Foster child to be taken away because Christian couple refuse to teach
him about homosexuality
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By JAMES MILLS - More by this author » Last updated at 07:14am on 24th
October 2007

They are devoted foster parents with an unblemished record of caring for
almost 30 vulnerable children.

But Vincent and Pauline Matherick will this week have their latest
foster son taken away because they have refused to sign new sexual
equality regulations.

Vincent and Pauline Matherick: Face being struck off despite fostering
28 times

To do so, they claim, would force them to promote homosexuality and go
against their Christian faith.

The 11-year-old boy, who has been in their care for two years, will be
placed in a council hostel this week and the Mathericks will no longer
be given children to look after.

The devastated couple, who have three grown up children of their own,
became foster parents in 2001 and have since cared for 28 children at
their home in Chard, Somerset.

Earlier this year, Somerset County Council's social services department
asked them to sign a contract to implement Labour's new Sexual
Orientation Regulations, part of the Equality Act 2006, which make
discrimination on the grounds of sexuality illegal.

Officials told the couple that under the regulations they would be
required to discuss same-sex relationships with children as young as 11
and tell them that gay partnerships were just as acceptable as
heterosexual marriages.

They could also be required to take teenagers to gay association meetings.

When the Mathericks objected, they were told they would be taken off the
register of foster parents.

The Mathericks have decided to resign rather than face the humiliation
of being expelled.

Mr Matherick, a 65-year-old retired travel agent and a primary school
governor, said: "I simply could not agree to do it because it is against
my central beliefs.

"We have never discriminated against anybody but I cannot preach the
benefits of homosexuality when I believe it is against the word of God."

Mrs Matherick, 61, said they had asked if they could continue looking
after their foster son until he is found a permanent home, but officials
refused and he will be placed in a council hostel on Friday.

She said: "He was very upset to begin with. We are all very close, but
he's a mature young man and he's dealing with it."

The couple, who have six grandchildren and one greatgrandchild, are both
ministers at the nonconformist South Chard Christian Church.

When they first started fostering they took in young single mothers and
their babies.

More recently they have been caring for children of primary school age.

Mr Matherick added: "It's terrible that we've been forced into this
corner. It just should not happen.

"There are not enough foster carers around anyway without these rules.

"They were saying that we had to be prepared to talk about sexuality
with 11-year-olds, which I don't think is appropriate anyway, but not
only that, to be prepared to explain how gay people date.

"They said we would even have to take a teenager to gay association
meetings.

"How can I do that when it's totally against what I believe?"

Religious campaigners say the couple are the latest victims of an
equality drive which puts gay rights above religious beliefs.

Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders have complained that the rules
force them to overturn long-held beliefs.

The Mathericks are planning to fight their case in the courts with the
backing of the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship.

The same organisation is backing Christian magistrate Andrew McClintock
who resigned from the family courts in a row over gay adoption.

He says he was forced to resign because he was not allowed to opt out of
cases where he might have to send a child to live with gay parents.