Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Penn., has introduced a bill to protect federal funding for religious foster care and adoption agencies after the city of Philadelphia cut off funding to a religious foster care agency for refusing to place children with a same-sex couple.
Philadelphia suspended its contract with Catholic Social Services after a same-sex couple reported that their attempt to become certified as foster parents was denied after the agency discovered they were gay. A federal judge ruled in July that the city did not violate the agency’s religious liberties by suspending its contract.
"The originators in foster care and adoptive care are being targeted by political opportunists," Kelly claimed in an interview with the Washington Free Beacon. "They're going to starve these organizations and shut off critical revenue streams for these programs. … The litmus test is are you concerned for the children or eliminating anyone that doesn't agree with you."
Kelly’s Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act would prevent agencies that receive and distribute federal funding from excluding religious organizations for “their deeply held religious beliefs.”
The congressman first introduced this bill in March, 2015, after several states began denying contracts to religious adoption and foster care organizations that would not work with same-sex couples.
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