Recently we have had some wonderful news from a Sydney couple who has been granted permanent, full-time care of a foster child after almost three years of uncertainty.

HRLA is privileged to have helped this Catholic family through the ordeal and ensure the young boy can be given a loving home.

Melissa and Adam’s journey began with great hope of giving Charlie, now a lively three-year-old boy, a permanent home where he can thrive alongside their three adopted children – Charlotte, Luca, and Charlie’s biological brother Quinn. But their path was fraught with challenges based on misplaced concerns about the parent’s Christian faith. 

The foster care agency initially approached Melissa and Adam, recognising Charlie’s kinship to Quinn and the couple’s proven capacity to care. Yet despite their earnest willingness and fostering experience, they were then denied the opportunity due to their Catholic faith. 

With HRLA’s support, Melissa and Adam pushed back and were reassessed and approved as permanent kinship carers for Charlie. 

But the agency would still not transfer Charlie into their care. In addition to criticising Melissa and Adam’s Catholic faith, the foster agency wanted Charlie raised by a Muslim family due to the birth-father’s background. This was despite the fact Charlie’s birth-mother and family were Catholic, and the birth-father wanted no connection with the child.

But faith and perseverance have paid off. After another assessment from an independent assessor, Melissa and Adam have been granted permanent, full-time kinship care of Charlie. This is a win for family, faith, and fairness—a victory that affirms the importance of love, stability, and placing a child's well-being above ideological agendas hostile to Christian faith. 

This story exposes the discrimination against Christians that is all too common in foster care, as well as in employment, education, and other areas where Christians should be free to live faithfully, speak truth, and express their opinions.

Melissa and Adam’s story is one among many, and HRLA has been approached by hundreds of individuals and families facing discrimination for simply trying to live faithfully according to their conscience. We are grateful for the support that enables HRLA to stand alongside these families and defend their fundamental right to practice their faith freely.

And today we are especially grateful that Melissa and Adam’s faith has been rewarded and they can provide a loving home for Charlie.

Names have been changed for privacy.