A 2023 file photo of State Sen. Rachel Zenzinger speaking at the Colorado State Capitol. In 2024, she introduced House Bill 1017, which would create a bill of rights for children in foster care. The bill was signed by Governor Jared Polis on April 24th. (Photo by Kevin Mohat/Denver Post Special Feature)
Religious discrimination hurts children waiting for homes in orphanages.
Shortly after Easter, Colorado state senators passed a bill that would unconstitutionally discriminate against some current and future Christian foster families.
The law declares that starting at age 5, minors in foster care will be taught annually that they are entitled to “gender-affirming care” from the state’s foster care system and foster family. Even more dangerous, it requires foster families to affirm a minor’s gender confusion, no matter how deeply this requirement violates religious beliefs.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed the bill last week.
Colorado is not alone in its hostility to Christian families who aspire to serve in children’s homes. In fact, 28 other states have enacted similar regulations.
Ironically, these bills are called the Child Welfare Nondiscrimination Act. This is politically correct terminology that masks the damage the bill threatens and ultimately does. They are neither in the best interests of the child’s well-being nor are they non-discriminatory.
These measures force foster families to use the minor’s preferred pronouns, affirm the child’s gender identity and expression, take the youth to “gender-affirming” activities, and, in some cases, encourage adolescents They may even require foster families to enroll their children in medical interventions such as stage blockers or puberty blockers. Hormone therapy.
Focus on the Family, a nonprofit Christian family support organization with extensive parenting, marriage, and counseling resources, cares deeply about children in foster care and foster care. As a matter of fact, having spent time in an orphanage myself, I know how important it is for children to benefit from the love of their families.
It was this personal sensitivity and longing that led our organization to create and launch the Wait No More program. This program is specifically designed to raise awareness and recruit parents to welcome children from the U.S. foster care system into their homes. We have helped place thousands of such children into forever homes.
These strict laws that discriminate against Christian parents deter many from participating in the system. Some people drop out. They essentially object to the fact that states are asserting legal jurisdiction over private homes, making them uninhabitable for Christians.
For example, if a boy in foster care believes that he is a girl or is “non-binary,” the family entrusted with his care may have strong religious beliefs to support him. It is not permitted to instruct or instruct. In fact, they will be asked to affirm what some Christians believe to be sexual confusion.
However, Christians have a unique mission in the Bible to care for the weak and vulnerable. We know that with the exception of children in the womb, there is no one more vulnerable than a child without a family.
Laws and regulations like Colorado’s measure are being challenged in courts across the country, from Massachusetts to Washington to Oregon.
Oregon is currently being sued for religious discrimination. That’s because the state’s foster care and adoption regulations exclude Christian families with deep religious beliefs about human sexuality and allow them to affirm minors amidst gender confusion. Because there isn’t.
The Bates family told state officials that while they would happily care for and accept any child, they could not submit to beliefs or actions that contradict their Christian beliefs. As a result, the state denied the foster siblings’ adoption application.
Oregon authorities believe Christian families are unfit to adopt or participate in foster care because they do not agree to use preferred pronouns or support a child’s “gender transition.” .
In this case, the Alliance Defending Freedom alleges three constitutional violations.
First, Oregon’s policy requires families to speak words that violate their faith beliefs, associate them with messages that violate their faith beliefs, and regulate their speech by content or viewpoint in order to adopt. , violates the First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, assembly, and association. The kids.
Second, the policy is neither neutral nor generally applicable and violates a family’s First Amendment right to the free exercise of their religion. This categorically excludes people of faith from participation and acts as a religious litmus test.
Third, this policy violates the Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection under the law because families are treated worse than other similarly situated people because of their religion. It is in violation.
The Vatican recently released a document entitled “Dignitas Infinita” (Infinite Dignity), which states that human sexuality is “a gift to be accepted with gratitude and offered for good.” . They further argue that the current social experiment is “a concession to the age-old temptation to make oneself a god, to enter into competition with the God of true love revealed to us in the Gospel.” “There is,” he warned.
In fact, our government uses the foster care system to promote a radical ideology that shatters the belief systems of countless people who could otherwise be served at any time.
Christian families are passionate about serving their children and being part of the solution “for good.” But sadly, in this current climate, some of the hardest and most enthusiastic people to step up and help are being told to sit still.
Jim Daly is the president of Focus on the Family.
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