Gay rights law forces diocese to end adoption work
By Simon Caldwell
25 April 2008

A Catholic diocese has pulled out of adoption work because it cannot accept Labour's new laws on homosexual rights.

The Diocese of Nottingham will cut ties with the Catholic Children's Society (CCS) because it believes it is unable to comply with laws compelling it to place children in the care of same-sex couples.

Bishop Malcolm McMahon of Nottingham said he and the trustees of the charity felt they had been forced into the decision by the Sexual Orientation Regulations that were rushed into law last year to ban discrimination in the provision of goods and services.

"We have been coerced into this, I am not happy about it at all," said the Dominican bishop.

"The regulations have coerced the children's society into going against the Church's teaching and we don't wish to do that."

A Vatican directive of 2003 said that to allow gay couples to adopt would be to commit "violence" against the children involved.

The Nottingham agency, which finds new homes for 25 children a year, will become the third of 13 Catholic adoption agencies in Britain to either close or become a secular agency since the law was passed.

The Catholic agencies had been granted until the end of 2008 to comply with the regulations.

But it is becoming increasingly evident that they are under huge pressure either to part company with the Church or to close down altogether.

Last July Catholic Care in the Diocese of Leeds stopped a service that found new families for 20 children a year.

The Nottingham CCS will follow the route of the smaller Catholic agency in Northampton, the St Francis Children's Society, and become a secular institution with a "broad-based" Christian character.

From October it will merge with Family Care, the adoption agency of the Anglican Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham, to form a new agency, but one which will not be formally linked to the Churches and will be able to place children in the care of gay couples.

There will be no more parish-based appeals for help with running costs, leaving the taxpayer to foot the bill for the adoption work exclusively.

Bishop McMahon said the trustees were trying to salvage the best of the agency's work and to prevent redundancies.

They announced the decision in a letter to the priests of his diocese.

He told them that Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor had "attempted to bring about a political solution which would have exempted these Catholic charities from the Act".

But, he added, "it rapidly became apparent to the trustees and myself that it would not be possible to comply with the legislation, follow Catholic teaching and continue to support effectively those families who have generously adopted children in the past".

He said: "Sadly, I am writing to you to inform you that the only way in which we can protect the historical work of the society and ensure the ongoing support of families and their children is to break the bond between the diocese and the society and allow a different future to emerge. There is great sadness about this decision."

Steve Hargrave, the chief executive of Family Care, said that both the Catholic and Anglican agencies were committed to maintaining the needs of vulnerable children and families at the heart of their work.

He said: "The merger will enable us to strengthen and maintain our existing adoption and adoption support services, whilst providing the opportunity to continue to develop new ways of supporting children and families."

The Nottingham agency was founded in 1948 by the Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace. It will celebrate its 60th anniversary on May 18. It acts by finding couples and individuals willing to adopt and preparing them to meet legal and local authority criteria for adoption. They are then matched with children put up for adoption by social workers. Evidence suggests the best way to provide a better future for tens of thousands of children who live either in care homes or with temporary foster parents is to give them a permanent family through adoption.

As Prime Minister, Tony Blair pushed through laws designed to encourage greater use of adoption in 2002, and as part of the reforms gay couples were legally allowed to adopt for the first time.

The gay rights laws, introduced under the 2006 Equality Act, later stipulated that adoption agencies which rejected same-sex couples could be breaking the law. The remaining Catholic adoption agencies - which together find new families for nearly 250 children a year - are still considering ways of remaining open in spite of the regulations.

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor told the Cabinet in an open letter last year that any closures would be "wholly avoidable" if the Church was granted an exemption. But faced with a Cabinet rebellion Mr Blair refused to offer the Catholic adoption agencies a way out.

However, the Government is still struggling to find new homes for many of the 4,000 children in care, according to official figures released late last year. They revealed a 13 per cent fall in the number of children adopted in spite of a target to increase adoptions by 50 per cent.