Friend,

“It was demoralizing to hear that we are not good enough because we aren’t the right kind of Christians.”

That’s what Americans United client Aimee Maddonna told the U.S. Supreme Court today in a friend-of-the-court brief AU filed on behalf of her and three other families. They were turned away from helping children in foster care by taxpayer-funded agencies solely because they are the “wrong” religion or LGBTQ.

The Supreme Court case in question, Fulton v. Philadelphia, centers on a basic question: Can taxpayer-funded child care agencies working on behalf of the government use their religious beliefs to justify discrimination?

Here’s our equally basic answer: No.
Religious belief must not be used to harm others.

AU relies on your support to fight discrimination on the basis of religion, and we are reaching a pivotal moment. Please consider donating today to support our efforts: [link removed]

Far too many children languish in the foster care system as it is. Allowing taxpayer-funded agencies to use religious litmus tests to reject qualified families from providing stable homes to children in need is inexcusable and morally unacceptable. Still, it’s happening all over the country right now.

AU and Aimee Maddonna are taking the federal government and South Carolina to court to end this discrimination, and we’re making sure the Supreme Court hears her story, too. Aimee, a mother of three from Simpsonville, S.C., was turned away from helping children in foster care by a taxpayer-funded agency solely because she is Catholic – the “wrong” religion for the evangelical Protestant Miracle Hill Ministries.

Miracle Hill also rejected Lydia Currie, Eden Rogers and Brandy Welch – Lydia because she’s Jewish, and Eden and Brandy because they are Unitarian and a married, same-sex couple. Fatma Marouf and Bryn Esplin had a similar experience in Texas – a Catholic agency funded by the federal government wouldn’t let them foster refugee children because they are a married, same-sex couple

All of these families implored the Supreme Court to affirm that, especially in the midst of a pandemic that is putting millions of children in further jeopardy, discrimination must be rooted out of the foster care system now, not later.

If you want to help, please click here to join our efforts with a donation today: [link removed]

Thanks for your generous support. To read more about the brief we filed today, click here: [link removed]

Sincerely,

Ken Upton
AU Senior Litigation Counsel

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