U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. led a letter to Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Administration (HHS) Xavier Becerra opposing the Administration for Children and Families (ACF)’s proposed rule that will force foster care agencies and families to adhere to the radical Left’s transgender agenda or exit the foster care system.
According to ACF, foster care providers who choose to only call a child by his or her given name and biologically correct pronouns, or who do not allow a child to dress as the opposite sex, will no longer be eligible to offer their foster care services to children. This rule’s premise suggests that an agency or foster care provider who does not “affirm” kids who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, or nonbinary will be shunned by the state as failing to support the foster children’s “health and wellbeing.”
This rule would ostracize many foster families who can provide proper care and support to their foster children but do not believe in allowing children to undergo non-reversible, gender transitioning surgeries.
Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR), John Barrasso (R-AR), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) also joined Senator Marshall’s letter.
Highlights from Senator Marshall’s letter include:
“All children in foster care, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, deserve a safe and proper placement. However, this proposal goes beyond statutory requirements to force states to adopt extreme gender ideology in their placement decisions. Congress intentionally gave states the authority to make those determinations, but HHS has usurped that authority to impose its own woke ideology in place of states’ judgments,” the letter says.
“HHS has also failed to consider – much less quantify – the impact this NPRM will have on the availability of foster care in states that partner with faith-based agencies, particularly in rural areas where there are fewer foster care providers,” the letter continues.
“This proposed rule, however, would alienate, if not exclude, a significant number of families motivated by their faith to welcome and serve foster children and their families…The Department’s proposal would put religious families and religious providers in the position of declaring themselves unfit placements for a subset of the foster care pool, in spite of their long track records of excellence in serving and loving all children who need help,” the letter said.
“Every child deserves to thrive in a safe, loving, and stable family, and our concerns with the proposed rule are rooted in our commitment to protect foster youth families and child welfare organizations. For the reasons stated above, we urge the immediate rescission of the proposed rule,” the letter stated.
You may click HERE to read Senator Marshall’s full letter.
