<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><br>Mark your calendars for the Champaign County ACLU fall gathering fundraiser:<br><span style="font-weight:bold">Sunday November 13th from 5-7 PM</span><br>For details see: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.aclu-cu.org/reserve.htm" target="_blank">http://www.aclu-cu.org/<wbr>reserve.htm</a><br><hr style="width:100%;min-height:2px"><br><span style="font-weight:bold">Legal Views of the </span><span style="font-style:italic;font-weight:bold">Catholic Charities v. DCFS</span><span style="font-weight:bold"> Case and Community Discussion</span><br><br><span style="font-weight:bold">Wednesday, October 19th</span><br><div style="text-align:left">12:00
Noon at the College of Law (legal issues)<br>6:00 PM at the Urbana Free Library (community discussion)<br></div><br>Join
staff attorney Karen Sheley for a discussion on the ACLU of
Illinois’ intervention in the case Catholic Charities v. Department of
Children and Family Services (DCFS) at two events on October 19th in
Champaign-Urbana. The ACLU has intervened on behalf of the children in
the custody of DCFS and a lesbian couple from Champaign who are
interested in adopting in the future.<br><br>The case, brought by
Catholic Charities in four dioceses, seeks to reverse a DCFS decision to
end its foster care and adoption contracts with these agencies. The
agencies, which receive state funding to provide services, have refused
to work with lesbian and gay couples and couples with civil unions as
required by law.<br><br>The Diocese of Peoria announced last week that
it is abandoning litigation and transferring all of its foster care and
adoption operations, including children, case workers, supervisors and
clinical services, to a new, separate entity. The new organization will
not be bound by the religious tenets asserted by
Catholic Charities. The Joliet, Springfield and Belleville dioceses are
still pursuing legal options.<br><br><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.aclu-il.org/catholic-charities-v-dcfs22/" target="_blank">Case Documents</a>: <a href="http://www.aclu-il.org/catholic-charities-v-dcfs22/" target="_blank">http://www.aclu-il.org/<wbr>catholic-charities-v-dcfs22/</a><br><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.aclu-il.org/aclu-discussion-foster-kids-have-the-right-to-a-safe-loving-home/" target="_blank">Web Announcement</a> & RSVP: <a href="http://www.aclu-il.org/aclu-discussion-foster-kids-have-the-right-to-a-safe-loving-home/" target="_blank">http://www.aclu-il.org/aclu-<wbr>discussion-foster-kids-have-<wbr>the-right-to-a-safe-loving-<wbr>home/</a><br><br><hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br>Your local chapter is now on facebook - join the group!<br>https://www.facebook.com/groups/CCACLU/<br><br><br></td></tr></table>