Photo Caption: A couple comforts a foster child. The Catholic dioceses of Peoria, Joliet, and Springfield are seeking legal confirmation that their mission of providing foster care services can continue.

Editor’s note: For full text of letter from Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, regarding this topic, click here

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Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Peoria has joined their counterparts in two neighboring dioceses to seek legal confirmation that their mission of providing foster care services to vulnerable children throughout Illinois can continue.

A declaratory judgment action was filed in Sangamon County Circuit Court on June 7 by the Thomas More Society, which is representing Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Peoria, the Diocese of Joliet and the Diocese of Springfield.

“After studying the law closely, these Catholic Charities offices have a very strong, clear case to make that their religious rights to practice their beliefs and serve these children as they deem appropriate are protected under the law,” said Thomas Brejcha of the Thomas More Society, a national public interest law firm based in Chicago that is taking on the case pro bono.

“We don’t file this lawsuit lightly, but we will be strong advocates for ensuring these reasonable accommodations are upheld and the children who need these vital services are protected,” added Brejcha, who is lead counsel for the case.

The lawsuit addresses questions raised by the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act, which went into effect on June 1. At issue is Catholic Charities’ longstanding position that prospective adoptive and foster parents who are cohabiting — regardless of sexual orientation — be referred to other agencies or the Department of Children and Family Services.

This is in keeping with church teaching, which maintains that marriage is a sacrament between a man and a woman.

“Our right of conscience and religious freedom to hold to our own religious beliefs regarding the sanctity of marriage, while still being able to provide critical services for the poor, the abused, and neglected, is now being undermined by our own state government,” Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, said in a letter dated June 7 and addressed to the priests, deacons, religious and laity of the diocese.

Not only would thousands of children lose the high quality care that Catholic Charities provides, but the jobs of 225 dedicated Catholic Charities employees would be lost, he said.

“Given that there are 57 other agencies in the state (that can process applications), a religious exemption for us would inconvenience no one,” Bishop Jenky said. He asked people to contact their legislators and urge that a “fair and reasonable solution” be found. (The full text of the letter is on page 20.)

TEMPORARY SUSPENSION
“What’s come up is when you take state dollars, when you take funding from the state, are we still within our legal grounds to refer,” said Tricia Fox, chief executive officer of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Peoria. “We believe the law is clear on that, that we are, and that referral is a good solution.”

“We have a position we hold true to and we understand that some groups don’t believe that. That’s OK,” added Tony Riordan, chief operating officer of Catholic Charities. “We just want to continue our work and our mission.”
According to a statement from the Diocese of Peoria, Catholic Charities is seeking legal recourse as a way to prevent any disruption in its services to the nearly 1,000 children and their families in foster care in central Illinois.

On any given day, 2,500 children receive foster care services through Catholic Charities of Illinois, Fox told The Catholic Post. Over the last 10 years, about 11,000 children have been served.

In that same period, about 3,400 foster homes have been licensed through Catholic Charities agencies, she added. More than 800 have been licensed as adoptive homes.

In the Diocese of Peoria, Catholic Charities processes about five applications each month, or about 60 every year. Fox explained that the licenses are issued by the State of Illinois.

While a complaint or charge of discrimination has never been received, Fox said Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Peoria has temporarily suspended processing applications for new foster homes. She notified DCFS of the decision in a letter dated June 1.

Work will continue on applications made before that date.

“Until we get confirmation that we’re operating within the law, we thought that was the most prudent thing to do,” Fox said. “We assured DCFS that we would continue to operate in the best interest of children. . . . We are very committed to continuing our contracts with DCFS.”

OFFERING SUPPORT
One of Fox’s main concerns is what a transition would mean for the children and their families if Catholic Charities is no longer able to assist them.

“They’ve been abused and neglected. They may be working on an ongoing relationship with their parents who are making progress toward them being reunified,” she explained. “There are usually issues with attachment and they’ve got issues with trust. And we’re talking about severing another relationship they’ve formed with a caseworker or a therapist and delaying their clinical progress as a result.”

Foster parents would also suffer, she said, since they choose the agency with which they want to be affiliated and build relationships with the caseworkers and other staff members, too.

“It’s very anxiety-producing for foster parents to be faced with having to sever those relationships. They really step up to the plate and do an amazing job for these kids,” she told The Post. “They don’t need their support system disrupted.”

“It’s really unfortunate that it’s reached this level of hyperbole and accusations,” Riordan said. “We just don’t want our rights taken away. We’re not here to take away anyone else’s rights.”

In the end, it doesn’t infringe on the rights and benefits of cohabiting couples or couples in civil unions when they are respectfully referred to another agency, Fox said.

Gary Huelsmann, executive director of Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois, said they also have suspended processing applications for new foster homes temporarily. While the Diocese of Belleville has not joined the lawsuit — “We’re still weighing our options” — “I’m very supportive of my colleagues and their efforts to reach a solution to a problem that is common to all of us.

“We need to take all sorts of avenues to get to a solution that would allow us to service the vulnerable children in the state of Illinois, and who are, in fact, our children,” he said.

In a statement released June 2, Father Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA and a native of Lincoln, added his own hope that the state of Illinois and local Catholic Charities agencies could reach a “mutually agreed upon solution” that places a priority on children and families in need, and that “government at all levels will continue to respect the religious beliefs of faith-based organizations, and protect our freedom to serve the communities in which we live.”