The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois
got the go-ahead Monday to intervene in a lawsuit and join the state's
battle against Catholic Charities' policy of turning away prospective
parents who are in civil unions.
Catholic Charities in Joliet, Peoria, Springfield
and Belleville filed the lawsuit this summer, asking a Sangamon County
judge to uphold their policy of providing publicly funded foster care
and adoption services only to married couples and single parents living
alone, while referring couples in civil unions to other agencies.
On Monday, the judge allowed the ACLU of Illinois to intervene after lawyers argued that allowing Catholic Charities to reject parents based on sexual orientation or religious belief violates the federal consent decree designed to improve conditions for children in the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
ACLU lawyers said the consent decree requires the state to consider nothing but the "best interests of the child," not the religious beliefs of a private foster agency, when making decisions about placement.
"Catholic Charities is ruling out possible parents based on factors that have nothing to do with the best interests of the children," said ACLU lawyer Karen Sheley.
The ACLU also intervened on behalf of Sarah Riddle and Katherine Weseman, a Champaign couple in a civil union who would like to become foster parents and adopt children.
Riddle, 33, said that although children are not in the couple's immediate future, she and her partner are taking action to make sure the process runs smoothly when they are ready.
"It's best to make sure you have a plan in place and you're fighting for the things you believe in so when you actually need them, they're there," Riddle said.
"We're making sure when we're moving forward, we're absolutely in a place where we can make it happen."
Tom Brejcha, an attorney for the Thomas More Society who is representing Catholic Charities, said Riddle and Weseman could apply to Catholic Charities to become foster parents and would not be questioned about their sexual orientation, he said. They would be referred elsewhere only if they volunteered that information.
Brejcha questioned why the couple would go to a Catholic agency when there are many agencies that don't have religious objections to unmarried couples.
"No one is preventing them from being foster parents if that's what they want," Brejcha said.
"They don't like Catholic Charities' ideological position — a position held for 2,000 years. It doesn't make sense."
Shutting down Catholic Charities is "certainly the antithesis of serving Illinois' children who are abused and neglected," Brejcha said.
Riddle said the issue isn't her disagreement with Catholic principles.
"We would have plenty of options as parents. These are kids who don't have options," Riddle said.
"We have seen the good that a good foster parent can do for children. This is very meaningful for us."