Biden’s War on Foster Parents Hits Bump in the Road

This article originally appeared on WND.com

Guest by post by Bob Unruh 

Joe Biden’s announced war on foster parents of faith already has hit a snag.

The Daily Caller News Foundation reported just days ago that Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services wants to prevent foster parents who have religious objections to pushing transgender ideologies – and body-mutilating surgeries – on children to be banned from fostering them.

Under Biden’s proposed rule, children in the foster care system will only be placed with families who the HHS classifies as a “safe and appropriate placement,” meaning families must use a child’s “identified pronouns” and “chosen name,” the rule said. “Safe” families will undergo extensive training to “provide” for the child’s “needs,” and the state will transfer fostered children away from families who do not “support” their “self-identified gender identity and expression,” upon completion of an investigation.

But now a federal court has affirmed South Carolina’s decision to continue partnering with faith-based foster care ministries that provide loving homes to children.

In two opinions, the court ordered the protection of the state’s freedom to partner with faith-based agencies that serve children in need. The rulings follow the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Fulton v. Philadelphia that the U.S. Constitution protects Catholic Social Services’ right to stay faithful to its religious beliefs while still serving foster children in Philadelphia.

“This is a major victory for the children in South Carolina’s foster care system who were at risk of losing out on loving homes,” explained Lori Windham, vice president at the Becket Fund for Religious Freedom.

“The attempt to shutter faith-based foster care agencies and decrease the number of foster homes for these kids violated the law and common sense. We are glad that South Carolina stood up for foster children and faith-based agencies and that the court protected them.”

The lost cause had been pursued by the ACLU and Americans United.

The federal court decision affirmed South Carolina’s decision to “do the right thing: continue partnering with faith-based foster care ministries that provide loving homes for children,” the report said.

The cases are Rogers v. Health and Human Services and Maddonna v. Health and Human Services. In both, the ACLJ and Americans United for Separation of Church and State sued Gov. Henry McMaster, demanding he and the state adopt the organizations’ absolute intolerance for the state’s process of working with religious foster agencies.

McMaster had issued an executive order protecting the religious freedom of foster agencies in South Carolina. However, the ACLU recruited individuals to sue South Carolina over the inclusion of a single faith-based agency, Miracle Hill. Rather than reach out to any other organization or to the South Carolina Department of Social Services, the plaintiffs went straight to federal court.

The report on the new rule said Biden also plans to make foster parents guilty of “neglect” or “abuse” if they “retaliate” against a child for their “gender identity.”

That aggression would extend even to the issue of foster parents limiting a small child’s access to “health care supportive of their sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.”

That plan now is going through a 60-day public comment period.

Copyright 2023 WND News Center

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