Leading Roman Catholic adoption agencies have severed their links with the Church so that they can comply with the law and provide a service to gay couples. The Times has learnt that five big agencies, including the largest in the country, felt that they had no choice because the Church opposes gay adoptions. Some agencies are changing their constitutions, funding structures and even their names.
New laws in 2007 banned providers of goods and services from discriminating on the ground of sexuality, and adoption agencies were told that they would have to consider applications from gay couples.
In response Catholic bishops warned that the agencies would have to close if an exemption was not granted.
The agencies find families for 250 children a year, making up one third of the adoption work of voluntary agencies. Crucially, they specialise in difficult cases such as large sibling groups and children with a high risk of mental illness or with a terminal illness.
The Government rejected appeals for an exemption but ministers gave the agencies a 20-month transition period, which has now ended.
It is understood that the Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, who will become the next head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, believes that the battle is far from over.
Three agencies, including the Catholic Children’s Society, Westminster, hope to win a tribunal case under charity law.
Of those who have broken the link, the biggest is the Catholic Children’s Society in the South of England, which serves Arundel, Brighton, Portsmouth and Southwark and has changed its name to the Cabrini Children’s Society.
Under the terms of its agreement with local bishops, money raised though parishes and Catholic schools will go towards child welfare projects other than adoption.
Maxine Smeaton, head of fundraising at Cabrini, said that it had to be pragmatic. “It was important not to get sentimental and too caught up in the name. We are here to provide services for children,” she said. “If we stopped the adoption service no one else would be providing it in the South of England. We are here for the children and that is our primary concern.”
Others that have broken the link are St David’s Children’s Society, which serves Wales and Herefordshire, St Francis’ Children’s Society in Northampton, and the Catholic Children’s Society in Nottingham, which is now called Faith in Families.
All these breaks were negotiated with the support of the bishops, who continue to support the adoption work, but not all have been so amicable.
In Lancaster, where Catholic Caring Services split with the Church and has been renamed Caritas Care, Bishop Patrick O’Donoghue has forbidden any money raised in the parish to go to the new agency and warned that it may no longer be allowed to use property owned by the diocese.
Jim Richards, director of the Catholic Children’s Society, Westminster, said: “This is a tussle between two rights — ours as a faith-based organisation being able to practise and stay true to the Church’s teaching and the rights of gays not to be discriminated against. We believe that the two rights can coexist.”
Last night a spokesman for Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, said that feelings were still running high over the Government’s decision.
“The bishops still feel very upset and disappointed that the Government decided against their request for a simple exemption. This is work that is done for the common good, not just Catholic families. Homosexual couples have numerous other agencies and local authorities to go to if they want to adopt,” he said.
Finding homes
* The Catholic adoption agencies place about 250 children with new families each year out of a total of 4,000 placements of adopted children throughout England and Wales
* The Catholic agencies specialise in difficult cases, such as large sibling groups, children with a high risk of mental illness or the terminally ill. They account for one third of the work done by all voluntary agencies
* Almost all local authorities fund their own adoption service so call on church or charity-run agencies only when they have no hope of placing the children themselves
* Local authorities pay the agencies about £18,000 for each placement with a possible extra £3,000 for follow up support
* If the Catholic agencies refused to abide by the new anti-discrimination legislation, local authorities would be prevented from using them, so no children would be referred and the agencies would close down
* In the past, the Catholic agencies would interview any gay couples interested in adoption, advise them on the process and then refer them to another agency or local authority
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(Source: TOUK)