Judge says Catholic Care must change policy on same-sex couples
A judge has ruled that a Leeds-based Catholic adoption agency must be prepared to place children with same-sex couples if it is to retain its charitable status.
In September the Upper Tribunal heard Catholic Care’s fourth appealagainst a 2008 ruling passed by the Charity Commission forcing the adoption agency to offer its adoption services to homosexual couples.
Catholic Care has long argued that it would lose its funding from the Catholic Church, and therefore be unable to continue, if it could not maintain its existing policy.
The judge ruled that the agency had failed to prove that a change in its adoption policy would result in its closure, or that a “real detriment to the general public interest” would occur should the agency be forced to shut down.
Appeal
Catholic Care has said it will consider appealing the decision, adding:“Without the constitutional restriction for which it applied, Catholic Care will be forced to close its adoption service.
“The reason for this is that the service permitted by the current constitution is in conflict with the aims of the charity.
“It is Catholic Care's view that this will reduce the number of adoptive parents available and the number of children left waiting for adoptive parents will continue to increase.
“Catholic Care will now take time to consider the decision in detail and decide on its next steps”.
Catholic Care is the last adoption agency to fight for the freedom to refuse place children in the care of homosexual couples after (now found in the 2010 Equality Act).
Laws prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation came into effect in 2007. Since then, all but two of the dozen Catholic agencies in England and Wales have closed or severed their ties with the Church.
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For previous stories on this topic see:
Charity Commission: Ruling against Catholic Care should not be overturned >
Catholic Care forced to offer adoption services to homosexual couples >
