As reported in the Washington Post, the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington has ended its 80 year old foster care program in the District of Columbia because it was not willing to accept the "risk" that some same-sex couples might participate in the program. The 43 children, 35 families, and seven staff members that made up the program have been transferred to another foster care service provider, the National Center for Children and Families.

During the City Council's deliberation of the DC marriage equality bill, the Archdiocese demanded exemptions from non-discrimination laws in order to allow it to deny services to same-sex couples, and threatened to close down all of it's DC-based social services if the bill was passed without such exemptions, potentially affecting 80,000 low income people. In fact, exemptions for faith-based organizations were included in the bill, but the Archdiocese complained that they were not broad enough.

Now the Archdiocese has carried through with its threat with its foster care program. Please sign the petition below to tell Archbishop Donald Wuerl and Catholic Charities President and CEO Edward Orzechowski to let them know that you condemn this action and the Church's use of the foster care and other services as a political tool. If you are Catholic, a DC resident, gay, and/or a foster parent, by all means edit the letter to mention that as well.

For more articles on this issue and other similar actions by the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington (as well as a series of protest poems on the subject), visit http://newsericks.com/tag/wuerl.