‘Punched in the gut’: Jewish couple was denied adoption due to religion, lawsuit says
A Jewish couple is suing the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, saying a state-sponsored adoption agency declined to help them because of their religion.
At the beginning of 2021, Elizabeth and Gabriel Rutan-Ram were making plans to adopt a child from Florida, according to a news release from Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the nonprofit organization that filed the lawsuit on their behalf. Before they could do so, they had to complete state-mandated foster-parent training and receive a home-study certification.
The child they were hoping to adopt had a disability, and the couple wanted to provide him a “loving and nurturing home” in Knox County, the lawsuit said.
The two of them turned to the only agency near them that would help out with an out-of-state adoption. But on the day they were set to begin their foster-parent training, they were told by the agency, Holston United Methodist Home for Children, that it only provided help to prospective families that “share our [Christian] belief system,” the lawsuit said.
As a result, the lawsuit said, the couple was left unable to foster or adopt the child, as no other agencies in the Knox County area could provide the services necessary for out-of-state adoptions.
“I felt like I’d been punched in the gut,” Liz Rutan-Ram told Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “It was the first time I felt discriminated against because I am Jewish. It was very shocking. And it was very hurtful that the agency seemed to think that a child would be better off in state custody than with a loving family like us.”
The couple, along with “six other Tennessee taxpayers,” sued the government agency, saying that state-funded child placing agencies and services should not be able to discriminate against prospective parents or families on the basis of religion. The lawsuit also urges the department to cut ties with Holston for as long as the agency continues to deny services on that basis.
The Department of Children’s Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on Thursday, Jan. 20.
Holston United Methodist Home for Children responded to the lawsuit in an emailed statement to McClatchy News. In the statement, Brad Williams, a top leader with the agency, said everything Holston does “is guided by our religious views.”
“We seek to be a force for good, living out the words of Christ to care for children and ‘the least of these,’ and it is vital that Holston Home, as a religious organization, remains free to continue placing at-risk children in loving, Christian families, according to our deeply held beliefs,” Williams said. “We view the caregivers we partner with as extensions of our ministry team serving children.”
Williams also said the agency would help people who were refused service to find other agencies that could help them, and that “finding other agencies is not hard to do.”
“Vulnerable children should not lose access to Christian families who choose to become foster or adoptive parents,” Williams said. “Holston Home places children with families that agree with our statement of faith, and forcing Holston Home to violate our beliefs and place children in homes that do not share our faith is wrong and contrary to a free society.”
Four of the plaintiffs joining the Rutan-Rams are faith leaders from elsewhere in the state — one is an interfaith pastor, one a Disciples of Christ minister, one a Christian minister and one a Unitarian Universalist minister. The other two are a retired psychologist who has prior experience working with foster and adoptive children and the treasurer of the organization’s Tennessee chapter, the release said.
The lawsuit accuses the state of Tennessee of allowing child-placing agencies to discriminate based on religion and said the agency never told the Rutan-Rams they didn’t serve Jewish people until the day they were supposed to start their training.
It also says that allowing child-placing agencies that receive state funding to refuse services on the basis of religion violates Tennessee’s constitution, alleging that the Department of Children’s Services is violating the law.
The lawsuit pushes the department to stop providing funding to Holston as long as the agency continues to “discriminate, in services or programs funded by the Department, based on the religious beliefs of prospective or current foster parents.” The plaintiffs are also seeking to recoup attorney’s fees and expenses.
The couple is fostering and hopes to adopt a teenage girl from another agency. They also hope to adopt another child in the future, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit is the state’s first to challenge a law that allows adoption agencies to deny services to families if their moral or religious beliefs are at odds with one another, according to The Knox News. That measure was signed into law about two years ago, the outlet reported.
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