A group of conservative attorneys general have urged the Biden administration to reel back a new rule that would essentially bar many Christian families from being able to foster children and put the whole foster care system at risk.
Fox News Digital reported that Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, along with 18 other Republican lawmakers, signed and sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services, claiming that the proposed rule violates the Constitution and discriminates against those who hold to the Christian faith.
Not only would the new rule overtly discriminate against one’s religion, the attorneys general suggested that the proposed rule would also “harm children by limiting the number of available foster homes, harm families by risking kinship placements, and harm states by increasing costs and decreasing care options.”
“These injuries will be suffered while HHS fails to solve a problem that the proposed rule does not even prove exists in foster care,” says the letter, which was obtained by Fox News Digital.
The proposed rule, known as the Safe and Appropriate Foster Care Placement Requirements, suggests that any lack of “affirmation” could be considered a form of child abuse. The rule would appear to reinterpret the Social Security Act in such a way that would allow a child to call foul on a foster family who does not affirm what the child believes about himself, according to the Daily Signal.
The rule indicates steps agencies must abide by to meet the requirement for “LGBTQI+ children,” defined as children who “identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, as well as children who are non-binary, or have non-conforming gender identity or expression.”
Before agencies would be allowed to provide a home for a child, the foster parents would have to prove that they maintain “an environment free of hostility, mistreatment, or abuse based on the child’s LGBTQI+ status.” The parents would also have to undergo training “to be prepared with the appropriate knowledge and skills to provide for the needs of the child related to the child’s self-identified sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.”
And lastly, the family would have to “facilitate the child’s access to age-appropriate resources, services, and activities that support their health and well-being.”
The attorneys general who signed the letter said that “caring for children in need is a duty of the Christian faith,” noting that the foster care system would not be what it is unless there were Christian families involved to care for foster children.
The letter argues that the foster care system “depends on individuals and organizations of faith.”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!