Gracehaven v. Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Monday on behalf of a Christian organization that cares for youth female sex trafficking survivors across the state of Ohio and provides them a home.

Gracehaven is suing Montgomery County officials for excluding it from a public program and benefit that it is otherwise qualified for—the county-administered foster care system and Title IV-E funding—solely because the ministry hires only employees who share and adhere to its religious beliefs.

“The government can’t deny public benefits to a Christian ministry that is caring for young survivors of sex trafficking solely because of its religious character and exercise,” said ADF Legal Counsel Jake Reed. “Gracehaven is a force for good, providing comprehensive care, support, and a place to call home for the most vulnerable girls in Ohio. The Constitution prohibits the county from punishing Gracehaven by refusing to work with it and excluding it from public funding simply because the ministry hires those who share its faith.”

“Gracehaven empowers young girls rescued from sex trafficking by helping them thrive with dignity in a renewed life,” said Scott Arnold, director of Gracehaven. “Our team of Christian employees is paramount to this work. As we help these girls work through their pain and trauma, and move toward living healthy, fulfilling lives, our ability to hire like-minded people of faith to carry out our mission is essential.”

Founded in 2008, Gracehaven’s sex trafficking prevention and rehabilitation work is done through a variety of programs and services, including Gracehaven’s three state-licensed therapeutic group homes. The group homes provide a trauma-informed treatment model designed to meet the needs of the youth sex trafficking survivors who often struggle with serious emotional or behavioral disturbances. Girls are placed in Gracehaven’s group homes through the foster care system, which is administered at the county level.

For several years, Montgomery County contracted with Gracehaven for foster “substitute” care services where it would reimburse Gracehaven for its care with public Title IV-E foster care funds. But the county refused to enter into a new substitute care contract with Gracehaven this year. The new contract contained an employment non-discrimination provision that prohibited Gracehaven’s ability to employ only those who share and live out its religious beliefs. When Gracehaven told county officials that it would sign the contract “as is,” but that it was not waiving or surrendering its constitutionally protected right to employ those who share its faith, the county abruptly decided it would no longer work with Gracehaven due to the ministry’s employment practices.

After the county’s contract denial, lower-level county employees have tried to refer 14 girls to Gracehaven, but the ministry is unable to accept those placements because county officials refuse to contract with Gracehaven. The county’s actions have caused the ministry to lose out on potentially thousands of dollars in public funds and has impeded the ministry’s religious calling to care for youth female sex trafficking survivors.

As ADF attorneys explain in the lawsuit, county officials have penalized Gracehaven by excluding it from participating in the foster care system and denying it Title IV-E funding because of the ministry’s religious practice of employing only those who share its faith. The Supreme Court has clearly established—three times in the past seven years—that the government “violates the Free Exercise Clause when it excludes religious observers from otherwise available public benefits.”

ADF attorneys filed the lawsuit, Gracehaven v. Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Western Division.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

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