June 28, 2009

Gay Rights Hinder UK Adoption Agency

Westminster Diocese Will No Longer Place Children

LONDON, JUNE 26, 2009 (Zenit.org).- New gay rights legislation in Great Britain has forced one of the oldest adoption agencies in the nation to cease providing key services.

The Catholic Children's Society of the Archdiocese of Westminster announced last week it will cease placing children with adoptive and foster parents due to the enactment of the Sexual Orientation Regulations -- part of the 2006 Equality Act -- that stipulates that same-sex couples should be given equal consideration as prospective parents.

The agency, founded in 1859, said complying with the new regulations would go against Church teaching on marriage and the family, reports the Catholic Herald today.

The same regulations also caused the closing of the Catholic Children's Rescue Society of the Diocese of Salford last year.

A spokesman of the agency's trustees said the agency was "forced into this position as a result of the Government's Sexual Orientation Regulations."

The news laws contradict the agency's current "criterion that couples coming forward must be married as man and wife," the spokesman said.

"In the unanimous view of the trustees it would be totally unacceptable for our Catholic agency to act in a way that is at odds with the teaching of the Church," he added.

The agency will continue to support adoptions it has facilitated with counseling and other services.