Philadelphia's four-year court battle with a Catholic foster care agency over the organization's refusal to deal with same-sex partners came to a peaceful conclusion this fall, with the town agreeing to pay $2 million in legal expenses and extend the agency's contract.

The Court's Call

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed Philadelphia's judgment to cancel a contract with Catholic Social Services over the agency's refusal to consider same-sex married people as foster parents. This verdict remanded the matter to the appellate court. 

However, the town finally opted not to pursue many legal challenges and reached an agreement with the United States District Court on Oct. 1. City officials told The Inquirer that by settling, they avoided broadening the scope of a narrow verdict.

Deputy Mayor Cynthia Figueroa stated, "Certainly, this was not the outcome we wanted. But it was clear if we took this further down the road, we could actually open it up for radically changing other existing constitutional law."

The Action

The city was in agreement to pay $1.95 million in legal expenses to Becket Law, the law firm that represented Catholic Social Services. Catholic Social Services received an extra $56,000. 

Figueroa stated that the town spent low legal fees because it was represented in-house and by two unpaid law firms, Hogan Lovells and Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP.

In the contract, the town wrote that as a part of the settlement deal that it will be excluded from the city's nondiscrimination legislation that prevents town contractors from discriminating on the premise of race, gender, or sexual orientation. 

The agency's foster care contract for 2022 is worth $350,000. In addition, the deal needs the town to get together with the women listed within the claim, Sharonell Fulton and Toni Simms-Busch, each of whom had been long-term foster parents with CSS.

"We are grateful that our ministries can continue to serve people who rely on us, particularly foster children in need of a loving home," said Ken Gavin, an archdiocesan spokesperson.

As a direct result of the Supreme Court case, the city also eliminated an exception clause from its contracts, which was at the heart of the court's majority decision against Philadelphia.

The Clarification

The Supreme Court's judgment did not state that the city's nondiscrimination policy is unconstitutional in and of itself. However, instead of that, it had not been enforced neutrally because an exemption was not granted but was allowable by contract.

The city-states that it had not granted an exemption; however, Chief Justice John Roberts and also the five other justices in agreement together with his opinion concluded that the likelihood of degree of an exemption meant that the law could not be applied neutrally while not creating individual judgment calls regarding the facts of each case.

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. corrected his colleagues in a  legal opinion for failing to deal with the fundamental question of whether or not nondiscrimination rules will ever be lawful if they violate religious freedom.

He expressed that the ruling could still be confined well on dissolving paper obtainable in magic outlets because the town may merely erase the contract's exemption clause.

CSS is in agreement to show a warning on its website that it does not work with same-sex couples and to supply connections to agencies that do. CSS testified multiple times in court that it had never had to turn one away despite its policy of not working with same-sex married couples.

The foster care population has decreased from just about 6,000 to 4,160 children during the last four years. Still, Figueroa expressed, the more varied residences that are certified, the better.

About one-third of the foster care population nationwide is believed to be LGBTQ, whereas no census of Philadelphia's children in care has been conducted. According to Stephanie Haynes, executive director of Philadelphia Family Pride, a nonprofit organization that assists LGBTQ families in the region, this underscores the crucial need for foster parent representation.

Haynes remarked, "LGBTQ people are just as qualified to be foster parents as anyone else, and there's not any reason our families should be turned away, especially thinking about older kids and LGBTQ youth who may spend years in a group home before being placed with families."

The case might have had an even more significant impact if the court had addressed the broader issue of whether or not anti-discrimination regulations such as those in Philadelphia violate religious liberty. It is one of several lawsuits that directly involve child care agencies' religious freedoms and LGBTQ rights.

Figueroa said the four-year court struggle sparked discussions regarding a way to improve LGBTQ adolescents' service, like in the case of another agency, Bethany Christian Services. The agency presently represents married couples of a similar sex.

He further said, "That we lost felt devastating but … when you really drill down, we didn't lose where it was important. We could have taken the bait and fought this further and actually put other things in jeopardy, and I actually think we made the right decision at this moment."