Scotland’s only remaining Catholic adoption agency has won a landmark legal battle to be allowed to retain its charitable status and place children according to its Catholic ethos.
The Scottish Charity Appeal Panel decided unanimously to overturn a previous ruling by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator that St Margaret’s Children and Family Care Society was in breach of equality legislation by only accepting as potential adopters Catholic couples who had been married for two years or more and wished to adopt within the framework of their faith.
A spokesperson for Glasgow-based St Margaret’s expressed relief that “the threat hanging over us has been lifted”.
The Church said the agency would continue its work as normal.
The archbishop of Glasgow and the society’s president, Philip Tartaglia, said the decision, which is binding, was “wise”.
Archbishop Tartaglia said the ruling meant that “families who are ready to adopt can look forward to the future with a little more serenity and children in great need can be placed into loving homes.
“St Margaret’s is a small agency which does great work for the wider community and helps transform the lives of some of the most vulnerable children in society. It would have been have been a great pity if it had been forced to close.”
There is, however, concern that organisations like St Margaret’s that have a strong Christian ethos will encounter difficulties under legislation permitting same-sex marriage which is being debated in the Scottish Parliament today.
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