Summary
Several experienced and well respected adoption and childcare specialists were forced out of their jobs for deciding not to place children with homosexual couples. Norah Ellis and Dawn Jackson were threatened with dismissal from Sefton Council; Dr Joy Holloway, a paediatrician, had to change her job.
In December 2002, two Christian social workers in the North West of England were told to choose between their faith and their jobs. Norah Ellis and Dawn Jackson were asked by bosses at Sefton Council Social Services Department if they would take part in placing children for adoption with a homosexual couple. They said they would not and the Council wrote a letter threatening them with dismissal.1
Norah Ellis and Dawn Jackson had almost fifty years of social work experience between them, specialising in adoption and fostering, an area where there is a recruitment shortage. Both were highly regarded by colleagues. Both stressed that their opposition to homosexual adoption was based on sound professional judgement as well as Christian conviction. Now that the law allows joint adoption by homosexual couples, the pressure on social workers will be even greater.
Dr Joy Holloway, an experienced paediatrician, published an academic paper showing evidence that homosexual adoption was detrimental to the wellbeing of children. Following the article's publication she "suffered great harassment from her employers and was moved from her job."2
