In the United States, more than 7 million children are reported to child-protection agencies every year because of some form of maltreatment. And a recent, scarcely reported change by the Biden administration, threatens to destroy our already struggling foster care and adoption systems that care for these millions of children.
This alarming figure leads to over 400,000 children being removed from their homes and placed into an already strained foster care system. The experiences has long-lasting effects, such as homelessness, early parenthood, and mental health issues. (RELATED: DARIN SELNICK: Will The VA Take Away Veterans’ Health Care Options?)
Faith-based programs are key to providing comprehensive care to these vulnerable children, but the Biden administration is now requiring foster care providers to commit to affirming a child’s “LGBTQI+ status or identity,” be trained with the “appropriate knowledge” related to the child’s self-identified sexual orientation and facilitate the child’s access to resources that support their “gender expression.”
In turn, faith-based organizations with differing beliefs will essentially be barred from caring for children in need. This change will be a huge detriment to hurting foster children in need of hope, faith, and structure.
There is no evidence that foster children have been discriminated against specifically by faith-based providers, yet the administration’s new rule assumes that those who do not affirm gender dysphoria will subject children to “harassment, abuse, and mistreatment.”
The Biden administration has already revoked several Trump administration protections to ensure that faith-based adoption agencies are protected. The administration has taken away pre-approved waivers and refused to approve new ones from other states.
With these changes, they have taken the final step to prevent people of faith from providing foster care for children who need it the most, therefore solidifying their position as an anti-religion administration.
The Biden administration has not hidden its disdain for religion. When President Biden marked the holiest day, Easter, as “Transgender Visibility Day,” it wasn’t just for show. It was a clear warning sign that he intended to remove faith from our national psyche and from society. Now, his administration is taking steps to ensure that religious families and organizations cannot care for children who have been the victims of maltreatment and abuse.
This is a direct attack on Christians, and those who will suffer most from this administration’s vendetta against traditional family values and religion are the traumatized children stuck in an increasingly broken foster care system.
The truth is that children in the system need traditional families with traditional values. The research has shown time and time again that foster children are already predisposed to mental illness, and placing them in gender-affirming or non-traditional households can exacerbate identity issues, making them feel ostracized and confused.
The importance of faith-based foster care organizations cannot be overstated. They are often a beacon of light for potential adoptive parents. has consistently stressed the importance of private and faith-based providers, stating that public-private partnerships have shown promising results in reaching prospective adoptive parents as well as continuing communication with them throughout the adoption process.
These organizations play a critical role in supporting foster care and the well-being of neglected children. Faith-based organizations focus on providing respite, support groups, financial help, and advocacy, whereas other agencies often lack the type of support and community needed for successful adoptions.
The U.S. spends over $30 billion annually on foster care. The solution to improving the system is not adding regulations and turning away,
Laurie Todd-Smith, Ph.D., is the former director of the Women’s Bureau at the U.S. Department of Labor during the Trump administration and a former public school teacher. She currently serves as the director of America First Policy Institute’s Center for Education Opportunity and Center for the American Child.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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