The agency only places children in homes with married mother and father.
QUICK FACTS:
- A U.S. federal judge gave a faith-based adoption service a victory by permanently preventing the state of New York from terminating the provider because of its Christian convictions.
- New Hope Family Services, which is a Christian-based adoption and foster care agency, operates by only placing children in biblically based families with a married mother and father.
- The agency was threatened by the New York Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), who claimed the practice was discriminatory.
- The agency said that New Hope must comply with state law that disallowed prohibiting adoption based on sexual orientation.
- OCFS claimed that they would be “required to submit a close-out plan for the adoption program” if the agency didn’t adhere to the policy.
- New Hope sued OCFS, saying the state was violating their first amendment rights by forcing them to consider facilitating the adoption of families outside of their view of the biblical family unit.
- Following a First Amendment-based suit, U.S. District Judge Mae D’Agostino issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the state from forcing the agency closure for disallowing same-sex and cohabiting couples.
COMMENTS FROM THE JUDGE AND PLAINTIFF’S ATTORNEY:
- “New Hope has succeeded on the merits of its First Amendment claim against OCFS,” the judge wrote. “[T]he loss of First Amendment freedoms, even for minimal periods of time, unquestionably constitutes irreparable injury. … [T]he balance of the hardships is in New Hope’s favor; it faces harm to its rights under the First Amendment and is subject to closure if the Court does not issue a permanent injunction.”
- The agency was represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, which said that the court’s decision is “great news for children waiting to be adopted and for the parents partnering with New Hope Family Services to provide loving, stable homes.”
- ADF Senior Counsel Roger Brooks went on to say that New Hope is a private religious ministry that “doesn’t take a dime from the government. Shutting down an adoption provider for its religious beliefs – needlessly and unconstitutionally reducing the number of agencies willing to help – benefits no one – certainly not children. New Hope’s faith-guided services don’t coerce anyone and do nothing to interfere with other adoption providers who have different beliefs about family and the best interests of children.”
BACKGROUND:
- Adoption by LGBTQ couples was legalized in all 50 states in 2016, and as of the last decade, it is estimated that between 6 and 14 million children have a gay or lesbian parent, according to the Adoption Network.
- Same-sex couples have faced barriers to seeking adoption, however, including those living with their biological parents. It’s estimated that between 8 and 10 million children are being raised in gay and lesbian households.
- States with the most gay and lesbian parents are Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, California, New Mexico, and Alaska, with the state of California having the highest number of adopted children living with same-sex parents.
