Ohio county cuts off funding to Christian homes for girls

In 2004, Ohio Dr. Jeff Barrows felt called to fight child sex trafficking. He set out to help young girls overseas, but that quickly changed after he learned that as many as 2,000 girls in his home state were victims of sex trafficking. After speaking with advocates, Barrows shifted his vision from Asia back to Ohio, where he aimed to open a safe home for sex trafficking survivors to heal from physical and emotional trauma. Barrows called his vision “Gracehaven” and nearly a decade later, the ministry’s first safe home opened its doors. Gracehaven has grown to serve clients from all over Ohio with three state-licensed therapeutic group homes that offer medical care and trauma counseling to survivors of childhood sex trafficking, according to the ministry’s website.

But now the ministry is being threatened because of its religious beliefs.

One county, Montgomery, has used public foster care funding to contract with Gracehaven for seven years, sending it minors who needed its services. Then this year, Montgomery County cut all funding to Gracehave because the religious nonprofit hires exclusively employees who share its Christian beliefs. The county added a non-discrimination clause to the most recent contract, requiring Gracehaven to remove an addendum adding religious beliefs from hiring criteria.

“Gracehaven empowers young girls rescued from sex trafficking by helping them thrive with dignity in a renewed life,” said Scott Arnold, Gracehaven’s director.

No other county took issue with the addendum reserving the right to continue hiring within the Christian faith, according to Jake Reed, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing Gracehaven. Reed called Montgomery County's actions unconstitutional.

Gracehaven works with agencies across the state and has run into similar nondiscrimination language in the past, according to Reed. It attempted to compromise with the county. It presented a certificate from the Ohio Civil Rights Commission affirming Gracehaven’s right to employ only members of the same religion. But Montgomery County officials wouldn't budge. Negotiations stalled, the contract expired in July, and the county formally cut ties with the ministry, costing it thousands of dollars in funding and opportunities to further its calling and minister to survivors of sex trafficking, according to a federal lawsuit filed last week on Gracehaven’s behalf.

The contract would have allowed Gracehaven to staff its third group home and open four more rooms to girls in need, according to the lawsuit. Instead, the ministry has had to turn away over a dozen girls from staying in a group home because of the government’s withdrawal of funding, the lawsuit alleged. Despite the contract’s lapse, the local needs remained and county employees continued referring girls to Gracehaven.

Governmental entities can’t withhold public funding from a religious group exercising its constitutional rights, Reed told WORLD. He noted that legal precedent allows nonprofits the right to discriminate in hiring on the basis of faith. The Supreme Court ruled several times that it’s unconstitutional for the government to withhold public benefits from religious groups because of their beliefs, ADF said in a statement.

The ministry petitioned the court to rule Montgomery County’s actions unconstitutional and require government officials to restart their partnership with the ministry. Gracehaven said it’s ready to sign the county’s original contract as long as government officials know they can’t penalize the ministry for hiring fellow Christians, Reed said, adding that Gracehaven exists to fulfill Jesus’ Scriptural command from Matthew 25. Take religion out of Gracehaven, and there’s no more Gracehaven, he said.