Should Adoption Agencies Be Able to Reject Prospective Parents for Religious Reasons?

A trio of bills working their way through the Michigan Legislature would guarantee that faith-based adoption agencies can continue to operate—and can even receive state funding—if they object to prospective parents on religious grounds.

Many faith-based adoption agencies prefer to place children with a married man and woman, a preference critics say discriminates against gay, lesbian and single parents.

In an interview with The Daily Signal, state Rep. Andrea LaFontaine, R-Columbus, said she noticed faith-based adoption agencies that refused to violate their religious beliefs were closing in other states.

She wanted to be “proactive” about preventing that from happening in Michigan.

LaFontaine said the legislation makes clear that if an agency rejects prospective adoptive parents on religious grounds, the agency must refer them to another agency that can serve them.

“This doesn’t shut a door in anyone’s face,” she said.

LaFontaine said the legislation is intended to “preserve the existing legal process.”

She noted the Michigan state government has a “great relationship” with faith-based agencies, which is one of the reasons why Michigan has an 80 percent adoption placement rate.

LaFontaine said that of the 62 adoption agencies in Michigan, 17 are faith-based.

“We want the most options to find children a forever home,” LaFontaine said.

State Rep. Eric Leutheuser, R-Hillsdale, told The Daily Signal state funding for faith-based adoption agencies should not be questioned.

“These agencies do valuable work for cents on the dollar,” Leutheuser said. “For the state to duplicate it would be impossible.”

Leutheuser added that agencies receive funding only after a child is placed with a family.

Therefore, there is no financial benefit to a faith-based agency that refers parents to a secular agency.

Both Leutheuser and LaFontaine stressed that the legislation “codifies” the current adoption process in Michigan.

Critics of the legislation say that the bills would allow agencies to discriminate against gay and lesbian couples.

“Studies have shown that gay and lesbian parents are more likely to adopt special needs children. And in states that are gay-friendly, the number of adoptions is higher than in states that are gay-unfriendly, which is what Michigan is,” state Rep. Marcia Hovey-Wright, D-Muskegon, told MLive.com.

Ryan Anderson, the William E. Simon fellow in religion and a free society at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal that any good adoption policy puts “the best interests of children first.”

“The proposed legislation would protect a diversity of private providers and their ability to operate according to their values—and with families that share those values,” Anderson said.

“It’s good public policy,” he added. “It makes it more likely that the greatest possible number of children will be connected with permanent, loving families. Provided agencies meet basic requirements protecting the welfare of children, they should be free to operate according to their values, especially their religiously informed beliefs about marriage.”

A spokeswoman for Michigan’s Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, told MLive that she supports the legislation.