States Rally Behind Foster Care Plan That Expands Religious Family Participation

By: Hannah Bates | The Federalist

Montana became the 25th state to join President Trump’s “A Home for Every Child” executive order initiative Monday. The $11.4 billion project under the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) aims to address the national foster parent shortage, partly by creating opportunities for religious Americans the Biden administration blocked due to pro-queer policies. First Lady Melania Trump has made helping foster children one of her top philanthropic priorities.

The ACF reports that “for every 100 children entering foster care, only 57 licensed foster homes are available nationwide.” The ACF seeks to achieve a 1:1 foster home-to-foster-child ratio in every state. Along with “streamlining foster family licensing” and “supporting kinship caregivers,” central to the program’s success is “encouraging faith-based partnerships to expand the network of caring families.”

The Trump administration’s welcome to religious homes reverses Biden-era foster rules that discriminated against Americans who observe traditional religions, such as Christianity, that support natural marriage. Biden’s 2022 “Designated Placement Requirements Under Titles IV-E and IV-B for LGBTQI+ Children” rule required prospective foster homes to support a child’s gender confusion, including by helping administer dangerous, opposite-sex treatments.

Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children and Families Alex Adams told The Federalist the number of foster homes has faced a yearly decrease because of this LGBT policy: “What the Biden administration rule did is it constricted the number of [foster] homes, because your most likely family to foster is a family of sincerely held beliefs and religious convictions.” The Who Cares Project estimates a drastic 19 percent drop in available foster homes between 2019 and 2025.

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