A federal bill has just been reintroduced that would prohibit discrimination in foster care and adoption on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, or religion. The John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act (ECDF) is named for the civil rights leader and congressman who was an original co-sponsor the previous six times the bill was introduced. Might it pass this seventh time through Congress?
What the ECDF Is
Over 423,000 children are currently in foster care, over 122,000 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, and the ECDF would ensure that discrimination is not a barrier to finding them supportive, loving homes. The ECDF, introduced this time by Reps. Danny Davis (D-IL),  Jenniffer González-Colón (R-PR), and Angie Craig (D-MN-2) in the House, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) in the Senate, addresses discrimination in child services against both prospective parents and youth in care. It prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, and religion. Additionally, it 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.
The bill 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 includes establishing a National Resource Center on the welfare of LGBTQ children and youth involved with child services. Finally, the bill requires HHS to collect data 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.
The ECDF 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.
Why the ECDF Is Important
While the ECDF will offer protections to all youth in care, LGBTQ youth, who are overrepresented in the foster care system, will be among its key beneficiaries. The majority of LGBTQ foster youth are also youth of color, according to the ECDF Campaign. Additionally, same-sex couples are seven times more likely to foster, and seven times more likely to adopt, than different-sex couples.
Government has a unique responsibility to ensure that each and every child in foster care finds a loving, affirming family. Not just the White ones. Not just the Christian ones. And not just the straight ones.
Rep. Davis said in a press conference today that, “Children in foster care are among the most vulnerable people in our society…. And government has a unique responsibility to ensure that each and every child in foster care finds a loving, affirming family. Not just the White ones. Not just the Christian ones. And not just the straight ones.” He noted that there has already been a hearing on the bill, he said, and “We expect it to be passed during this session of Congress…. The enthusiasm is more than optimistic.”
Rep. González-Colón agreed, noting, “This legislation would break another barrier in the adoption process by increasing the chances of these children to be placed into a loving and permanent home.”
Rep. Craig, the first lesbian mom in Congress, noted that like Lewis, she is an adoptive parent. She and her partner themselves experienced anti-LGBTQ discrimination in adopting their son Josh. “It was the most heartbreaking experience of my life,” she said, but they persevered. “He’s actually the test case in that state [Tennessee] for a lesbian’s right to adopt.” To the children currently in foster care, she said, “We see you, we support you, and we’re doing everything we can at the federal level to make sure you get the loving, caring home that you deserve.”
Senator Gillibrand said there are already 20 Senate co-sponsors. While there are no bipartisan sponsors yet, there are more than 175 civil rights, child welfare, and faith organizations that support the bill. “We have a lot more momentum than we’ve ever had before,” she said. “We’ve never been closer to passing this bill.” She said they are hoping to “tuck it in” to a larger must-pass bill.
Also speaking at the press conference was LGBTQ activist Weston Charles-Gallo, who was in foster care as a teen and placed in unsupportive homes until he was “on the verge of suicide.” Finally, he was placed with a two-man couple, and “my two dads saved my life…. For the first time when I met my dads, I felt a sense of security and stability.” He noted that Bethany Christian Services, an evangelical adoption agency, changed its policy to begin placing children with LGBTQ parents nationwide, and asked, “Why can’t all agencies do this?”
Confronting Religious Bias, Protecting Religious Freedom
The ECDF directly confronts the advance of state laws to allow religiously based discrimination against LGBTQ people and others in foster care and adoption. Eleven states now allow such discrimination: Alabama, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia; all but Alabama and Michigan allow them to do so even if they receive taxpayer money. Stacey Stevenson, CEO of Family Equality, noted in response to those who fear that the bill would force faith-based agencies to close and make it harder to find homes for children, “The problem is the shortage of families, not agencies.” She also believes that “Most faith-based agencies do not wish to discriminate and will comply with the law.”
As I see it, the ECDF actually helps protect religious freedom. 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 (in this country) 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 Equality Act, a broader civil rights bill that passed the House in February, would also prohibit discrimination in foster care and adoption, among other areas. It faces an uphill battle in the Senate, however. The ECDF is specifically targeted at child services, which may help it sway people who might be on the fence about the broader LGBTQ protections of the Equality Act. (Ideally, of course, both bills would pass.) Ultimately, the ECDF 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 and support for their identities.
Over two-thirds of Americans oppose anti-LGBTQ discrimination in taxpayer-funded foster care and adoption services, according to the Public Religion Research Institute, That’s a hopeful sign. Visit the ECDF Campaign website to learn more about the bill and how you can help it to pass, giving more children the opportunity to find the homes they need.