transgender

States Exclude Christian Parents From Foster Care

California law requires foster parents to affirm a child’s “sexual orientation” or “gender identity.” The mandate is being used to exclude Christians with biblical views about sexuality and relationships from the state’s foster care system.

Authored by gay-identified state Senator Scott Weiner and signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom in September 2023, Senate Bill 407 is now being enforced with new guidance from the California Department of Social Services (CDSS).

Other states, including Vermont, Oregon, Washington and Massachusetts, also exclude parents from foster care if they believe in God’s male-female design for humanity.

This, despite the fact that “there are about 368,000 kids in foster care in the United States,” with “around 68,000 children moving in and out of foster homes annually” in California.

Focus on the Family’s Director for Foster Care and Adoption, Dr. Sharen Ford, decried the exclusion of Christians from caring for children in need. A nationally recognized child welfare consultant, she told the Daily Citizen:

I am gravely concerned about SB 407 as it is a way of forcing Christians to choose to bow to Ceasar by checking their faith at social services’ door or stop caring for children. Christian families have been honoring God’s call to open their hearts and homes to serve “the lonely” (Ps. 68:6, NIV). 
In this new era of you must do it my way, government is throwing down the gauntlet to Christian families telling them to choose. Each family facing these potential changes will need to carefully and prayerfully ask the Lord to order their steps.

The new guidelines from CDSS state:

A Resource Family (RF) applicant and approved RF must demonstrate an ability and willingness to meet the needs of a child or a non-minor dependent (NMD) inclusive of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

CDSS explains how the legislation changed the requirements for foster care families:

The bill also requires that [Resource Family Approval] pre- and post-approval training curriculum provide a caregiver with the knowledge, skills, and ability to parent any child or NMD in foster care inclusive of their … sexual orientation [or] gender identity.”

California Family Council (CFC) reported that foster care parents are already being removed from the system in California. The Focus on the Family-allied organization received a phone call “from a foster father who, along with his wife, had provided temporary care to multiple young children over several years.”

The family policy counsel, which works for life, marriage and family in the Golden State,  continued:

Despite their history of offering loving homes, their social worker denied the renewal of their foster care license because they could not commit to affirming any identity a child might choose. This was a marked departure from previous practices, where their beliefs were accommodated, and they were not assigned LGBTQ-identified children.

CFC Vice President Greg Burt stated:

Their social worker told them that under SB 407, the promise of affirmation is now a requirement for fostering any child, regardless of age.

The California Legislature also passed a measure in 2019 which requires foster care parents and workers to refer to children “by the child’s preferred name and gender pronouns.”

CFC warns such laws endanger all parents. The organization quoted Chief Counsel for the Pacific Justice Institute Kevin Snyder, who stated:

California parents may think, “This doesn’t concern me — I’m not a foster parent.” In fact, it does concern you.
There is now a very small step for the state to deem any parent as unfit to raise their own children if the family holds a view that contradicts the state’s ideology on gender and sexual orientation. This could result in a visit by Child Protective Services with tragic consequences for the home.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) said Oregon also keeps Christians out of the system, as the state denied an adoption application from Jessica Bates, a widowed mother of five who wanted “to open her home to children in need.”

ADF explained:

But sadly, when Jessica applied to become certified to adopt, Oregon denied her application because Oregon requires every family to first adopt the state’s view of human identity and sexuality.
This left her with two options: abandon her beliefs or give up the possibility of adopting a child. That’s something Jessica couldn’t do – and shouldn’t have to.

ADF filed a lawsuit on her behalf against Oregon’s Department of Human Services. After losing in a lower court, she appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, where she awaits a ruling.

The legal aid organization has a similar case in Vermont, where Pastor Brian and Katy Wuoti and Pastor Bryan and Rebecca Gantt had their foster care licenses revoked “after the couples expressed their religiously inspired and widely held belief that girls cannot become boys or vice versa.”

The Wuoti’s adopted two brothers from foster care, while the Gants “became foster parents in 2016 and focused on caring for children born with drug dependencies or with fetal alcohol syndrome,” as ADF reported, adding, “The Gantts have since adopted three children.”

Dr. Ford helps raise awareness of the need for adoptive families to provide loving homes for children in the foster care system through Focus’ Wait No More program. She explained the cost to children as parents are forced to choose between following God or bowing to the state:

Families that draw the line in the sand may stop serving as foster parents. Then what will happen to these children? Who will share life with them? Who will help shape them and prepare them for the future? Who will help them heal? Who will train them up so they can become productive citizens? How will they know what it means to be in a family?
For these reasons and so many more, Christians will cry out to the Lord as Rachel did, “A voice heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more” (Jer. 31:15, NIV). 

Ford called for citizens to “not sit back and be quiet on this matter,” stating:

There’s currently a shortage of family foster homes across the nation. This policy will further exacerbate this situation.
Youth are sleeping in social services offices and supervised by casework professionals. Others are staying in hotels with rotating staff and eating takeout food. In some jurisdictions, youth are placed in juvenile detention facilities, having committed no crimes, for the sheer lack of homes for kids to be placed in.
Is this what the state wants?

The Daily Citizen is grateful for Christian organizations like Alliance Defending Freedom and California Family Council that are fighting back against these egregious, damaging policies that violate constitutional freedoms and place children at risk.

At Focus on the Family, we strongly believe that government efforts to force foster parents to affirm gender ideology or support a child’s sexual identity confusion are unconstitutional in that they violate the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause.

Therefore, we recommend Christians consider utilizing every available legal avenue to defend their right to serve as foster parents in accordance with their faith. Focus on the Family cannot and does not give legal advice. However, we can encourage you to prayerfully consider Christian legal aid organizations for help.

Related articles and resources:

Wait No More is Focus on the Family’s foster and adoption ministry, a whole-family approach that provides free resources for foster care and adoptive families – and for churches and allies who walk alongside them. Through Wait No More’s Suitcase Bundle ministry, children in foster care are provided their own suitcase – for their belongings – as well as a teddy bear, handwritten letter and age-appropriate Bible. The suitcase bundle is a simple way to offer dignity, comfort and hope to children in scary, lonely situations. 

California Bill Gives Foster Children Abortion and Transgender “Rights”

California Governor Vetoes One Transgender Bill – But Signs Alarming LGBT Laws

Christians Banned as Fathers to the Fatherless

California Family Council: Faith Under Fire: The Purge of Christian Foster Parents in California

From Foster Care to Family: How a Small Church is Making a Big Impact

Foster Care: Making a Difference During the Formative Years

When Government is Hostile to Christian Foster Parents

Image from Shutterstock.

Department of Education Blew $1 Billion on DEI – Here’s Why It Matters

Parents Defending Education (PDE) discovered that the Department of Education blew through more than $1 billion dollars on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) grants, trainings and programs over the past four years.

Parents – and grandparents and other concerned citizens – should be aware that DEI has permeated teacher training colleges, teachers’ unions, school boards, and local schools, indoctrinated children into a false, divisive ideology.

PDE reported that the actual amount of money spent may be even greater than what their investigation uncovered. The parents’ rights group said that it broke up DEI education grants groups as follows:

  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Hiring: $489,883,797.81

This category includes DEI or race-based recruiting, training, and hiring practices.

  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Programming: $343,337,286

This category includes general DEI programming and trainings, discipline including restorative practices, and youth activism.

  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)-Based Mental Health/Social Emotional Learning (SEL): $169,301,221

This category includes DEI-based mental health training programs and SEL trainings and programming.

Parents may not be aware that SEL, which in the past was used to teach children self-awareness, self-management and empathy, is now used to indoctrinate children into Critical Race Theory, with concepts like intersectionality, which says people are privileged or oppressed based on certain characteristics, as PDE explains.

Intersectionality includes instructing children in topics they are not equipped to understand, like sexual orientation and gender identity. It inculcates them into the idea that everyone is motivated by hidden, implicit bias and bigotry.

These programs and trainings are part of a deeply flawed theory and enterprise that, instead of bringing people together, creates suspicion and discord. DEI actually teaches students to discriminate against “privileged” groups to make up for past discrimination.

In addition, DEI burdens “oppressed” groups with a weight of helplessness and feelings of disempowerment, leading them to believe most individuals and institutions are against them.

Who wants young children taught that they are either inherently privileged or essentially oppressed – and always will be, due to “systemic” bias in individuals and culture?

While the goal is inclusion and equality, DEI divides people based on an ever-growing set of characteristics, including skin color, religion, sexual identity and behaviors, language, body size, disability status – and more. And it privileges different “oppressed” groups over others, based on those attributes.

We used to call this discrimination.

For an example of how this functions, check out this “Wheel of Privilege and Power,” brought to us by the Canadian government:

This visual tool by the Government of Canada can help individuals identify how power and privilege relate to their personal circumstance. It covers thirteen categories of social identity, including Citizenship, Wealth, Gender, and Language. Each category has at least three levels of privilege. This resource will be of particular value to those who want to understand how their intersecting social identities relate to systems of power and discrimination (particularly in the Global North), and to professionals working on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives.

The closer to the center you are, the more privilege you have.

And this is the ideology our federal government is funding and pushing on our children.

Thankfully, schools are beginning to realize how inherently divisive these programs are. In recent months, the University of Michigan, Idaho State University, the University of Idaho, and Boise State University began shutting down their DEI programs.

They’ve dropped these programs because they increase tensions, rather than fostering inclusivity.

The Department of Education should follow suit and drop its wasteful, counterproductive spending.

Image from Shutterstock.

Related articles and resources:

BLM at School – How a Day Encouraging Parental Educational Involvement Was Overshadowed by a Week of Radical Ideology

Boise State Closes DEI Centers, Follows National Trend

Breaking Down Racial Barriers With God’s Love (Part 1 of 2)

Diversity Statements Booted From University of Michigan Hiring Process

‘Equipping Parents For Back-To-School’ – Updated Resource Empowers Parents

How To Talk With Your Kids About Racial Differences

Hurray for Walmart Abandoning DEI Programs and Policies: ‘Biggest Win Yet’

Is ‘Critical Race Theory’ Being Taught in Public Schools? CRT Deniers Claim it Isn’t

Oklahoma Bans DEI in Universities and Government Agencies

ACLU Lawyer Admits ‘Trans Them or They Die’ Warning is False

Untold numbers of parents have been manipulated into submitting their gender-creative children to experimental hormonal treatments and physically damaging surgical procedures because they were asked – with emotionally abusive language – by psychologists and medical doctors, “Would you rather have dead son or an alive daughter?”

This “choice” is a terrible thing to confront a parent with. It becomes sinister when professionals whom parents depend on for the best advice for their children make such claims with no real backing in the scientific literature.

The carefully conducted British Cass Review maintains,

Tragically deaths by suicide in trans people of all ages continue to be above the national average, but there is no evidence that gender-affirmative treatments reduce this. Such evidence as is available suggests that these deaths are related to a range of other complex psychosocial factors and to mental illness (see page 195, note 16.22).

The Cass Review also states,

It has been suggested that hormone treatment reduces the elevated risk of death by suicide in this population, but the evidence found did not support this conclusion (see page 33, note 86).

This devious claim took another major hit in oral arguments before the United States Supreme Court in U.S. v Skrmettion on December 4, 2024.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor brought up the suicide myth in her comments first, stating, “I think some [children] attempt suicide?” Pro-trans Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar answered, “Yes, the rates of suicide are striking” (See page 31, lines 10-13 of official SCOTUS transcript).

Leor Sapir, a specialist on the politics of trans medicine, explains in City Journal, “This claim – that rates of suicide among gender-dysphoric young people are high – constitutes the trans suicide myth.”

Justice Alito sought to correct Justice Sotomayor’s assumption when questioning Chase Strangio, the ACLU attorney. Alito stated,

A lot of categorical statements have been made this morning in argument and in the briefs about medical questions that seem to me to be hotly disputed, and that’s a bit distressing. One of them has to do with the risk of suicide.

Do you maintain that the procedures and medications in question reduce the risk of suicide? (See page 87, lines 8-16).

Strangio responded,

I do, Justice Alito, maintain that the medications in question reduce the risk of depression, anxiety, and suicidality, which are all indicators of potential suicide.

Justice Alito set the trap, asking Strangio if he believed “that’s clearly established” in the literature.

Strangio responded, “I do think it is clearly established in the science and in the record” (see page 87-88, lines 25, 1-2).

Alito then referenced page 195 of the Cass Review (cited above) explaining, “There is no evidence that gender-affirmative treatments reduce suicide.”

Strangio was knocked back a bit and made a damning admission to the “trans them or they will die” canard.

What I think that is referring to is there is no evidence in some – in the studies that this treatment reduces completed suicide. And the reason for that is completed suicide, thankfully and admittedly, is rare and we’re talking about a very small population of individuals with studies that don’t necessarily have completed suicides within them (see page 88, lines 15-23).

Strangio then started parsing the differences between “completed suicides” and “suicidality” which refers to thoughts about or plans to attempt suicide.

Sapir notes,

Strangio’s pivot to suicidality is a standard tactic of gender medicine activists in public debates. They exploit public ignorance about the difference between suicidality – thinking about suicide, attempting suicide, using gestures of self-harm as a cry for help or as a form of emotional manipulation – and actual death by suicide.

Take notice: The ACLU has admitted before the United States Supreme Court that the “Would you rather have a dead son or an alive daughter?” manipulation is not supported by the scientific literature.

No parent should ever be manipulated by this … and no ethical medical or psychological professional should ever ask that question, pretending it is a clinical likelihood.

This deceptive myth has now been admitted false by the very people who have been pushing it. It was a shameful and damaging manipulaton.

Additional Resources

Do Not Fall for the ‘Affirm Them or They Will Die’ Lie

Suicidal or Stable? WPATH Activist’s Contradictory Evaluation Secures Felon Transgender Surgery

UK Bans Puberty Blockers for ‘Transgender’ Minors

U.K.’s Review of Child Gender Policy Reveals Profound Failures That U.S. Still Defends

The WPATH Files – Transgender Interventions Are ‘Unethical Medical Experiments’

Suicidal or Stable? WPATH Activist’s Contradictory Evaluation Secures Felon Transgender Surgery

Transgenderism and Minors: What Does the Research Really Show?

How to Defeat Gender Ideology, Protect Children and End ‘Trans America’

How to Defeat Gender Ideology, Protect Children and End ‘Trans America’ Pt. 2

Image from Shutterstock.

Virginia School District Will Respect Teachers’ Religious Freedom and Speech

Three Virginia teachers won a victory when “the Harrisonburg City School Board agreed to respect the teachers’ constitutionally protected right to do their job in accordance with their religious beliefs,” Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) announced.

The teachers, Deborah Figliola, Kristine Marsh and Laura Nelson, no longer have to hide a child’s sexual identity confusion from parents and no longer must use a child’s “preferred pronouns,” which could be different from the student’s real sex.

ADF argued that these mandates violated the religious beliefs and free speech of the teachers, whose Christian faith prohibits lying to or deceiving parents.

Figliola was delighted by the verdict, saying:

As teachers, we care deeply about the children entrusted to our care. We could not idly stand by while the schools’ administration enforced a policy with a radical, one-size-fits-all approach to students struggling with their gender, and that allowed parents to be pushed out of the picture.
We’re thrilled for this legal victory that allows religious educators in the Harrisonburg school district to do the job we love, in a manner true to our faith.

The legal aid organization explained that the teachers filed a complaint after the school district unveiled new guidelines mandated by the Virginia General Assembly and released by the state’s department of education, “Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public Schools.” The district held a training during the 2021-2022 school year to explain the new policies to staff.

During the training, teachers were told that a child with sexual identity confusion might have a family that is “unsafe”:

Students should be focusing on their education, and they can’t if they feel unsafe!
Kids need to feel safe and cared for! Some families are unsafe and toxic if kids come out.
 

The training explained that teachers must comply with students’ preferred pronouns:  

If a student shares a preferred name or pronoun different from your documentation on day #1, always utilize a student’s preferred name and pronouns.

The new policy stated that parents were not to be told about a child’s “social transition” at school, unless the student gave his or her permission:

If a student has not shared their gender identity or preferred name with their parent/guardian, it is not appropriate to take the lead on sharing this information or to contact the parent/guardian to ask permission to utilize the preferred name.

Teachers were told to withhold information from parents about their child’s mental health.

School staff were told they would be disciplined if they did not follow these guidelines.

ADF first sent letters to the district, explaining that the policy was unconstitutional. When the district did not change the policy, the teachers filed a legal complaint alleging that their rights were being violated.

As the case was winding its way through the courts, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that high school teacher Peter Vlaming’s rights were violated when his high school adopted and enforced a similar policy. The West Point School Board ended up paying $575,000 in damages and attorney’s fees to Vlaming, in a case brought to course by ADF.

The Virginia Circuit Court for Rockingham County pointed to that decision, ruling in a summary judgment against Harrisonburg City Schools:

The [Virginia] Supreme Court has answered the legal questions here. School boards can’t compel employees, over their objections, to refer to a student by pronouns that don’t correspond with the student’s sex. Vlaming v. W. Point Sch. Bd. …
 
Vlaming held that Virginia’s Free Speech Clause protects the right of teachers “not to be compelled to give a verbal salute to an ideological view that violates his [or her] conscience and has nothing to do with the specific curricular topic being taught.”
 

ADF Senior Counsel Kate Anderson, who argued the case before the Circuit Court, explained the significance of this victory that protects teachers’ rights and parental rights:

Deb, Kris, and Laura – like all teachers – are protected under the Constitution to do their job in alignment with their religious beliefs, including how they refer to their students and the vital information they share with parents.
We are pleased to favorably resolve this case on behalf of our clients and ensure that the Harrisonburg City School Board will respect every teacher’s right to speak consistent with her faith.

The Virginia Department of Education released new policies regarding transgender-identified students in July, 2023, better ensuring the rights of parents and teachers in public schools. Teachers are now instructed to partner with parents – rather than hide critical information concerning their children from them.

Related articles and resources:

Read more aboutFigliola v. The School Board of the City of Harrisonburg at Alliance Defending Freedom.

Free Speech Victory for Virginia Teacher Fired Over ‘Transgender’ Pronoun Policy

Responding to a Transgender-Identified Family Member

Transgender Resources

Teacher Wrongly Fired for Refusing to Use ‘Preferred Pronouns’ Wins $575,000

Teacher Fired For Not Using Student’s “Preferred Pronouns”

Image credit: ADF

UK Bans Puberty Blockers for ‘Transgender’ Minors

The United Kingdom’s Department of Health and Social Care announced it will protect children by indefinitely restricting “the sale and supply of puberty-suppressing hormones” for those suffering from “gender incongruence” because the drugs pose “an unacceptable safety risk.”

Despite the ban, England’s National Health Services and the National Institute for Health Care Research will still be conducting a clinical trial “into the potential benefits and harms of puberty suppressing hormones as a treatment option for children and young people with gender incongruence.”

But the risky, experimental drugs will no longer be widely available for clinicians to prescribe; they will only be used in this long-term trial.  

The decision follows an evidence review of “the routine use of puberty blockers for the treatment of gender incongruence” by England’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the findings released earlier this year in the Cass Review, an “Independent Review of Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People.”

Both reviews found there was “insufficient evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of puberty blockers for adolescents.” A similar investigation from England’s Commission on Human Medicines found “that the current prescribing environment is unsafe.”

The NHS ordered in March 2024 to suspend use of the drugs for sexually confused children; this recent announcement updates that previous decision “to make the order indefinite.”

In its statement about the decision to suspend the use of these drugs for children with sexual identity confusion, the NHS explained:

  • Puberty blockers are a type of medication called Gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues. They are licensed only for use in young children (for precocious puberty) or older adults (for certain cancers).
  • They are not licensed for use for adolescents, and they are not licensed for gender incongruence or dysphoria.
  • Licensing of medicines requires a robust assessment of safety and effectiveness data. These medications have not undergone that process, which means the safety and risk implications for use with gender dysphoria have not been assessed.

The drugs have also been used to chemically castrate sex offenders.

The American College of Pediatricians explains the risks and harms for children who take puberty suppressants for gender dysphoria, including emotional instability, depression, greater self-harm, behavioral and emotional problems, along with “many serious permanent side effects including osteoporosis, mood disorders, seizures, cognitive impairment and, when combined with cross-sex hormones, sterility.”

The announcement came just one week after the U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in United States v. Skrmetti, where the federal government and “transgender” activists argued against a Tennessee law banning the use of puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries for minors.

In defending the Tennessee law, state Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti gave several reasons why the legislature moved to protect children from these experimental, damaging procedures, including: high desistance rates when a child’s puberty is not suppressed, “accounts of regret and harm from detransitioners,” “concerns over minors’ ability to provide informed consent,” and the lack of evidence in favor of puberty blockers.

Skrmetti also pointed out:

Health authorities in Sweden, Finland, Norway, and the United Kingdom have all concluded that these interventions pose significant risks with unproven benefits.

It’s tragic that many medical professionals and groups in the U.S. still promote these devastating, ineffective procedures.

While we’re glad the U.K. has stopped widespread use of puberty blockers, it’s disturbing that these clinical trials that will take place, using children as guinea pigs in a fruitless effort to heal what is not a biological or medical condition, but a spiritual, mental and psychological issue.

A more compassionate approach would be to help these children resolve these sexual identity struggles, working with them so they accept and embrace their God-given masculinity or femininity.

Related articles and resources:

Counseling for Sexual Identity Concerns: A Measured, Careful, and Compassionate approach

Key Takeaways from Supreme Court Case on ‘Transgender’ Interventions

Supreme Court Hears Case on Protecting Children from ‘Transgender’ Sterilization and Mutilation

Talking to Your Children About Transgender Issues

Tennessee and Mississippi Pass Bills to Protect Children from Harmful ‘Sex Change’ Procedures

Transgender Resources

When Transgender Issues Enter Your World: How Christians can respond with compassion, courage and truth

U.K.’s Review of Child Gender Policy Reveals Profound Failures That U.S. Still Defends

The WPATH Files – Transgender Interventions Are ‘Unethical Medical Experiments’

World’s Largest Youth Trans Clinic Shuts Down Over Poor Science

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