receives $5 million a year in state funds for foster care and adoption services. That is about half of the agency’s total budget, executive director Steven Roach said.

Also, “we have invested millions of dollars in the infrastructure through leases, through capital improvements in building, through purchasing vehicles, purchasing computers,” for foster care and adoption programs, he said. “All of that will be lost. It will have a huge financial impact on us.”
Just last year, the diocese opened a new office in Granite City for foster care, Roach said.

“The state continued to want to refer cases to us and we didn’t have the capacity and so we opened up a new site and spent tens of thousands of dollars on renovation for the sole purpose of accommodating these children and our new workers, and then six months later we’re told by the state we’re not worthy to contract anymore,” Roach said.”

Foster parents feel caught by Catholic Charities controversy
[State Journal-Register 8/30/11 by Amanda Reavy]

Update 9: Catholic Charities isn’t the only one affected by this new law. As our commenter stated, an Evangelical organization in the suburbs of Chicago is also affected. They will just close that part of their operations down.

“Last week, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) informed the Evangelical Child and Family Agency (ECFA) — a 61-year-old group that has been contracting with the state to place foster children in homes since 1965 — that its contract will not be renewed in the new fiscal year, since the agency won’t place kids with same-sex couples.

ECFA is one of several faith-based groups that have had to make such a choice this year. Like Lutheran Child and Family Services, ECFA’s policy is to only place foster children with married couples; another group announced this summer it would change its policy in order to continue contracting with the state. Catholic Charities has chosen to fight the matter in court, but has not met with success so far. The civil unions law took effect on June 1.

“They’re saying all agencies that contract with DCFS need to be an ‘agent of the state,’” said ECFA Executive Director Ken Withrow. “Til now, the understanding was that we would be partners with the state — in our case, recruiting evangelicals to become foster care parents.”

Though DCFS cited the state’s civil unions law to ECFA, Withrow said it’s just a cover.

“We tend to disagree with that, because the act says nothing in it will interfere with religious organizations. They prefer only to contract with secular agencies,” he explained.

As a result, ECFA will lose 75 percent of its funding. Withrow hopes that his caseworkers will be able to transfer to new agencies with their case loads by the end of September, as the state has ordered.
“It would be ideal because of their knowledge of the cases,” he said. “We’re moving kids to permanency, and you have to have a knowledgeable case worker to do that for the children.”

ECFA will continue its non-state-funded activities: Providing pregnancy support services, individual and family counseling, licensing foster and adoptive parents, and privately placing kids who are not in state custody in foster homes.”

Illinois Christian Foster Care Group Loses State Contract
[Citizen Link 9/14/11 by Karla Dial]

Update 10: “The state Department of Children and Family Services can begin canceling its adoption and foster care contracts with Catholic Charities, Sangamon County Circuit Judge John Schmidt ruled Monday.

Schmidt denied Catholic Charities’ emergency request to stay his earlier ruling that the group has no right to state contracts to provide such services. Schmidt also refused to reconsider that decision.

“I see no reason to issue that,” Schmidt said of the stay request and the reconsideration motion.
Catholic Charities next will turn to Illinois’ 4th District Appellate Court in hopes of staying Schmidt’s ruling, according to attorneys for Catholic Charities agencies associated with the Springfield, Peoria, Belleville and Joliet dioceses.

Catholic Charities says it faces irreparable harm if the contracts are canceled, including the possible layoff of hundreds of employees.

State officials did not renew the contracts after Catholic Charities said its religious principles do not allow it to place foster and adoptive children in the homes of unmarried couples, including those in civil unions.

DCFS contends Catholic Charities ‘ policy violates the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act. The agency ended its contracts with the charity in the four dioceses in June.

Lawyers for the state said no child will lose his or her caseworker or supervisor if the state transfers Catholic Charities clients to other agencies, a point disputed by Catholic Charities.

“That claim is almost impossible,” said Peter Breen, executive director and legal counsel for the Thomas More Society, which represents Catholic Charities. “Basically, they would have to recreate Catholic Charities without the Catholic.”

Breen called for the state not to begin transferring adoption and foster care cases to other agencies until appeals are completed.

“The state could perfectly well allow this process to conclude,” Breen said.

Apart from the children, Catholic Charities will lose 50 percent or more of its revenue if the state succeeds in canceling its contract with the group. The agency also will have to pay out accrued vacation and face other expenses if it has to lay off employees.

In the Springfield diocese, about half of Catholic Charities’ 190 employees are associated with adoption services and foster care, said Steven Roach, the group’s executive director. But Roach called it premature to discuss when layoff notices will be sent out.

“The real damage is when you separate the kids from their caseworker,” Roach said. “It will happen.”
Officials with DCFS could not be reached for comment Monday, but a spokesman said a week ago that it is more important that the transitions be done correctly than immediately.

Harvey Grossman, legal director for the American Civil Liberties of Union, said the ACLU agrees with Schmidt’s decision. Studies show gay and lesbian couples do as well as parents as opposite-sex couples, he said.

“They (Catholic Charities) do not have the right to impose religious values on those who are wards of the state,” he said.”

Judge denies Catholic Charities’ request for reconsideration
[The State Journal-Register 9/26/11 by Chris Wetterich]

Update 11: “No longer able to provide publicly funded foster care and adoption services unless it complies with Illinois law, Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Peoria announced today that it will withdraw from all state contracts and transfer its staff and caseload to a new non-profit organization with no affiliation to the Roman Catholic Church.

Run by a five-person community board, The Center for Youth and Family Solutions will take on the entire caseload of foster children from Peoria Catholic Charities starting Feb. 1.”

“Meanwhile, Catholic Charities in the dioceses of Joliet and Springfield, as well as Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois in Belleville, asked a state appellate court to halt the transition of foster care cases to other agencies now underway in those three dioceses and reconsider whether the state’s decision to sever foster care contracts with the three agencies violates their religious freedom.

“We are adamant about going forward,” said Glenn Van Cura, executive director of Catholic Charities of Joliet. “We feel that there’s no reason to discontinue.”

“The new organization in Peoria, which will have no allegiance to the church, has agreed to serve couples in civil unions, said Mike Drymiller of Moline, a Catholic financial adviser and one of the founding board members.

To give the new organization time to prepare, DCFS has agreed to let Catholic Charities supervise the existing cases through Jan. 31.”

“Patricia Gibson, general counsel for the Peoria Diocese, said eventually Catholic Charities of Peoria will rely exclusively on private funding because the agency plans to withdraw from all of its state contracts.

Annually, the agency receives up to $23 million from the state. More than $15 million of that goes toward foster care and adoption services and many of them overlap, she said.”

Peoria Diocese solves foster care fiasco
[Chicago Tribune 10/6/11 by Manya A. Brachear]

Update 12: “New legislation would clear the way for the Belleville Diocese and other religious organizations to continue providing foster care under contract with Illinois even if they bar same-sex couples from their programs.

The bill, SB2495, is in response to the decision by Gov. Pat Quinn’s Department of Children and Family Services to nix the foster care contracts of entities that won’t acknowledge the state’s new civil-unions law, which gives same-sex couples the same legal rights as married couples.

The ruling effectively ended the long-term state foster care contracts of Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois, which is affiliated with the Belleville Diocese, as well as Catholic Charities programs around the state. The issue is being hashed out in the courts, which have so far ruled in favor of the Administration.

The new legislation, by state Sen.Kyle McCarter, R-Highland, would specify that religiously based child welfare groups working with the state “may decline an adoption or foster family home application . . . from a party to a civil union if acceptance of that application would constitute a violation of the organization’s sincerely held religious beliefs.”

The bill would require the organizations to provide such applicants with information about how to contact the state’s child-welfare system so they could be placed with other entities.

The Legislature returns to Springfield Oct. 25 for the first week of its fall veto session.

Illinois legislation would let Belleville Diocese continue foster care
[St. Louis Today 10/13/11 by Kevin McDermott]

The pdf of the bill can be seen here. The text is as follows:

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 

becoming law.”

Update 13: “Attorney Peter C. Breen of the Thomas More Society, who represents Catholic Charities, said he applauds the new bill. “The people of Illinois do not want to see Catholic Charities and other religious-based foster care agencies driven out of business, period,” Breen said. “Lawmakers intended when they passed the civil union law to protect religious groups from compromising their beliefs regarding civil unions”

“The State of Illinois and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed their responses to Catholic Charities’ emergency motion for stay with the Appellate Court for the Fourth Judicial District. The Thomas More Society is now awaiting a ruling from the Appellate Court on Catholic Charities’ motion for stay.

The State of Illinois’ response can be read here: State of Illinois’ Response Read the ACLU’s response here: ACLU’s Response.”
Thomas More Society Statement on SB2495
[Thomas More Society 10/13/11]

Response from “Anthony Martinez, executive director of The Civil Rights Agenda, an Illinois LGBT advocacy group, said in a statement that the bill’s introduction proved that “the civil institutions behind this affront to LGBT civil rights are not backing down.”

“We will not either,” Martinez continued in a statement. “We had hoped to kill this bill quietly as has been done in the past. Unfortunately, that strategy is no longer an option and our opposition has now been galvanized. We will ensure that our followers and the community are informed as to the appropriate action once the General Assembly reconvenes.”

Bernard Cherkasov, chief executive officer of Equality Illinois, a separate LGBT advocacy group, called McCarter’s bill “unacceptable. When it comes to child welfare, there can be no double standards,” he noted in a statement.

While DCFS spokesman Kendall Marlowe declined to comment on McCarter’s bill, he told the State Journal-Register that the department “remains committed to non-discrimination in child-welfare services.”

Illinois Catholic Charities Adoption Battle: New Bill Would Allow Church To Not Serve Same-Sex Couples
[Huffington Post 10/15/11]

Update 14: Though the Peoria, Springfield and Belleville Dioceses have been allowed to operate until January 31, 2012 to transition their cases, the three dioceses are now being asked by DCFS to transfer the combined 1,000 cases by November 30, 2011.

“Attorney Peter C. Breen who represents Catholic Charities on behalf of the Thomas More Society, said it will be difficult for the dioceses on a shorter transfer schedule to brief caseworkers and prepare for the transfers. “There’s no legitimate child welfare reason to hastily transition these thousand kids and yet to allow the other thousand kids in Peoria to remain in place longer,” Breen said. “Our agencies are in the perverse position where DCFS is incentivizing us not to take new children. It’s just insane.”
” “I hope this development with Peoria shows to the appellate court that ingranting us a stay under an accelerated appeal schedule, there would be no harm at all,” Breen said.

Breen said the scheduled transfer of foster care and adoption cases from Catholic Charities to other agencies will disrupt those cases irreparably. He said research shows that changing caseworkers can reduce the likelihood of a child’s permanent placement by as much as 50 percent.

“As a child moves between homes, a caseworker change can actually be more impactful,” Breen said. “The caseworker is the one person who understands everything about the child’s history. … I don’t know what DCFS means when they say they can make a seamless transition, because this is the antithesis of seamless.”

DCFS spokesman” Marlowe said DCFS has a “standard protocol” in place for transferring foster care cases. He said DCFS used the same protocol when the Chicago Archdiocese of Catholic Charities stopped providing foster care services in 2007 and when the Rockford diocese stopped providing services in June 2011.”
[Chicago Daily Law Bulletin from pdf on Thomas More Society website 10/21/11]

Update 15: from October 27, 2011 on http://www.thomasmoresociety.org/, the cases will need to be transferred by November 30, 2011 BUT “other motions were granted. The matter is now on an expedited schedule for briefing in the Appellate Court.

This mixed decision comes on the same day when the Illinois Department for Children and Family Service gave one of the Catholic Charities a Level 1 compliance score, which ranks it as one of the best foster care providers in the state. A copy of the DCFS letter is here.”

Update 16: “Putting an end to legal efforts to keep Catholic Charities in the foster care business, the Roman Catholic dioceses of Joliet, Springfield and Belleville have dropped a lawsuit against the state of Illinois, agreeing to transfer thousands of foster care children and staff to other agencies.”

Catholic dioceses dropping lawsuit over foster care
[Chicago Tribune 11/14/11 by Manya Brachear]

“The decision not to pursue further appeals was reached with great reluctance, but was necessitated by the fact that the State of Illinois has made it financially impossible for our agencies to continue to provide these services,” said Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Bishop Edward K. Braxton of Belleville, and Bishop R. Daniel Conlon of Joliet.

“Since we now need to close offices and lay off employees, further appeals would be moot,” the bishops said.

Catholic Charities branches from the dioceses of Belleville, Springfield, Peoria, and Joliet had filed a lawsuit in June against the Illinois Attorney General’s Office and the state’s Department of Children and Family Services to prevent them from ending state contracts for foster care and adoption programs with the charities.”

“Peter Breen, an attorney with the Thomas More Society, which represented the charities in their lawsuit against the state, called the news “tragic.”

In a Nov. 14 statement, Breen said the situation “stands as a stark lesson to the rest of the nation that legislators promising ‘religious protection’ in same sex marriage and civil union laws may not be able to deliver on those promises.”

In their remarks, the bishops noted how the Church has “successfully partnered with the State for half a century” and lamented the fact that the “the losers will be the children, foster care families and adoptive parents who will no longer have the option of Catholic, faith-based services.”

“We are sad to lose the dedicated employees who have served our Catholic foster care and adoption services so faithfully for so many years,” the bishops added. “We are grateful to them and reluctantly bid them farewell with our prayers and best wishes.”

Bishop Paprocki clarified that despite the loss of foster care and adoption services in his diocese, “our Catholic Charities in the Diocese Springfield in Illinois will continue to address the basic human needs of the poor in central Illinois in other ways.”

“The silver lining of this decision is that our Catholic Charities going forward will be able to focus on being more Catholic and more charitable,” he said, “while less dependent on government funding and less encumbered by intrusive state policies.”

The news of the decision to close the programs follows the Nov. 11 announcement by the Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois that will it separate from the Belleville diocese and offer adoptions and foster-care services to same-sex couples.

The Catholic Social Services agency, which had been operating at the Belleville diocese since 1947, said that it will now be called Christian Social Services of Illinois.

Gary Huelsmann, the agency’s executive director, called the move a “solution” that will be “best for the children” as it ensures “their continuity of care.”
Illinois Bishops Annonce Shutdown of Adoption Services
[Catholic News Agency 11/14/11 by Marian Medlin]

Update 17:“Catholic Charities in Springfield, Ill., said Monday that it will transfer its foster care staff, foster parents and children to other child welfare agencies. The move comes in the wake of a new state law that granted same-sex couples the right to seek civil unions.

The Springfield foster care program will move Jan. 31 to the Center for Youth and Family Solutions, formed in Peoria last year by two former Catholic Charities officials. The Madison County and Effingham offices’ foster care programs will transfer to Christian Social Services, formerly Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois.

In November, the Catholic Diocese of Belleville and Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois parted ways because of the civil union law. Days later, three of Illinois’ six Catholic bishops said they would abandon legal appeals against the new law.

Illinois oversees the foster care system but contracts 80 percent of the case load to private agencies, of which many are faith-based.”

Catholic Charities in Springfield, Ill., transfers its foster care
[St. Louis Post-Dispatch 1/10/12 by Tim Townsend]