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A federal court ruled in two cases Friday that religious foster agencies in South Carolina could remain open and continue their work partnering with the state to serve children in need.
In Rogers v. Health and Human Services and Maddonna v. Health and Human Services, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina decided that it is constitutional for South Carolina to work with faith-based foster care organizations to help children find homes.
The state of South Carolina works directly with families seeking to foster and adopt children in crisis situations and also partners with numerous private agencies that help find and support families for foster children in need of a safe place to live.
The ruling came down against the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Americans United for Separation of Church and State, who sued the HHS and Republican Gov. Henry McMaster in 2019 to try to stop the state from working with religious organizations in South Carolina.
In 2018, McMaster issued an executive order that protected the faith-based organizations and their constitutionally protected freedoms. However, the ACLU recruited individuals to sue South Carolina over the inclusion of faith-based agencies, like Miracle Hill, that only serve those who share their religious beliefs.
In both legal opinions, the court pointed out that those who sued the state "could [have] foster[ed] the same children at any of the twenty-six other private agencies in the State."
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"These two rulings from the U.S. District Court represent significant wins for religious liberty and South Carolina’s faith-based organizations like Miracle Hill, which will be able to continue their crucial mission of connecting children in foster care with loving homes," McMaster said in a statement following the ruling. "These victories will directly benefit countless children by further ensuring that faith-based organizations will not be forced to abandon their beliefs to help provide critical services to our state’s youth."
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represented the faith-based organizations in court, celebrated the ruling as a major victory for religious freedom.
"This is a major victory for the children in South Carolina’s foster care system who were at risk of losing out on loving homes," Lori Windham, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, said. "The attempt to shutter faith-based foster care agencies and decrease the number of foster homes for these kids violated the law and common sense. We are glad that South Carolina stood up for foster children and faith-based agencies and that the court protected them."
The ruling looked at precedent established by the Supreme Court in 2021 in Fulton v. Philadelphia, a unanimous decision that found Catholic Social Services’ had a constitutional right to stay faithful to its religious beliefs while still serving foster children in Philadelphia.
The ACLU and Americans United could appeal both decisions to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
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