Bethany Christian Services, the country’s largest Protestant adoption and foster care agency, will begin serving LGBTQ couples, a significant change for the evangelical agency.
Bethany, which is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with offices in 32 states, including an office in Mobile, announced the change in a March 1 email to employees. Its board of directors approved the policy change in January after nearly a decade of internal discussion.
An agency spokesperson said it has already been working with LGBTQ families in about 12 states.
Long-running debate
Over the past several years, faith-based adoption and foster care agencies and civil liberties groups have been at odds with one another, with civil liberties groups claiming that religious groups receiving government funding should not exclude anyone.
Many faith-based adoption and foster agencies have come under increasing pressure over the past decade as city, state and federal authorities have added LGBTQ non-discrimination policies.
In a 2020 Barna Group survey of 667 self-identified Christians, 55% of respondents said either that sexual preference should not determine who can foster or adopt, or that it was better for children to be in an LGBTQ home than in foster care. Approximately 75% of respondents agreed, at least somewhat, that it would be better for Christian agencies to comply with government requirements pertaining to the LGBTQ community rather than shut down.
Share with others: