No Jews, LGBTQ Can Be Parents At This Adoption Agency But It Gets U.S. Funding

Image by Getty Images

By Josefin Dolsten January 24, 2019

The Trump administration is allowing a South Carolina organization to receive federal foster care funding despite refusing to work with non-Christians or LGBTQ families.

The decision, which the Department of Health and Human Services announced on Wednesday, violates a policy that forbids such discrimination for groups receiving federal funding. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster had asked in March for his state to be exempted from the Obama-era regulations.

The Greenville-based Miracle Hill Ministries came into the spotlight after turning away a woman because she is Jewish.

The Anti-Defamation League and the Reform movement slammed the decision.

ADL Executive Director Jonathan Greenblatt called the waiver “clearly unlawful” and said it “will not hold up in court.”

“It is shocking that the federal government is openly sanctioning discrimination against Jews, LGBTQ and others,” Greenblatt said in a statement. “Allowing a taxpayer-funded agency to discriminate against Jews and other minorities is outrageous and sets a dangerous precedent for our nation.”

Rabbi Jonah Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, called Miracle Hill’s restrictions “nonsensical and hurtful” in a statement on behalf of the Reform movement.

“As Jews, we know too well that state-backed religious discrimination quickly becomes a stain on the nation,” he said. “Let us not limit opportunities for vulnerable youth to find safe and supportive homes.”

The post Trump administration allows funding for foster agency that rejects non-Christians appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Josefin Dolsten is a New York-based writer who has reported for the Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Times of Israel and other Jewish publications. She currently works as an account director at Fenton Communications, supporting organizations that work to advance racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights and more. Dolsten earned her B.A. in government from Cornell University and her M.A. in comparative religion and Jewish studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO