Due to the recent passing of the civil-union law, certain child-welfare agencies have acted against complying with the law that should allow same-sex couples to become foster care or adoptive parents.
Catholic Charities of Peoria and Joliet informed the Department of Children and Family Services ( DCFS ) that they would not license families who applied to the foster care and adoptive agencies to become parent after the civil unions went into effect last Tuesday. Catholic Charities of Rockford even terminated their own state funding for foster care and adoptive services to avoid liability if the law did in fact require them to allow same-sex couples in civil unions to participate in the programs.
The executive director of Catholic Charities in Joliet, Glenn Van Cura, wrote a letter to DCFS stating, "It is the religious practice of Catholic Charities not to place children with unmarried cohabiting couples, whether same sex or opposite sex." The chief executive officer for Catholic Charities in Peoria, Tricia C. Fox, also sent a letter stating that the suspension would be temporary. Fox said the licensing would be resumed if amendments were made to the law giving religious agencies the right to defer applicants to another agency if they do not fit the criteria that Catholic Charities has set up.
Spokesperson for DCFS Kendall Marlowe said the department is currently looking over the letters that have been sent and are considering them. He said, "The requests present legal and logistical issues, which we are reviewing. Short term we will explore every option to prevent further disruption in these children's lives. This isn't a viable long-term solution."
Gov. Pat Quinn and Attorney General Lisa Madigan have been examining whether publicly funded religious agencies are breaking the laws regarding anti-discrimination if they defer openly gay parents. An amendment to the law is circulating that would exempt religious child welfare agencies but the amendment has yet to make it through to a vote. A spokeswoman with the attorney general's office, Natalie Bauer, said the office had agreed to meet with Catholic Charities to discuss the investigation before the agencies turned over documents. "Unfortunately, instead of working with the state to ensure compliance with child protection and civil-rights laws, the dioceses have opted to go to court," Bauer said.
In a complaint filed June 7 in Sangamon County Circuit Court, Springfield, Peoria and Joliet Catholic Charities agencies asked a judge for a temporary restraining order and injunction that would prevent the Illinois attorney general and state Department of Children and Family Services from enforcing new anti-discrimination policies that accommodate civil unions, which went into effect last week.
Other agencies, such as Lutheran Child and Family Services and the Evangelical Child and Family Agency, have policies that exclude prospective parents who are unmarried.