For the sixth Congress in a row, the Every Child Deserves a Family Act (ECDF) has been introduced in an attempt to ensure that no child lacks for a home because of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, or religion. This year’s version of the bill goes even further, however, offering new protections and resources.
The bill, introduced by Representatives John Lewis (D-GA) and Jenniffer González-Colón (R-PR), addresses discrimination in child services against both prospective parents and youth in care. It not only prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, and marital status, as with past versions, but also bans it on the basis of religion. Additionally, the bill newly bans conversion therapy and requires affirming services that are respectful of a child’s identity including race, ethnicity, nationality, religious beliefs and spirituality, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ability, and socioeconomic status. It also directs the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide assistance to states, tribes, and agencies in improving services to LGBTQ and two-spirit foster youth. This assistance includes the establishment of a National Resource Center on the welfare of LGBTQ children and youth involved with child services. Finally, the bill requires HHS to collect data through the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System on the sexual orientation and gender identity of children and youth involved with child services as well as on foster and adoptive parents, and on whether family conflict related to the sexual orientation or gender identity of a child or youth was a factor in the removal of the child or youth from the family. This last piece is a direct counter to HHS’ attempt to eliminate much of this data collection. A Senate version of ECDF is expected to be introduced soon by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).
Lewis said in a statement to Family Equality Council:
This bill is the right thing to do, and quite frankly it is long overdue. When there are hundreds of little children who desperately need a family to feel whole, and there are loving families who want to make these children a part of their families, why would we stand in the way? It should not matter whether those families are gay or straight, married or single, Christian, Jewish, or Muslim, if they are capable and willing to raise an adopted child as their own. We are one people, one human family, and every child deserves the chance to be raised in a family, especially when there are people who are willing and able to do it.
González-Colón also said in a statement:
We are failing a full generation in the early stages of their lives, since we are unable to provide them with the necessary tools that will set the base for their future actions or decisions by denying them the love of a family by mere prejudices and lack of understanding of that love that has no barriers imposed by society. Eliminating interpretations of the law that can lead to discrimination is the right thing to do; taking responsibility as government to provide a roof and a home for our children is the right thing to do.”
The ECDF directly confronts the Trump administration’s plans to allow religiously based discrimination against LGBTQ people and others in foster care and adoption, and the similar laws that allow this in 10 states. The bill is one of several that could stop such discrimination. They include the Equality Act, which just passed the House, and is meant to “prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation” in a wide variety of programs and services, including foster care and adoption. It faces an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled Senate, however. The Do No Harm Act, introduced in both houses February 28, would ensure that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, meant to prevent the government from “substantially burden[ing] a person’s exercise of religion,” cannot be used to allow discrimination.
The ECDF is specifically targeted at child services, however, which may help it sway people who might be on the fence about LGBTQ equality but who care about kids. Ultimately, as I see it, the bill is less about LGBTQ rights and more about ensuring that children in need of homes have access to the widest pool of capable, responsible, and loving parents, and that all children are treated with respect for their identities by child service providers.
While this latest version of the ECDF will offer protections to all youth in care, it is clear LGBTQ youth will be among the key beneficiaries. The bill notes that LGBTQ youth are “overrepresented in the foster care system by at least a factor of 2, comprising at least 22 to 30 percent of children and youth in foster care” and “report twice the rate of poor treatment while in care” versus non-LGBTQ youth. LGBTQ foster youth also “have a higher average number of placements and higher likelihood of living in a group home than their non-LGBTQ peers, negatively affecting mental health outcomes and long-term prospects.” Not only that, but “Youth of color are overrepresented in the foster care system, and the majority of LGBTQ foster youth are youth of color. Children and youth with multiple marginalized identities often experience more stress and trauma than other youth, compounding the negative effects of discrimination and increasing the likelihood of negative outcomes.”
On the parental side, the bill notes, “Same-sex couples are 7 times more likely to foster and adopt than their different-sex counterparts.” Yet prospective parents who experience discrimination “may not be able or willing to apply at another agency, resulting in fewer available homes, and knowing that discrimination exists may deter them from even attempting to foster or adopt.”
Additionally, this bill actually helps protect religious freedoms. By ensuring that prospective parents are not disqualified because of whether or how they worship, the ECDF preserves the founding principle of freedom of belief, particularly for members of minority faiths. Requiring that taxpayer-funded child placement agencies abide by nondiscrimination laws is not hostile to religion—turning away people from a government-funded service because they fail a religious test is.
The bill also has teeth. Any child service provider receiving federal funds that fails to comply with ECDF could find its funding yanked. Individuals who are impacted by violations of ECDF may bring civil lawsuits in federal court. And within three years of the bill’s enactment, the Government Accountability Office will conduct a study to see if states have complied with the ECDF.
Make no mistake. There is a crisis in child services in the U.S. Over 443,000 children are currently in foster care, over 123,000 are waiting to be adopted, and nearly 20,000 are aging out of foster care each year without finding a permanent home, according to the latest federal data. Since over two-thirds of Americans oppose anti-LGBTQ discrimination in taxpayer-funded foster care and adoption services, according to the Public Religion Research Institute, one would think we could put enough pressure on our members of Congress to get this bill passed. Visit the Every Child Deserves a Family Campaign website to learn more about how LGBTQ, child welfare, faith organizations, and others are trying to do so and how you can help.