Faith-Based Foster Care Waiver Fight Proceeds in South Carolina

A South Carolina woman may proceed on claims that the state and federal governments violated the First Amendment’s prohibition on state-sponsored religion by allowing an evangelical Christian foster care agency to insist that potential foster care parents adhere to its religious beliefs, a federal court said.

Aimee Maddonna, who is Catholic, plausibly alleged that South Carolina and the U.S. Health and Human Services Department unconstitutionally endorsed religion by allowing state-licensed, government-funded child placement agencies to reject prospective foster parents based on religious criteria, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina said Monday.

Maddonna also can move forward ...