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Largest Protestant adoption agency in US opens to LGBTQ parents
The Hill ^ | 1st March 2021 | JUSTINE COLEMAN

Posted on 03/01/2021 2:16:23 PM PST by Ennis85

The largest Protestant adoption and foster agency in the country has decided to open up its services to LGBTQ parents nationwide, a win for same-sex couples as several religious agencies have declined them services in the past, the company announced to staff Monday.

Chris Palusky, the president and chief executive of Bethany Christian Services, informed staff of the evangelical organization that the change would go into effect immediately, according to an email obtained by The New York Times. The adjustment comes as several cities and states have mandated that adoption agencies accept same-sex parents in order to receive government funding.

“We will now offer services with the love and compassion of Jesus to the many types of families who exist in our world today,” Palusky said in the announcement. “We’re taking an ‘all hands on deck’ approach where all are welcome.”

Previously, the Michigan-based organization in most states referred LGBTQ parents to different agencies, although the process was not official, Bethany leaders told the Times.

A lesbian Philadelphia couple’s story of being referred to a different agency in 2018 sparked outrage, leading the city to suspend contracts with Bethany’s local branch and another agency Catholic Social Services. Bethany later complied with the city’s requirements, while Catholic Social Services took the case to court, prompting the Supreme Court to hear arguments in November.

The following year, the agency took a similar position in Michigan after the state declared it wouldn’t fund agencies that didn’t open up adoptions to LGBTQ parents. Bethany branches in 12 states allowed LGBTQ families to adopt as of late 2020, according to the Times.

Bethany’s national board voted in January to approve an inclusivity resolution that removed its previous statement from 2007 that “God’s design for the family is a covenant and lifelong marriage of one man and one woman.”

The new policy does not directly mention LGBTQ parents but says, “Christians of mutual good faith can reasonably disagree on various doctrinal issues, about which Bethany does not maintain an organizational position.”

Bethany intends to provide training to all employees in the coming months including at its locations where employees have not worked with LGBTQ parents.

"These days, families look a lot different than they did when we started," Nate Bult, the senior vice president of public and government affairs, said in a statement. "And Bethany is committed to welcoming and serving all of them."

Adoption is more prevalent among the LGBTQ community with more than 20 percent of same-sex couples with children having an adopted child, while 3 percent of straight couples said the same, according to a 2016 report.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: gay; gayadoptions; homosexual; lgtb
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To: petitfour

Yep, it is ALL TOTAL EVIL!!


61 posted on 03/01/2021 3:48:46 PM PST by Bill of Rights FIRST
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To: Ennis85

This is why Russia stopped allowing orphans to be adopted to Americans. American agencies would not guarantee they would not give them to sodomites. This is one of the big reasons they passionately hate Putin.


62 posted on 03/01/2021 4:19:14 PM PST by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. .... )
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To: mrmeyer

The fact remains that most kids who are missing a mother or father tend to be simply fvkd up as they grow up. That is the same in a heterosexual situation and can only be compounded in the homosexual situation that has many more psychological ramifications.


63 posted on 03/01/2021 4:19:39 PM PST by shanover (...To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.-S.Adams)
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To: Ennis85

“It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.”
Luke 17-2


64 posted on 03/01/2021 4:36:47 PM PST by bakeneko
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To: Ennis85

We’re gonna need more millstones.


65 posted on 03/01/2021 4:39:04 PM PST by bakeneko
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To: Ennis85

They pretend to be a protestant Christian adoption Christian agency, but are not as they do not put God’s Word first and foremost. They are not concerned about children, only money. At judgment time, their staff and leadership are going to sorely disappointed and surprised.


66 posted on 03/01/2021 4:46:42 PM PST by Tudorfly (All things are possible within the will of God.)
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To: fwdude

Hope they are wearing asbestos shorts when they pass on.


67 posted on 03/01/2021 7:03:58 PM PST by Pining_4_TX ("War is the health of the state." Randolph Bourne)
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To: Socon-Econ
"“Protestant” and “Christian” aren’t always the same."


Nor are "Catholic" and Christian...
68 posted on 03/01/2021 8:01:50 PM PST by Bikkuri (If you're conservative, you're an "extremist." If you're liberal, you're an "activist.")
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To: fwdude
"scritinize"


Fw, I think you've invented a new word! (scrutinize and criticize?)
69 posted on 03/01/2021 8:04:10 PM PST by Bikkuri (If you're conservative, you're an "extremist." If you're liberal, you're an "activist.")
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