TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas House has rejected a bill that would have allowed adoption and foster care contractors to refuse placements to gay and lesbian couples based on religious grounds.

CREDIT MADELINE FOX / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
The House voted down the measure Thursday, hours after the state Senate approved nearly identical legislation. The bill now goes to a conference committee, where lawmakers from the House and the Senate will negotiate a final bill.
Sen. Barbara Bollier, of Mission Hills, called the legislation “sick discrimination.” But supporters of the bill say it’s needed to attract more organizations to help in adoptions.
In other parts of the country, the American Civil Liberties Union has taken adoption agencies to court over similar policies. ACLU of Kansas says it would be willing to do so as well.
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By Peyton Kraus
KU Statehouse Wire Service
TOPEKA — More than 7,000 Kansas children were in the foster care system in 2017, but only about 2,700 families were licensed for foster care. according to the Department of Children and Families.
At that rate, each licensed family would need to host on average two or three children in their home in order to place every child.
On Thursday the Senate passed HB2481 as amended creating the Adoption Protection Act, which gives faith-based agencies the right to not place children into certain homes if such placement would conflict with the agency’s religious values. The bill could cause a bigger need for even more licensed foster care families as some currently qualified families could be rejected in the future because of an agency’s religious values. This would mean placement agencies could restrict same-sex couples or single-parents from fostering Kansas children.
Controversial debate arose during Wednesday’s debate between senators as emotions tied to both religious beliefs and personal lives came into play. Senators Mary Pilcher-Cook (R-Shawnee), Caryn Tyson (R-Parker) and Susan Wagle (R-Wichita) voiced their concerns on the remarks about Catholicism during debate.
“The prejudice displayed yesterday toward the Catholic faith was extremely disappointing,” Wagle said. “The faith that houses, clothes, feeds and provides health care to people all over the world was referred to as ‘sick.’ The faith that teaches love is the greatest commandment and that love is shared with every person, all who are created in God’s image, including immigrants, LGBT individuals and those with disabilities was mocked for its beliefs.”
After voting in support of the bill Thursday, Tyson said she supported families wishing their children to be placed in a home aligning with religious values.
“No one should be forced to choose between giving up a child–or adoption–or living by one’s deepest religious convictions,” Tyson said. “For too long, governments big and small have treated conscious clients with hostility instead of protection.”
Although it passed with a 28-12 vote, HB2481 had the highest number of opponents on any bill voted on by the Senate on Thursday Opponents of the controversial issue spoke out on their reasons for voting against the bill. Their arguments against the bill included needing the focus on the child being placed in any loving home, as well as barring any possibility of discrimination for foster care families.
Sen. Ed Berger (R-Hutchinson) said his experience working with foster care children in Wichita showed him the importance of focusing on the child during the placement process and their needs, despite what their foster-family might include otherwise.
“Those young people didn’t care if they were placed in a single-sex home, a single-parent home or a faith-based home,” Berger said. “All they wanted was a loving family relationship. We owe that to these children.”
Sen. Lynn Rogers (D-Wichita) expressed similar thoughts after voting against the bill in order to keep the priority of the agencies and the financial assistance they are given on the needs of the child, especially in cases which their parents have already given up parental rights. He also said the bill is decreasing more the necessary amount of foster care families through discrimination while using state financial assistance.
“Foster placement and adoption should make the needs of the child the first priority,” Rogers said. “This bill seeks to disqualify those already qualified for foster placement and it allows companies to discriminate with state tax revenue.”
Peyton Kraus is a University of Kansas junior majoring in journalism from Minneapolis.