{"id":1994742,"date":"2023-08-08T19:37:05","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T23:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blue-state-bars-christian-couple-from-fostering-children-because-of-religious-beliefs-lawsuit\/"},"modified":"2023-08-08T19:38:34","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T23:38:34","slug":"blue-state-bars-christian-couple-from-fostering-children-because-of-religious-beliefs-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blue-state-bars-christian-couple-from-fostering-children-because-of-religious-beliefs-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian couple barred from fostering due to religious beliefs &#8211; lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fblue-state-bars-christian-couple-from-fostering-children-because-of-religious-beliefs-lawsuit%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1994742&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>A Catholic \u2064Couple Fights for Their Right to Foster Children<\/h2>\n<p>A Catholic\u200c couple in Massachusetts is\u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wisconsin-school-district-sued-after-teachers-gender-transition-announcement\/\" title=\"Wisconsin school district faces lawsuit over teacher's gender transition announcement.\">taking\u200b legal \u200caction<\/a> against state\u200c officials\u2063 who allegedly denied them\u2063 the opportunity to foster children based \u200don \u200btheir religious beliefs about marriage and sexuality. According to court\u2064 documents, Mike and Catherine \u200b&#8221;Kitty&#8221; Burke went through the certification process to\u2063 become foster parents in 2022, but were deemed unfit by the Massachusetts\u2064 Department\u200d of Children and \u2063Families after a series of home visits.<\/p>\n<p>The Burkes have filed \u2062a lawsuit \u200dwith\u200c the Becket Fund for \u2063Religious Liberty, claiming that the state \u2064deliberately discriminated against\u200c them because\u200b of their faith. In a\u200b news release, they \u200dexpressed their devastation \u2064at\u200d the decision, stating, &#8220;We were absolutely devastated to learn that Massachusetts would\u2062 rather children\u200d sleep in the\u200d hallways of hospitals than \u2062let us welcome children in need \u2062into our\u2062 home.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>During\u200c the home visits, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blue-state-bars-christian-couple-from-fostering-children-because-of-religious-beliefs-lawsuit\/\" title=\"Christian couple barred from fostering due to religious beliefs - lawsuit\">couple faced \u200cnumerous questions<\/a> about their beliefs on gender, sexuality, and marriage. They made it\u2062 clear that they would love and care for \u2062any child, regardless of \u2063their sexual orientation or gender identity. However, they\u200d also expressed\u200b their belief \u200bin living a &#8220;chaste life&#8221; and\u2063 their\u200d desire to have conversations with \u200cthe\u2063 child about \u200bthese topics. Additionally, they stated their belief \u2063that marriage \u2062should\u2063 be \u200dbetween\u200d a man and \u2063a woman and that they would not\u200c support a medical gender\u200b transition for \u200dtheir child.<\/p>\n<p>After the\u2062 visits,\u200b the Burkes&#8217; application was \u2064sent to the Department of\u200d Children and Families&#8217; Licensing Review \u200bTeam, which ultimately\u200d rejected their application\u2063 due to concerns about their views on LGBTQIA placement. This decision has left the department \u200bwith \u200ba shortage of foster\u200d families, resulting in\u2063 children being held in hospitals instead of being placed in loving homes.<\/p>\n<p>Lori Windham, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, emphasized the importance of families\u2064 like the\u2063 Burkes\u200c in \u200dproviding vulnerable children with loving homes\u2062 through foster care. She questioned \u200bhow Massachusetts could justify\u200d leaving these \u200cfamilies, and \u200cfamilies of other faiths, \u200bout in the cold and failing to provide homes for children in need.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>#BREAKING: Massachusetts is banning loving, qualified couples from welcoming vulnerable\u200d children \u200binto loving homes through the state&#8217;s foster care \u200dprogram. Why? Because of their\u2063 religion.\u2064 We&#8217;re going\u2062 to court to stop it. Read the\u2064 complaint: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/F5QVX5kQVH\">https:\/\/t.co\/F5QVX5kQVH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 LoriWindham (@LoriWindham1) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LoriWindham1\/status\/1688952241682792448?\">August 8, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Massachusetts Executive Office for the Department of Health \u2062and Human Services and DCF commissioner&#8217;s \u2064office have not yet responded to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<div class=\"disclaimer\">\n<p><em>All content created by the \u2064Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent \u200band <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-weighs-in-on-deadly-subway-clash-after-desantis-calls-marine-a-good-samaritan\/\" title=\"Trump Weighs In on Deadly Subway Clash After DeSantis Calls Marine a 'Good Samaritan'\">nonpartisan newswire service<\/a>, is available without charge to \u2063any\u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lone-gop-rep-threatens-foundational-piece-of-bidens-agenda-and-hes-not-budging\/\" title=\"GOP Rep. Refuses to Support Key Part of Biden's Agenda\">legitimate \u2063news publisher<\/a> \u200bthat can provide a\u2063 large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter&#8217;s byline, and\u200b their DCNF affiliation.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>For any questions about \u2063our guidelines or \u200cpartnering\u200c with us, \u200cplease contact <a href=\"mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>The \u2064post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/blue-state-bars-christian-couple-fostering-children-religious-beliefs-lawsuit\/\">Blue State\u2062 Bars Christian Couple \u200dfrom Fostering Children Because\u200b of Religious Beliefs \u2063- Lawsuit<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\">The Western Journal<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Catholic couple in Massachusetts is suing state officials for allegedly denying them the opportunity to foster children based on their religious views on marriage and sexuality. Mike and Catherine Burke completed the certification process to foster children in 2022 but were deemed unsuitable by authorities, according to court documents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1507,"featured_media":1994743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1994742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1994742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1507"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1994742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1994742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1994743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1994742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1994742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1994742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}