There has been much talk about family separation in the news lately. Anyone concerned about this issue should be deeply troubled by the way in which the city of Philadelphia is cruelly separating foster children from loving foster families — all because the city disagrees with the Catholic Church’s religious beliefs about marriage.
A judge in Philadelphia will decide whether the city can continue using these vulnerable children as culture war pawns. The same judge has already refused to grant temporary relief, which means that the city may continue to keep kids from being placed with available and loving homes while the judge considers the case.
The stakes could not be higher. In June, the city refused to place an autistic child with his former foster mother who wanted to adopt him. Instead, the city moved the young child to a temporary respite home where he began to experience health issues and where he did not receive needed therapy for his autism.
His former foster mother explained, “I am worried about his physical and emotional well-being right now. I say prayers for his return throughout the day and look at [my son’s] pictures every night. I frequently call his social worker to see if I can do anything to get [him] back. I cannot understand why [my son] is being kept from me.”
Only an emergency motion in federal court by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty pushed the city to do the right thing and return the child to his former foster parent, and only after nearly two weeks of needless trauma.
This child isn’t the only one separated from loving parents by the city’s actions. Despite admitting that it has at least 250 children in group homes who desperately need a foster family, the city refuses to place any foster children with the 35 spots that are available with Catholic Social Services right now.
In fact, the city has made clear that its goal is to extinguish CSS’s foster program within a matter of months. The reason? A hypothetical religious dispute of the city’s own invention. And it looks like Philadelphia may succeed. Due to the court’s recent ruling denying CSS’s request for temporary relief, it is likely that CSS will be forced to close in a matter of months, barring some form of judicial relief.
To this day, the city has been unable to point to a single family prevented from becoming a foster family, let alone denied any service, because of CSS’s religious beliefs. Unless a court steps in to provide relief, more than 100 families who have relied on CSS for years will lose this pillar of support and dozens of children will be displaced and experience additional trauma when families can no longer provide care.
The urgency of CSS’s need for relief is matched by the obvious illegality of the city’s actions. After all, Philadelphia’s justification for inflicting this harm on children and families amounts to unabashed religious discrimination. City officials have arrogantly told CSS that because “times have changed,” their religious beliefs need to change too and that they need to stop listening to their religious leader in Philadelphia. In the city’s condescending words, “It’s not 100 years ago anymore.”
The city also demanded that CSS promise in advance to endorse same-sex unions in writing, if a same-sex couple ever asked the Church for its written opinion on their family relationships. Of course, under the First Amendment, the government has no authority to demand fidelity to government-approved views of marriage as a precondition to serving foster children. Nor does it have power to exclude religious service providers because they gave the “wrong” answer in response to government inquiries into sensitive religious and moral questions.
To address this crisis and permanently prevent similar situations throughout the nation, I have introduced bipartisan legislation in the House of Representatives known as the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act (or simply, the Inclusion Act). With the stakes so high, and the urgency so great, the support of each branch of government is needed. Right now, all eyes are on the courts, specifically the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.
CSS filed an emergency petition with the Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit seeking the temporary relief that was denied by the lower court. Will the Court of Appeals provide desperately needed relief to allow families and children stay together and to continue receiving critical support from CSS that they have relied on for decades? Or will the courts let the needs of vulnerable children be trumped by leftist identity politics?
The answer to this question will say a lot about the character of our commonwealth and of our country.
Congressman Mike Kelly has been the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District since 2011.
