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Kentucky Baptist Homes accused of forced religion
More articles on this topic: Kentucky Baptist Homes for ChildrenChildren in a state-funded Baptist social-services program claimed in dozens of exit interviews that they were forced into Christian or specifically Baptist practices or were discouraged from practicing their own religion, according to court records.
The interviews came to light as part of a lawsuit filed by a fired employee and four other taxpayers who are challenging state funding for Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children.
Representatives of the state and Baptist Homes say that the agency’s policy is not to proselytize and that violations, if any, are rare.
They also say that in annual reviews, the agency’s programs often scored higher than the state average on respecting children’s cultural and religious backgrounds and that the complaints are a handful, compared with the estimated 1,500 children the agency serves each year.
Several of the complaints came from children who said they were Catholics, Pentecostals, Jehovah’s Witnesses or atheists.
“They tried to more (or) less force me to become a Christian,” said a child who had stayed at the Baptist Youth Ranch in Elizabethtown. “I just felt I was being pressured into giving up my religion.”
Because the children are not identified, it is unclear how many made such claims. They came in one-on-one exit interviews on more than 50 dates between 2001 and 2005, with children who had spent time in eight group homes.
The interviews were conducted by consultants for the state who were reviewing Baptist Homes and other contractors’ programs. Most of those interviewed were 12 or older.
Both the state and Baptist Homes, now known as Sunrise Children’s Services, say the agency has a strict policy against religious coercion or proselytizing and does not prevent children from practicing their faith.
And after Baptist Homes learned of the comments through the lawsuits, the agency did “reiterate to the whole staff (to) remember our policy — no coercion, no proselytizing,” said its attorney, John Sheller.
If an employee did violate policy, it “would be addressed the way any other employee misconduct” would be handled, he said.
Millions at stake
Since 2001, the state has paid Baptist Homes about $61 million to care for children whom courts place in state custody, often because they are juvenile offenders or are abused or neglected. The agency also receives private donations.
Attorney Jonathan Goldberg, representing the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said the state considers Baptist Homes an “excellent, quality provider.”
“If a child says, ‘I don’t want to go to the Baptist church,’ then the child does not go,” Goldberg said. He said some children might have erroneously believed they were forced to go, or there might not have been a church of their faith nearby.
The plaintiffs filed the reports because they want to get the names and testimony of those who made such comments if they have since turned 18. The state and the Baptist agency argue that clients’ names need to be kept confidential.
The reports include comments from children who said that they were forced to participate in Bible readings, prayer times or Baptist services or that they weren’t allowed to practice their own faith.
A child who is a Jehovah’s Witness reported not being allowed to practice that religion at Genesis Home in Mayfield.
A Pentecostal child at the same home told of not being allowed to practice that faith.
And a child at the Glen Dale Children’s Home in Glendale reported being “not allowed to choose when or when not to attend a religious service.” The child told of having “to do ’some type of Bible study during that time or get consequences,’ ” the interviewer wrote.
The questions were posed by representatives of the Children’s Review Program, which is part of a private, nonprofit consulting group. The questions ranged from how safe the programs were to how the children’s medications were handled.
Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the First Amendment Center in Virginia, said the comments made in the exit interviews “would raise a lot of red flags for me.”
The case “takes us back to a fundamental problem with government funding of religion,” he said.
“Generally, it’s not good for religious organizations to enter into an arrangement which would restrict its mission.”
‘Plan of correction’
Baptist Homes programs often scored higher than the state average in maintaining children’s cultural connections, including religion, according to Children’s Review documents provided to The Courier-Journal by the cabinet.
In one case in 2001, the consultants did call for a “plan of correction” to fix “a coercive religious environment” at Baptist Homes’ Dixon Center, where staff members confirmed that church attendance was required.
The next year’s report did not mention religion but gave high marks to the center’s overall cultural sensitivity.
Baptist Homes’ state funding is challenged in a federal lawsuit filed in 2000, after the agency fired Alicia Pedreira upon learning she was a lesbian.
A judge dismissed Pedreira’s claim that her firing amounted to religious discrimination but has let the plaintiffs pursue their challenge of state funding for Baptist Homes.
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