Hi there,

My name is Aimee Maddonna. I was discriminated against by a taxpayer-funded foster care agency in South Carolina because I’m Catholic. Since then, the Trump administration has doubled down on allowing this discrimination: first statewide, then nationwide.

With the help of Americans United, I’m taking the federal government and my home state to court. A religious litmus test should not be allowed to deny children the loving families they deserve, not when so many children are waiting for forever homes.

I want to briefly share my experience with you in the hope that you will contact your members of Congress and urge them to support the Every Child Deserves a Family Act, to ensure that no one in the foster care system is discriminated against.

My father grew up in foster care, and his choice to open our home to hundreds of kids in foster care inspired me to do the same. Through Miracle Hill Ministries, the largest foster care provider in South Carolina, my family applied to volunteer with kids in the agency’s care.

When Miracle Hill told us that we were a great fit, our whole family was elated, including our three kids. But then the agency asked what church we attended. That’s when they learned we are Catholic.

They told us we are the wrong kind of Christians – Miracle Hill accepts only evangelical Protestants. They rejected us from volunteering with children, as they have also rejected Jewish parents and same-sex couples.

It was demoralizing, and it was very difficult for my family – but it's children in foster care who pay the biggest price. They need and deserve to have someone looking out for them – and the government is taking that away.

That is just wrong. A taxpayer-funded foster care agency should not be allowed to deny children loving homes by discriminating against qualified parents because of the agency’s religious beliefs.

Since they turned us away, Miracle Hill has faced public backlash that has led them to consider Catholics and Orthodox Christians—but only those who sign Miracle Hill’s evangelical Protestant statement of faith. That’s something I can’t do, and Miracle Hill shouldn’t be able to require it.

Plus, Miracle Hill still holds on to its discriminatory ways. Jewish, Muslim, and nonreligious families are still all excluded.

If you want to help, please urge your members of Congress to support the Every Child Deserves a Family Act. It is a permanent solution that would end this harmful practice.

It’s not right that children are losing out on safe, happy, loving homes – especially when “religious freedom” is being used to justify it.

I hope you’ll join me in supporting this legislation.

Thank you,

Aimee Maddonna