The Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies joins with its member agency, the Knoxville Jewish Alliance, and its Jewish Family Service department, in opposition to the decision of a Tennessee based non-profit adoption agency’s refusal to allow a Jewish couple to proceed with an adoption of a child, citing the prospective parent’s religion as the reason for the refusal. Read the statement sent out by the Knoxville Jewish Alliance here. Our Network strongly supports the Ratan-Rams family’s decision to pursue legal action in this matter and hopes that the State of Tennessee and its Department of Children’s Services will reverse this alarming and discriminatory decision. NJHSA objects to tax dollars being used to fund any child-placing agency that engages in religious discrimination. This country is grounded in foundational values of freedom for all, and the right to practice religion. The potential precedence of this decision questions the very core of these values and instead lays a foundation for discrimination.
Judy Halper, Board Chair
Reuben D. Rotman, President & CEO
Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies
