It is a sad irony that one consequence of the Sexual Revolution has been that Christians are being barred with increasing frequency from caring for society’s orphans, even as abortion activists delight in accusing them of being callous to the fate of these children. I’ve heard many stories of Christians who are unable to become foster parents or adopt, with some discovering a good ways into the process. And in nearly every case, it is the very Christian beliefs that drew them to foster care or adoption that results in their rejection by government agencies.
One example of this went viral over the weekend, when Ontario resident Levi DenBok posted a photo of a letter he and his wife had recently received from Children’s Aid Services:
Dear Amanda and Levi,
Please accept this letter as acknowledgement of the closing of your file with our agency. Thank you for bringing to our attention that your family will be expanding again, and we want to congratulate you on this wonderful upcoming event.
We also want to let you know that the policies of our agency do not appear to fit with your values and beliefs and therefore, we will be unable to move forward with an approval for your family as a resource home.
We trust that do you understand this dilemma and we welcome your feedback or questions should any arise for you upon receipt of this letter.
Take care and we wish your family all the very best.
Respectfully,
[name redacted]
Levi denBok accompanied the photo with the following explanation:
I have been wrestling with whether or not I should post this…
I apologize in advance for the length of this post. Amanda and I have long felt that we were called to open up our home to foster and potentially to adopt. We love kids. We have enough food to share and enough space in our home and our hearts for a few more so we started a lengthy process with CAS.
We just received the letter that we have been rejected.
Here are some reasons why I was tempted not to share this:
I don’t intend to vilify CAS. They do a difficult and necessary work in our community. Even as I am disappointed with what has transpired, I still thank God for the work that they are doing.
I don’t intend to suggest that we are in any way martyrs. I’m not looking for consolation or empathy.
Here’s why I ultimately decided to share this:
I believe in the separation of church and state. The state can and should mandate behaviours. Laws are good. They keep us safe. But the state cannot and should not attempt to mandate belief. The state cannot impose its own ideals on its citizens. This has proven to be disastrous all throughout history. Whether the state is run by Christians, Muslims, or Secularists, it cannot coerce belief.
When I spoke with our worker on the phone, she affirmed that she believed that I would honour the mandates of CAS. I had agreed to obey every policy. And yet – she told me that she had to reject us because she knows that we hold values that differ from the values of CAS. Even if I obey the ideals of the program, she knows that my ultimate allegiance is to my God. For us to foster and adopt, we needed to do more than just obey – we needed to convert.
That is dangerous.
I want to let you, my friends, know that this is happening right now in Canada. There are too many kids who don’t have a forever family. There are too many kids that are trapped in the system. We opened our doors and we opened our hearts. We took a full day off of work and paid to put both of our kids in daycare for 10 sessions. We childproofed, we read, we counted the cost and we were in. We’re not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but we were ready to pour ourselves into one of the kids who has been left behind.
But we can’t do that. Because we’re Christians. In our interview, I was asked what kind of church I attended. She asked: “Are you one of those churches that still believes that the Bible is true? It was written thousands of years ago and, obviously, the world has changed.” She wasn’t trying to be rude, but as soon as she asked that question, I knew we were in trouble. And I was right.
Because of our answer to that question – because we believe that the Bible is true, and we live our lives accordingly – it was determined that a child would be better off homeless than living with us.
Again, I want to reiterate: CAS is not the enemy. Our worker was a wonderful woman who was simply following her orders. She was fond of us. We are fond of her. She’s involved in one of the most important callings in the world – she is responsible for the welfare of our orphans.
I’m just sad to know where we stand as a country. We would rather an orphan remain in the system than risk them being exposed to people like the denBoks. I’m sure that many of you find my faith to be odd – perhaps even off-putting. But would you go so far as to say that my faith disqualifies me from waking up in the middle of the night to rock a 3-month-old back to sleep while her mother detoxes? Because that’s where we’re at today.
Here’s the thing: Somebody has to wake up with that baby. Somebody has to feed them, structure their schedules around them, make weekly visitations with baby’s mom. We were up for that. If you’re ready to disqualify people of faith from this responsibility, then you’d better be up for opening up your home. Because there’s at least one more baby now that needs a home, and until further notice, we are going to have to sit on the sidelines.
Again, the DenBoks are not an exception. Christian parents are rejected with increasing frequency, and it is almost entirely due to the fact that they hold to Christian principles. On the other hand, gay couples are often prioritized by government agencies, despite their obvious inability to provide both a mother and a father. There is some indication that this trend will increase in the years to come.
And as always, vulnerable children will suffer the brunt of the Sexual Revolution.
Actually here in the United States, there is a story that has gone viral about a gay couple who adopted a 1 year old little girl and one of the men did abuse her for the entire adoption process and then ultimately killed her. I am not sure if the adoption was even final yet, but if I remember right, it was but had just become finalized a few weeks prior or it was about to be finalized in a few weeks. Whichever it was, those details weren’t the ones that I was concerned about. What concerned me was the fact that there was an adoption worker and a judge who had been overseeing this case the entire time this poor baby was being severely abused. She was hospitalized 3 times from major physical injuries such as a broken pelvis and 3 broken ribs. The injury that ended up killing her was a head injury. She also had prior head injuries that showed up on the autopsy. This little girl was being seriously beaten and abused the entire time that these men had her and the adoption worker and judge and the doctors and nurses that treated her several times throughout the 8 or 9 months all failed this baby girl. If a biological parent even so much as questions a doctor in this country and asks for a second opinion, Child Protective Services removes your child from you, and places them in most of the time, abusive and unstable homes. There is a serious problem with medical kidnapping in the United States. A parent who brings there child to the Emergency Room for anything here, including any normal childhood injury, no matter how minor, is at risk of having their child kidnapped from them by “Child Protective Services” and placed with monsters who abuse and sometimes even kill your child. There was a case of a 3 month old baby girl recently that was removed from her parents because they questioned a doctor about a very serious procedure that he wanted to perform on her, so they took her from one hospital to another and the doctor at that hospital told the parents that the baby was fine, like the kother suspected and he released her saying it was safe for her to go home. CPS came with Police and forcibly entered these peoples home, the police threw the father down on the ground and restrained him for no reason and they took their baby girl and left the mother terrified and crying, helpless. They took the baby back to the hospital that the original doctor was at and they were allowing the doctor to perform unnecessary major surgery on the tiny baby girl. That story as well went viral, and the video of them removing the child was posted. It was heartbreaking to watch. I cannot believe the things that are occurring to innocent families and innocent chilyevery day over her. The reason that the 1 year old baby girl who died parents lost her was something that they shouldn’t have lost her from at all. It was based on baseless accusations and lies, fraud with CPS and the family court system. She would still be alive had she been able to stay with her biological parents. The corrupt system stole and murdered this beautiful baby girl
The “are you serious” comment, obviously do not want to consider the ridiculous effect on children having either 2 dads or 2 mums. Have you realised that all the associated friends of these gay/les couples are mostly themselves gay/les. surely anyone can see this is not normal. toleration of peoples sexual living should be one of understanding but should not be imposed as must accept it. God made man and woman, babies are created by a union between a man and a woman. society has missed the relevance by allowing the desires of typically 2 men to bring up childrenin an atmoshere where the men are openly showing their sexual needs and leaning. FACT, the children are NOT BEING BROUGHT UP IN A balanced situation.
In Washington state a Lesbian foster home had a young lady by the name HOPE. The last her mother heard from her was a crying screaming phone call. She said they were raping her. She was 12 or 13 I think.
HOPE is still currently a missing child 🙁
This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever read. Are you folks serious? I am sorry, but Christianity is not now, nor has it ever been under attack. People are not refused based on being Christians and no one allows Gay couples to blindly foster and adopt children or abuse them. Also, it is horrendous to say that just because a couple is gay they would be more prone to sexual misconduct. I have seen many adoptive parents abuse and kill children and just as many Christians have done so than non Christian families. I know Christians like to make themselves look like victims and pretend there is some sort of attack and war waged upon their faith and they love to pretend they are a minority… but the fact of the matter is that they are not and there is not. This is absolutely ridiculous and you folks need to stop with your propaganda and your ridiculous attempts to push your agenda to your ideology.
Regardless of whether children of homosexual couples are abused more than children of heterosexual couples, the discrimination against Christians who hold to the truth d Scipture is disgraceful. Although this man is at great pains to absolve the CAS of wrongdoing, they are NOT doing that job well by leaving children in the system in the name of political correctness.
What frightens me the most is that it could happen here in the US.
All foster care services should investigate all the terms and necessary requirement before the finalize and hand over the child to deserving parents this is great all fostering agencies should strictly fellow those rules for fostering children’s better future.
I wonder how many children placed in gay homes suffer from sexual misconduct. I wonder if anyone would give a true account of the numbers.
I think that a gay couple would have to kill the child before a civil servant would dare investigate.
Actually here in the United States, there is a story that has gone viral about a gay couple who adopted a 1 year old little girl and one of the men did abuse her for the entire adoption process and then ultimately killed her. I am not sure if the adoption was even final yet, but if I remember right, it was but had just become finalized a few weeks prior or it was about to be finalized in a few weeks. Whichever it was, those details weren’t the ones that I was concerned about. What concerned me was the fact that there was an adoption worker and a judge who had been overseeing this case the entire time this poor baby was being severely abused. She was hospitalized 3 times from major physical injuries such as a broken pelvis and 3 broken ribs. The injury that ended up killing her was a head injury. She also had prior head injuries that showed up on the autopsy. This little girl was being seriously beaten and abused the entire time that these men had her and the adoption worker and judge and the doctors and nurses that treated her several times throughout the 8 or 9 months all failed this baby girl. If a biological parent even so much as questions a doctor in this country and asks for a second opinion, Child Protective Services removes your child from you, and places them in most of the time, abusive and unstable homes. There is a serious problem with medical kidnapping in the United States. A parent who brings there child to the Emergency Room for anything here, including any normal childhood injury, no matter how minor, is at risk of having their child kidnapped from them by “Child Protective Services” and placed with monsters who abuse and sometimes even kill your child. There was a case of a 3 month old baby girl recently that was removed from her parents because they questioned a doctor about a very serious procedure that he wanted to perform on her, so they took her from one hospital to another and the doctor at that hospital told the parents that the baby was fine, like the kother suspected and he released her saying it was safe for her to go home. CPS came with Police and forcibly entered these peoples home, the police threw the father down on the ground and restrained him for no reason and they took their baby girl and left the mother terrified and crying, helpless. They took the baby back to the hospital that the original doctor was at and they were allowing the doctor to perform unnecessary major surgery on the tiny baby girl. That story as well went viral, and the video of them removing the child was posted. It was heartbreaking to watch. I cannot believe the things that are occurring to innocent families and innocent chilyevery day over her. The reason that the 1 year old baby girl who died parents lost her was something that they shouldn’t have lost her from at all. It was based on baseless accusations and lies, fraud with CPS and the family court system. She would still be alive had she been able to stay with her biological parents. The corrupt system stole and murdered this beautiful baby girl
Mark, probably not as many as abused in the Catholic Church, or heterosexual homes
This whole situation is so sad! Poor baby needs a family CAS do your JOB!!!!
I BLAME CAS!!!!!
The “are you serious” comment, obviously do not want to consider the ridiculous effect on children having either 2 dads or 2 mums. Have you realised that all the associated friends of these gay/les couples are mostly themselves gay/les. surely anyone can see this is not normal. toleration of peoples sexual living should be one of understanding but should not be imposed as must accept it. God made man and woman, babies are created by a union between a man and a woman. society has missed the relevance by allowing the desires of typically 2 men to bring up childrenin an atmoshere where the men are openly showing their sexual needs and leaning. FACT, the children are NOT BEING BROUGHT UP IN A balanced situation.
In Washington state a Lesbian foster home had a young lady by the name HOPE. The last her mother heard from her was a crying screaming phone call. She said they were raping her. She was 12 or 13 I think.
HOPE is still currently a missing child 🙁
This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever read. Are you folks serious? I am sorry, but Christianity is not now, nor has it ever been under attack. People are not refused based on being Christians and no one allows Gay couples to blindly foster and adopt children or abuse them. Also, it is horrendous to say that just because a couple is gay they would be more prone to sexual misconduct. I have seen many adoptive parents abuse and kill children and just as many Christians have done so than non Christian families. I know Christians like to make themselves look like victims and pretend there is some sort of attack and war waged upon their faith and they love to pretend they are a minority… but the fact of the matter is that they are not and there is not. This is absolutely ridiculous and you folks need to stop with your propaganda and your ridiculous attempts to push your agenda to your ideology.
Regardless of whether children of homosexual couples are abused more than children of heterosexual couples, the discrimination against Christians who hold to the truth d Scipture is disgraceful. Although this man is at great pains to absolve the CAS of wrongdoing, they are NOT doing that job well by leaving children in the system in the name of political correctness.
What frightens me the most is that it could happen here in the US.
All foster care services should investigate all the terms and necessary requirement before the finalize and hand over the child to deserving parents this is great all fostering agencies should strictly fellow those rules for fostering children’s better future.