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Adoption agency's discrimination attempts split Church

Finance | 21 Oct 2008

The Charity Commission has rejected an application by a Catholic adoption agency to change its charitable aims so as to discriminate against homosexual couples seeking to adopt children.

The Catholic Children’s Society connected to the Archdiocese of Westminster sought to change its objects in order to provide adoption services exclusively to heterosexual married couples and individuals, contrary to the spirit of the Sexual Orientation Regulations 2007.

The charity hoped to exploit Regulation 18 of the Sexual Orientation Regulations which states that it is not unlawful for an organisation to provide benefits to individuals of one particular sexual orientation if it is acting in accordance with a charitable instrument - a provision originally designed to protect organisations that deliver services such as counselling to gay and lesbian people.

The Catholic Children’s Society (pictured) had sought to change its charitable objectives to include a reference to Catholic values, rather than simply to provide adoption services to heterosexual people.

Opposed by secularists

Moves by the Society to change its charitable objects were opposed by the National Secular Society (NSS), which wrote to the Commission lobbying for a rejection of the application.

Terry Sanderson, president of the NSS, said: “If the Catholic Children’s Society succeeds in this application to the Charity Commission we could well see a rush of religious groups wanting to change their charitable aims so they can continue discriminating against gay people, despite the will of parliament.

"It will shoot a hole right through these regulations that would render them next-to-meaningless.”

Five adoption agencies split from Church

A spokesperson for the Catholic Children’s Society said that following the Commission’s decision, the organisation will be conducting an internal review in collaboration with its solicitor. It will not, however, consider separating from its diocese as have five of the 11 Catholic adoption agencies operating in England and Wales.

The latest of these separations is that of the St David’s Children Society from the three dioceses in Wales with which it works.

St David’s, the longest-running adoption agency in Wales, will split from the Church and establish itself as an independent charity on 31 December 2008, the deadline for all agencies to comply with the Sexual Orientation Regulations.

Split from Church ‘responsible’

In a statement, St David’s said that in order to continue its good work, it will have to comply with the new legislation, but that compliance will necessitate a split from the Welsh Catholic dioceses. “This is the most responsible and transparent course of action,” the statement read.

“These changes are naturally tinged with sadness at the ending of a long-standing relationship, but the board of trustees is determined to make the transition as smoothly as possible, and without any detriment to the current high quality of services St David’s offers,” said chair of the board of trustees Dr Kevin Fitzpatrick.

“It is essential that our work evolves for those children who are currently looked after to have the joy and security of family life as soon as possible.”

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