Bill makes religion option in adoption decisions

Agencies would be allowed to reject prospective families based on religious grounds

The Texas house of representatives has approved a bill that would allow foster care and adoption agencies that receive state funding to refuse to place children with families they disapprove of on religious grounds, including families headed by gay or transgender people, atheists and others.

The bill, which was approved Wednesday and will now be considered by the Texas senate, would allow agencies to cite religious beliefs when making other decisions as well, including whether to provide teenagers in their care with access to contraception and abortion.

Supporters of the measure said it would uphold the religious freedom of social service providers and allow organizations to follow “faith-based” policies without worrying about potential discrimination lawsuits.

The measure’s approval by the house was celebrated by the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, which explicitly said in a statement that it would allow agencies to refuse to help teenagers obtain abortions or refuse to place children in the homes of same-sex couples.

“We look forward to a swift approval by the Senate and the governor’s signature, as this is a critical element of the foster care system reform,” said Jennifer Carr Allmon, the group’s executive director.

If the bill becomes law, the state would be forbidden from penalizing an agency — declining to renew a contract or license, for example — that cited religious objections when denying service to someone.

Advocacy groups said it might affect a wide range of prospective parents, including non-Christians, people in interfaith marriages or those who have been divorced and remarried.

Texas is grappling with a long-running crisis in its Child Protective Services division, which a federal judge ruled in 2015 had violated the consti- tutional rights of children under its care by exposing them to an unreasonable risk of harm.

The bill’s author, Rep. James Frank, said in a statement that it would help address the crisis by ensuring that faith-based adoption agencies are free to do their work without fear of litigation.

“At a time when we need all hands on deck, we face the real risk of seeing a large number of these providers leave the field, as they are forced to make the choice between devoting a substantial amount of resources in fighting litigation and other adverse action, or using those resources on other services to fulfil the tenets of their faith,” the statement said.

Frank, a Republican, said the bill would not keep anyone from providing a foster home for a child under state care.

He said it would require the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services “to ensure alternative providers are present to offer any service denied for reasons of sincerely held religious beliefs.”

Roughly 22,000 children in Texas are currently awaiting placement in foster homes, according to Rebecca Robertson, a critic of the bill and the legal and policy director for the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

She said that 252 children in the system died of neglect or abuse last year.