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Christian foster parents in Massachusetts are challenging a national policy Ask them to confirm and encourage children to transition medically in care, who are identified as transgender, or may lose their foster care permit.
The lawsuit filed on September 3, naming two families – the Jones and the Sherlock – raised toddlers and babies. Both families say that due to policy, they are either lost or at risk of losing their permit, which requires foster parents to sign an agreement to “promote”, “support” and “confirm” the child’s gender identity or expression.
Christian families believe that complying with this policy will violate their Religious beliefs.
Right: Nick and Audrey Jones, foster parents sue Massachusetts for gender affirmation policy; left: On October 24, 2018, LGTBQ activists support trans people on the steps of New York City Hall. (A coalition of defending freedom/Drew rage/Getty images)
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According to the lawsuit, Massachusetts The Department of Children and Family plans to remove Jones’ 17-month-old foster daughter from their homes. The child has lived with them since she was only 2 months old.
Schrocks cared for 28 foster children over six years, and their license was revoked in June after they told the state that it was unable to comply with the policy.
The Religious Freedom Legal Group, which represents these families, said the two families had previously raised 35 children and maintained good credibility until the new requirements.
According to the lawsuit, Massachusetts has not previously required foster families to affirm their children’s gender identity. This changed between 2023 and 2024, when the state began requiring families to sign agreements to speak and act in certain ways, including confirming the sexual orientation or gender identity of raising children.
Two Christian foster families in Massachusetts face the risk that they have or have revoked their foster care licenses in their state gender identity policies. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
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The ADF believes the state violated its clients’ First and 14th Amendment rights and harmed children in Massachusetts’ faces a shortage of foster parents.
“DCF [Department of Children and Families] The lawsuit states that young babies and young children who are even willing to understand “gender identity” from their loving families because of their Christian faith have caused more trauma to the most vulnerable members of society. ”
Massachusetts is prioritizing ideology over children’s needs, said senior ADF legal counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse.
According to the new lawsuit, under Massachusetts policy, foster families in the state must work to identify and encourage children’s gender identity and expression in care. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
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“Massachusetts’ foster care system is in crisis: More than 1,400 children in the Commonwealth are waiting to be placed with a loving family. But Massachusetts is taking its ideological agenda ahead of the needs of these suffering children,” Widmalm-Delphonse said. ” Press release.
He called the case “particularly shocking” as the state threatened to raise Jones’ from “the only home I know.”
The Massachusetts Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Children and Family, known in the lawsuit, did not respond immediately Fox News Numbers’s request comment.
The families asked the court to prevent the enforcement of the rule, declare it unconstitutional and bear its legal costs.
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