Christian foster parents fight state's gender affirmation requirement
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NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!Christian foster parents in Massachusetts are challenging a state policy that requires them to affirm and encourage the medical transition of children in their care who identify as transgender or risk losing their foster care licenses.
The lawsuit, filed Sept. 3, names two families — the Jones and the Schrocks — who foster young children and infants.
Both families say they have either lost or are at risk of losing their licenses because of the policy, which requires foster parents to sign agreements to "promote," "support" and "affirm" a child’s gender identity or expression.
The Christian families argue that complying with the policy would violate their religious beliefs.
Nick and Audrey Jones, foster parents suing Massachusetts over a gender affirming policy. At right, LGTBQ activists rally in support of transgender people on the steps of New York City Hall Oct. 24, 2018. (Alliance Defending Freedom/Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
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According to the lawsuit, the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families plans to remove the Jones’ 17-month-old foster daughter from their home. The child has lived with them since she was barely 2 months old.
The Schrocks, who have cared for 28 foster children over six years, had their license revoked in June after telling the state they could not comply with the policy.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the religious liberty legal group representing the families, said the two households previously fostered 35 children and were in good standing before the new requirements.
According to the suit, Massachusetts did not previously require foster families to pledge verbal affirmation of a child’s gender identity. That changed between 2023 and 2024, when the state began requiring families to sign agreements to speak and act in certain ways, including affirming a foster child’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Two Christian foster families in Massachusetts are at risk of, or have already had their foster care licenses revoked, over a state gender identity policy. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
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ADF argues the state is infringing on its clients’ First and 14th Amendment rights and is harming children at a time when Massachusetts is facing a foster parent shortage.
"DCF [Department of Children and Families] is even willing to remove young infants and toddlers with no understanding of ‘gender identity’ from loving homes because of their Christian beliefs, creating more trauma for the most vulnerable members of society," the lawsuit states.
ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse said Massachusetts was prioritizing ideology over children’s needs.
Under a Massachusetts policy, foster families in the state must commit to affirming and encouraging the gender identity and expression of children in their care, according to a new lawsuit. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
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"Massachusetts’ foster care system is in crisis: The commonwealth has more than 1,400 children who are waiting to be placed with a loving family. Yet Massachusetts is putting its ideological agenda ahead of the needs of these suffering kids," Widmalm-Delphonse said in a press release.
He called the case "particularly egregious" because the state was threatening to remove the child the Jones family is fostering from the "only home she's ever known."
The Massachusetts Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Children and Families, named as defendants in the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The families are asking the court to block enforcement of the rule, declare it unconstitutional and cover their legal costs.
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