Christopher Wiggins at The Advocate:

President Donald Trump’s administration has formally stripped away federal protections for LGBTQ+ children in foster care, a move that former officials, advocates, and foster youth themselves say will make life harder for young people already facing some of the highest levels of rejection, instability, and trauma in the child welfare system. Under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Department of Health and Human Services published the rescission Tuesday, eliminating a Biden-era rule that had been designed to help ensure that LGBTQ+ foster children could be placed in supportive homes, seek relief from hostile placements, and be protected from dangerous so-called “conversion therapy” and retaliation. For critics of the move, the policy change is not simply a matter of regulatory housekeeping. It is another example of the Trump administration removing safeguards from a group of vulnerable young people whose lives are already difficult enough.

LGBTQ+ foster youth already face worse outcomes

Research, including from the Williams Institute at UCLA’s Law School, consistently shows that LGBTQ+ young people are overrepresented in foster care and fare worse within the system. The consequences extend beyond where children are placed. The Trevor Project found that LGBTQ+ young people with a history of foster care had nearly three times the odds of attempting suicide in the previous year compared with those who had never been in the system. Forty percent of transgender and nonbinary respondents with foster care histories said they had been kicked out, abandoned, or forced to run away because of mistreatment tied to their LGBTQ+ identity. Julie Kruse, a former senior adviser on LGBTQI+ initiatives at HHS’ Administration for Children and Families, said LGBTQ+ foster youth are often overrepresented in the system because of rejection by their families of origin, then face fewer paths out once they enter it. They are less likely to be reunified, adopted, or placed permanently with relatives. “They have no off-ramp,” she told The Advocate in an interview.

What the Biden-era rule protected

The Biden administration’s 2024 rule sought to address some of those realities. It required state and tribal child welfare agencies that receive federal funding under Titles IV-E and IV-B of the Social Security Act to make specially trained, supportive placements available to LGBTQ+ children who request or would benefit from them. It also created a formal process for children to report mistreatment, request a different placement, and seek help for caregivers. The rule barred retaliation and treated efforts to suppress or change a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity through conversion therapy as prohibited conduct. It did not require every foster parent to accept an LGBTQ+ child, nor did it require all foster homes to become designated placements. “The rule did not cover medical care for transgender foster youth. It just didn’t go there,” Kruse said. Instead, she explained, the rule was about trying to make an already difficult system less harmful for LGBTQ+ children by ensuring that foster parents who agreed to care for them in designated placements were trained and supportive.

Shame on you, RFK Jr.!

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im a minor (usa, not saying my state nor specific age on here for safety reasons). i am being emotionally abused by my mother.

a cps case is currently open. i have a notebook documenting about a month’s worth of emotional abuse and just daily life. i mentioned it several times to people (interviewer and the person who im assuming was my caseworker or maybe just a social worker) but no one has even looked at it or asked for it. i have never (to my knowledge) been physically abused by my mother. i was recently taken to get a psych evaluation. i was strongly recommended family therapy but i denied wanting it.

most people who i have told about the emotional abuse have seen it at most as a disagreement. i am not dumb. i can tell when people don’t believe me or are not ‘safe’ (for lack of a better word).

i currently do not want to get formally diagnosed with anything i have self-diagnosed myself with (DID, autism, ADHD, etc.) because my mother may use that as leverage in arguments or to gaslight me with.

i have no relatives to live with that are able to take me and my little sister in, and my father passed away when i was much younger.

i will not go into detail on the emotional abuse here, but i may answer some questions about it if it applies to a tip or to answer a question i or someone else has.

i want to go into foster care with my little sister, but i was told i could not because it was not physical. they sent me home with my emotionally abusive mother.

i have narrowly avoided a few breakdowns because if i get angry i know i will be labeled as “explosive”, “violent”, or a “problem child”, which could absolutely hurt my side of things and make even more people think that i am just “overreacting” about the abuse.

how would i convince them (basically just any person with relation to my case) that the emotional abuse is happening? almost nobody believes me as of now. how would i go about getting into foster care with my little sister?

Our collection bin is filling up, and we are so grateful for your generosity! 💙 The Millar Law Firm x Bloom Children’s Hygiene Drive runs through April 30. Most needed items include diapers, pull-ups, wipes, underwear, and menstrual pads. All donations support children in Georgia foster care.

Donate in person or by mail: 151 N Main St. Jonesboro, GA 30236

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