Settlement In Kentucky Lawsuit About Faith-Based Foster Homes Ruled Unenforceable

On May 30, 2018, a federal judge ruled that a 2015 Kentucky settlement regulating oversight of faith-based foster care contractors was unenforceable under current state laws and vacated the settlement agreement. The case will return to the courts for additional litigation. The settlement involved Sunrise Children's Services, a behavioral health services organization affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention.

The lawsuit alleged that Sunrise Children’s Services may have proselytized the children in foster care, and that its employees may have coercively imposed Christianity upon children in its care. The lawsuit, Pedreira v. Sunrise Children’s Services, was filed . . .