Rogers v. HHS

Becket Role:
Counsel

Scoreboard

Decision:
Won
Decision Date:
September 29, 2023
Deciding Court:
U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina

Case Snapshot

South Carolina provides numerous opportunities for foster families to help care for children in need. The state licenses families directly, serving families and children without regard to religion, race, disability, sex, or sexual orientation. The state also partners with a diverse array of private agencies who help recruit additional homes for children in need of a loving foster family. Miracle Hill is one of these private agencies, placing foster children with foster families for over 80 years. In 2019, the ACLU sued South Carolina and the federal government for continuing to allow Miracle Hill to place foster children with state-licensed foster families. The ACLU argued that South Carolina and the federal government violated the law by working with a foster care ministry that required its staff, volunteers, and foster parents to share its religious beliefs. South Carolina is asking the federal court to reject the ACLU’s arguments. Accommodating the religious beliefs of a private foster agency that provides an important service to foster families and children does not violate the law.

Status

On September 29, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina ruled that the state can protect faith-based foster care ministries that serve children in need, both in this case and in Madonna v. HHS.

Case Summary

A helping hand rooted in faith

Across the nation, there are more than 400,000 children in foster care and a severe shortage of loving homes. In South Carolina alone, there are over 3,500 children in the foster care system and the state works hard to find loving homes for each child. To find more homes, the state partners with a diverse array of agencies that provide children with loving homes. They recruit from and serve specific communities that come together to address this crisis. As in many states, some of these providers are faith-based organizations.

One such agency is Miracle Hill, a religious non-profit that provides foster care support services to licensed foster parents, helping them serve children in the foster care system. Miracle Hill’s legacy of service is over 80 years old.

An essential ministry under fire

When new federal regulations threatened the ability of states to partner with religious foster agencies, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster worked with the federal Department of Health and Human Services to obtain a waiver that ensured that these ministries could continue to work with the state to place foster children in need.

The American Civil Liberties Union took to Twitter, asking people to help sue Governor McMaster for protecting religious freedom. A family who had never applied to the state to become foster parents then sued.

The law protects SC’s partnership with religious foster care ministries

The First Amendment protects South Carolina’s right to partner with faith-based ministries that serve children in need. In Fulton v. Philadelphia, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that religious ministries aren’t required to lay their beliefs aside to participate in the public square.

Maddonna v. HHS is a similar case brought by Americans United at the district court of South Carolina. On September 29, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina ruled that the state can protect faith-based foster care ministries that serve children in need in both cases. 


Importance to Religious Liberty:

  • Religious Freedom: The lawsuit claims that HHS, Governor McMaster, and other government officials are violating the Constitution’s Establishment and Equal Protection clauses. The lawsuit hoped to end the partnership with a religious agency and would create fewer choices for potential parents and fewer homes for children. Religious organizations must be free to act according to their faith, including when caring for children in need. The government cannot exclude religious groups by demanding they give up their religious beliefs to continue providing much needed social services
  • Public square: From its earliest days, America has been enriched by religious participation in the public square. Religious ministries, inspired by their beliefs, have often been the first ones to feed, clothe, and shelter their fellow Americans in need. We are all better off when Americans are empowered to live out their faith in a way that helps their fellow man.

Case Information

Becket Role:
Counsel
Case Start Date:
May 30, 2019
Deciding Court:
U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina
Original Court:
U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina
Practice Area(s):