An Analysis of Massachusetts Adoption Laws and the Closing of Catholic Charities Adoption Services
The Gospel According to the State: An Analysis of Massachusetts Adoption Laws and the Closing of Catholic Charities Adoption Services
Matthew W. Clark, 41 Suffolk U. L. Rev. 871 (2008)
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In Part II, this Note discusses constitutional principles and developments concerning church and state separation as well as Massachusetts state principles of Establishment and Free Exercise. Part II then addresses Massachusetts adoption laws, specifically the roles played by religion and sexual orientation in the best interests of the child standard. Additionally, Part II examines the history of Catholic Charities and its relation to the Catholic Church and its teachings, focusing on adoption services as an essential manifestation of Catholic worship and practice. Finally, Part III argues that an exemption for religious organizations in Massachusetts adoption laws would not violate current principles of the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses. This Note suggests that by declining to provide an exemption for religious adoption agencies, the Massachusetts legislature has chosen to protect the interests of a small group of potential parents with only a state-created, and not fundamental, right to adoption. Ultimately, this Note concludes that, under the guise of promoting equality, Massachusetts has lost its most successful adoption agency and contravened the central principle of its enacted adoption laws: to serve the best interests of the child.