Adoption agency Catholic Care has lost an appeal against a ruling by the first-tier charity tribunal that it cannot alter its memorandum of association to exclude same sex couples from using its services.
The religiously focused agency had wanted to change a part of its memorandum to read:
“The Charity shall only provide adoption services to heterosexuals and such services to heterosexuals shall only be provided in accordance with the tenets of the Church. For the avoidance of doubt the Roman Catholic Bishop ofLeedsfrom time to time shall be the arbiter of whether such services and the manner of their provision fall within the tenets of the Church.”
But their request was rejected and their appeal was also dismissed by Hon. Mr Justice Sales.
The Charity Commission, which had opposed the agency’s proposal, said:
“We welcome the ruling of the upper tribunal dismissing the appeal against the judgment of the first-tier charity tribunal. That judgment upheld the commission’s decision not to agree to a change of charitable objects of Catholic Care to restrict its adoption services to heterosexual prospective adoptive parents.”
Catholic Care said its future was now in doubt:
“The reason for this is that the service permitted by the current constitution is in conflict with the aims of the charity. It is Catholic Care’s view that this will reduce the number of adoptive parents available and the number of children left waiting for adoptive parents will continue to increase. Catholic Care will now take time to consider the decision in detail and decide on its next steps.”
