Baptist children’s homes in dispute with state

A new state contract says the homes cannot infringe on the right to religious freedom of the children if they want to continue caring for them.

“We cannot agree not to have our children, when they’re able, to be in church. That’s what families do,” said Bryant Millsaps, president of the children’s homes and a former Tennessee secretary of state.

There are nine homes across Tennessee in addition to its Brentwood location.

“We believe a critical part of our success in transforming and bringing healing into the lives of children who have been abused, abandoned and neglected has been from introducing them to a Christian model of what home is, and part of that is to worship together,” Millsaps told The Tennessean.

But the children must be given a choice by the homes, the state Department of Children’s Services says.

“To us, it’s a basic constitutional right for our children to have a voice if they want to attend and where they want to attend,” DCS spokeswoman Carla Aaron said.

Millsaps was asked to explain his situation to a House committee earlier this week by Rep. Diane Black, R-Gallatin, who wants DCS to continue sending children to the Baptist homes.

“If we have a safe, wholesome environment that doesn’t cost the state any money, we certainly need to find a way to use them,” Black said. “This home has done a wonderful job. They have spaces and we don’t have places for our children to go.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee believes placing state children where Baptist church attendance is mandatory violates the separation of church and state.

“I think it’s wonderful they have quality programs and spaces available, because there’s no question the state needs those kinds of placements, but the key is there can’t be strings attached,” executive director Hedy Weinberg said.

Tabitha Dyer, 18, a senior at Brentwood High School, has lived at the Baptist home for eight years and defended its family setting and church requirement.

“I really love it here,” said Dyer, who is not in state custody and lives with five other teenagers in one of the campus cottages with her house parents, the Dyers, who are not related to her.

“I think it’s a great thing,” she said about attending church. “When you go to school, some kids get ridiculed for living at the (Baptist) home. It’s good to have church friends who support you and are behind you.”

The homes have previously operated without a state contract because they were funded by Baptist churches instead of taxpayers, Millsaps said. That changed under a federal court order called the Brian A. settlement, which requires contracts with all agencies DCS uses.

Foster parents also are required to sign contracts saying they will not infringe on a child’s religious freedoms, Aaron said.

The number of children at the Baptist homes’ 10 campuses has dropped from 40 to 12 in the last two years, Millsaps said. The homes care for children in state custody, as well as referrals from pastors, judges and others, he said.

The state has moved away from institutionalizing children and prefers to place them in more family-like settings in foster homes as a condition of the Brian A. settlement, Aaron said.

DCS hopes to work out a plan with the Baptist homes to send children who need more intensive treatment, which could be permitted under the court order, Aaron said.
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On the Net:
Tennessee Department of Children’s Services: http://www.state.tn.us/youth/
Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes: http://www.tbch4kids.org/