The John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act (ECDFA), a federal bill that would prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ prospective parents and LGBTQ youth in foster care and adoption, has just been introduced in Congress for the ninth time. Why is this bill still so important and what can you do to help?
What the ECDFA Is
The ECDFA (PDF), named for the civil rights leader and congressman who was an original co-sponsor the first six times it was introduced, was reintroduced Friday by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), along with Representatives Danny K. Davis (D-IL-07), Angie Craig (D-MN-02), Judy Chu (D-CA-28), and Gwen Moore (D-WI-04). It would prohibit discrimination by federally funded child welfare agencies against individuals and couples on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, or marital status, and would ban the discredited practice of conversion therapy.
Additionally, the bill would establish a National Resource Center for LGBTQ youth to promote their “well-being, safety, permanency, stability, and family placement” through LGBTQ cultural competency training, guidance, and more. The bill also requires child welfare institutions that receive federal funds to provide services that address “the individual strengths and needs of children and youth” and are “language appropriate, gender appropriate, and culturally sensitive and respectful of the complex social identities of the children and youth, families, and adults” with whom they work.
Finally, the bill requires the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to collect data on the sexual orientation and gender identity of foster children and foster and adoptive parents, and on whether family conflict related to the sexual orientation or gender identity of a youth was a factor in their removal from their family.
The ECDFA has teeth, too. Any child service provider receiving federal funds that fails to comply with the ECDFA would have this funding stopped. Individuals who are impacted by violations of ECDFA may sue in federal court. And within three years of the bill’s enactment, the Government Accountability Office must conduct a study to assess states’ compliance.
Sen. Gillibrand said in a statement:
Every child deserves a safe, loving household, and it is absolutely unacceptable that so many children are denied this access because of antiquated laws and deliberate discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals. This legislation will ensure that taxpayer-funded adoption services and foster care providers cannot engage in discrimination against children or potential parents, solidifying protections for some of our most vulnerable children.
And Rep. Craig, the first lesbian mother in Congress and an adoptive parent, added:
As an LGBTQ+ adoptive parent and a mother who had to fight in court to adopt my son, I have witnessed firsthand the widespread discrimination in our country’s adoption and foster care systems. No state should allow discrimination against LGBTQ+ foster children or adoptive parents who can provide a safe and loving home. I’m proud to help carry on the late John Lewis’ legacy through this critical legislation we crafted together to ensure that LGBTQ+ adoptive parents and children are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.
(See my earlier piece for more on Craig’s fight to adopt.)
Why the ECDFA Is Needed
Nearly 400,000 children are currently in foster care nationwide, with more than 110,000 waiting to be adopted. Nearly 20,000 are aging out each year without finding a permanent home, according to AdoptUSKids.
LGBTQ youth are overrepresented in the foster care system by at least a factor of two; the numbers are even higher for transgender and nonbinary youth in particular, per data cited in the bill. And LGBTQ foster youth report twice the rate of poor treatment while in care versus non-LGBTQ foster youth. As Darra Gordon, CEO of Family Equality, observed in a statement:
Children enter the child welfare system through no fault of their own, and our communities have a shared responsibility to ensure they are cared for with dignity and fairness. This bill is a vital, practical step toward ending discriminatory barriers that prevent thousands of children from finding the safe, loving, and permanent homes they deserve.
Additionally, the bill states, same-sex couples are seven times more likely to foster and adopt than different-sex couples, but may be less likely to keep trying if they encounter discrimination. Ensuring that they do not face discrimination will help more children of all identities to find homes. Ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, or marital status will also help religious minority, LGBTQ, and single relatives to foster and adopt their own kin in care, including grandchildren, and will help protect LGBTQ and other parents’ rights to reunification.
Fifteen states, however, now allow religiously based discrimination against LGBTQ people and others in child services, per the Movement Advancement Project; all but three allow them to do so even if they receive taxpayer money. It’s important to stress what former Family Equality CEO Jaymes Black noted at the 2021 ECDFA’s introduction in response to those who feared that the bill would force faith-based agencies to close, making it harder for children to find homes: “The problem is the shortage of families, not agencies” and “Most faith-based agencies do not wish to discriminate and will comply with the law.”
As I see it, too, by ensuring that prospective parents are not disqualified on the basis of religion (among other factors), the ECDFA actually helps preserve the founding principle of freedom of belief.
Additionally, the bill requires that “State assessments, planning, and counseling should connect children and youth for whom spirituality and religion are important with affirming, faith-based resources consistent with the faith of the child or youth.” This is a bill that affirms religious freedom, not one that hinders it.
Action Steps
The ECDFA faces an uphill battle, particularly since providing services that are “language appropriate, gender appropriate, and culturally sensitive” for LGBTQ youth means contradicting the current president’s executive order recognizing only two genders. But promoting the bill means having the excuse to talk with legislators about LGBTQ youth and families—and every sponsor gained is another public voice in their favor. Yes, the bill has failed to advance many times—but as the old adage goes, it’s not how many times you fall down, it’s how many times you get back up. I’m pleased to see this bill up again.
Contact your members of Congress today and ask them to support the John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act if they have not already done so. If you have a personal story about why the bill is important to you, please consider sharing that with them as well.
If your members of Congress are among the original sponsors or co-sponsors, please thank them: Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tina Smith (D-MN), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Coons (D-DE), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), John Fetterman (D-PA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Representatives Danny K. Davis (D-IL-07), Angie Craig (D-MN-02), Judy Chu (D-CA-28), and Gwen Moore (D-WI-04).
(Disclosure: I serve as an unpaid, volunteer member of Family Equality’s Communications Committee.)