SW News: A suit claims that Massachusetts foster care authorities wrongfully refused a Catholic couple's application to become foster parents because they adhere to Catholic teaching on marriage, sex, and gender.
Michael and Catherine Burke, the potential foster parents, live in Southampton, Massachusetts. Mike is an Iraq war veteran, a small-business owner, and an organist for multiple Diocese of Springfield parishes. Catherine aka Kitty is a small-business owner and a cantor for the Diocese of Springfield.
The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in the US District Court in Massachusetts. The lawsuit rejects the Department of Children and Families records claim that the Burkes are not supportive, saying they believe that all children should be loved and supported, and they would never reject a child placed in their home.
The devout catholic couple claims in their complaint that they uphold Catholic beliefs about marriage and sexuality and believe that children should not undergo procedures that attempt to change their God-given sex.
The pair regard themselves as having decent and honorable beliefs and consider the DCF's denial of their foster licence to be discriminatory and unconstitutional.
The couple was concerned that many of the department's queries were focused on their Catholic beliefs on sexual orientation and gender dysphoria, according to Becket Law, the legal team that is defending the Burkes.
Lori Windham, vice president and senior counsel at Becket said that it takes the heroic effort of parents like Mike and Kitty to provide vulnerable children with loving homes through foster care. 'Massachusetts’ actions leave the Burkes, and families of other faiths, out in the cold. How can they explain this to children waiting for a home?' she added.
Eleven DCF employees, including the department's commissioner Linda Spears and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services secretary Kate Walsh, were listed as defendants in the complaint.