wfn.org | Georgia children's home answers lawsuit, sees implications

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 1, 2002 News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-71B{441}

NOTE: For an earlier report, see UMNS story #361.

By Alice M. Smith*

ATLANTA (UMNS) - A lawsuit brought against the United Methodist Children's
Home, the Georgia Department of Human Resources and its chief executive, Jim
Martin, has far-ranging implications.

"This is potentially a ground-breaking case," said the Rev. Richard Puckett,
director of public relations and development for the Decatur, Ga., home. "It
could concern any religious-related institution that receives money from the
state of Georgia."

Filed in the Superior Court of Fulton County July 31 by seven Georgia
taxpayers, the lawsuit charges the home with using state funds to
discriminate in employment and to indoctrinate foster youth in religion.
Such action by the home, the lawsuit states, is in violation of the Georgia
Constitution, the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, and a
federal nondiscrimination law, specifically Section 702 of Title VII. The
children's home claims exemption as a religious institution from Section
702.

The charges of employment discrimination relate to Aimee Bellmore, a
counselor employed by the home, who says she was fired because she did not
"ascribe to UMCH's religious beliefs, including regarding homosexuality,"
and Alan Yorker, a psychologist, who says he was denied an employment
interview because he is Jewish.

In its Sept. 5 response to the lawsuit, the home states its employees must
be "Christian, married or celibate" and agrees that Yorker was denied an
interview because he is Jewish.

Before any individual - including Bellmore - goes to work at the home, he or
she must sign a statement outlining the United Methodist position on family,
marriage and human sexuality, part of which is taken directly from the
denomination's Book of Discipline.

The statement also says, "As a United Methodist Church institution, we
operate under the guidelines above. ... We do not believe that two persons
should engage in a sexual relationship outside of marriage. Any act of
sexual harassment, any sexual contact between staff members and residents of
the UMCH will not be tolerated." The same statement also contains a
paragraph prohibiting employees from smoking at any time on the grounds.

Two charges in the lawsuit that the home denies categorically are that the
home places youth struggling with gay or lesbian tendencies "in dangerous
psychological intervention therapies aligned with the home's religious
doctrine," and that the home requires every resident - regardless of their
faith commitment - to attend United Methodist church services.

Instead, Puckett elaborated in an interview, "We work with them to hook them
up with (their particular) religious body or faith. We take children of
other faiths; that (Christian belief) has never been a criterion. If a child
comes in that is a member of the Muslim faith, we try to hook them up with a
mosque."

While the lawsuit focuses on the issue of receiving state money to promote
religious beliefs, the religious component is only a part of the
comprehensive care the home provides to its residents, since the youth who
are placed there have been abused or neglected.

"We try to provide the holistic kind of support for the kids that leads to
their maturation and independence," Puckett said. The overall program
includes mental and physical health services, a social component that helps
residents establish good relationships with their peers and mentors, and an
educational component.

The money the home receives from the state is a per-diem amount for each
child placed in its care by the state, but the home also accepts private
placements. The per-diem state rate "covers about 50 percent of the cost to
keep a child," Puckett said.

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs seek a jury trial; the
reinstatement of Bellmore and the hiring of Yorker, with a monetary award
for lost compensation; the granting of an order forbidding the Department of
Human Resources from giving further grants to the home; and the
reimbursement by the home for funds it has received "at least since Alan
Yorker's rejection for employment up (until) it ceases ... violation of the
Georgia and
U.S. Constitution."

In addition to Bellmore and Yorker, the five other plaintiffs in the case
are Stephanie Swann, an assistant professor at the University of Georgia and
founder of YouthPride Inc. in Atlanta; Rabbi Joshua Lesser, rabbi of
Congregation Bet Haverim in Decatur; Thomas Morton, president of the Child
Welfare Institute, headquartered in Duluth; the Very Rev. Harry Pritchett,
rector emeritus of All Saints Episcopal Church in Atlanta; and Gloria
Rutherford, mother of a gay teen-age son and a board member of Parents,
Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

As with most lawsuits, this one likely will stretch out over a period of
months, Puckett said. Now that the home has answered the lawsuit, the next
phase will be a period of discovery that could include interrogatories and
depositions. "You can't predict a lawsuit's potential," he said. "It could
last for a while."

Meanwhile, the home continues its ministry with troubled youth. "It's a
challenge even without the lawsuit to give the very best care you care to
our kids," Puckett said. "We want to continue to try to do that. These are
important issues (in the lawsuit), but it does make it difficult sometimes
for us to continue to do the best we can (with regard to residents)."

As with all church agencies that operate on tight budgets, the home is
concerned about the potential cost of the lawsuit, Puckett said. "It's going
to cost a substantial amount of money to deal with a lawsuit of this size.
We're concerned about that, and we're going to try to formulate some plans
on how to deal with that."

# # #

*Smith is editor of the Wesleyan Christian Advocate, the newspaper of the
United Methodist Church's North and South Georgia annual conferences.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org