Friday, March 12, 2010

Catholic adoption agency says it would rather close than allow gays to adopt

A West Yorkshire adoption agency, Catholic Care, will choose to close rather than place at-risk children with gay couples, a High Court judge heard.

Last year, the Charity Tribunal refused to allow the agency to change its criteria to restrict its services to heterosexual couples only.

Catholic Care has now appealed that decision in the High Court. On the first day of the appeal, Christopher McCall QC, for Catholic Care, claimed the charity was “inspired by the tenets of the Roman Catholic Church” and that this meant “a family unit is made up of a man and woman whose lives together are fulfilled by the blessing of children”.

According to CEO Mark Wiggin, the agency which he runs has helped put 1,388 of the most vulnerable children in Yorkshire into ‘loving’ households since 1963.

Arguing against the Charity Tribunal’s decision, he threatened that “children would lose an effective and well respected resource in the Yorkshire region”.

This comes after the Roman Catholic Church lost an earlier battle against the Sexual Orientation Regulations (SORs), which stated gay couples must be considered as adoptive parents the same way heterosexual parents are.

“It accepts that to carry on as before involves discrimination but says it is merely a justifiable means to a legitimate end, namely that of securing homes for children who could be expected not otherwise to find homes at all,” said McCall.

He admitted that there were more children than suitable heterosexual homes for them to go to.

Many other Roman Catholic agencies have changed policy in order not to breach the new law, but Catholic Care is the last such adoption agency to continue to fight the SORs, seeking to interpret them in a way Parliament had not intended.

Catholic Care’s appeal — which is very costly — is being opposed by the Charity Commission and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The verdict will be given at a later date.
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