Child welfare
Every child and family should have access to safe, supportive, and affirming child welfare services. Yet discrimination in the child welfare system continues to affect youth in care, families of origin, kin caregivers, and prospective foster and adoptive parents.
That harm is not abstract. LGBTQ+ people are more likely to foster and adopt than non-LGBTQ+ people, and LGBTQ+ youth are over-represented in foster care. When laws, policies, or agencies turn away qualified families, or fail to affirm LGBTQ+ youth in care, children lose access to safe, loving, and stable homes.
Family Equality advocates for child welfare systems that put children’s needs first. That means supporting families of origin when reunification is safe, promoting family acceptance of LGBTQ+ youth, protecting kinship care, and making sure every child has access to affirming, loving, and permanent family connections.
The John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act
Family Equality champions the John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act, federal legislation that would help protect children, families of origin, kin caregivers, and prospective foster and adoptive parents from discrimination in taxpayer-funded child welfare services. The Act would also support affirming care for LGBTQ+ youth in foster care, bar conversion therapy in foster care, improve data collection on LGBTQ+ youth and families, and strengthen national resources for LGBTQ+ youth in care.
Foster and adoption laws by state
Foster care and adoption laws vary by state. Some states have clear protections for LGBTQI+ prospective foster and adoptive parents. Some states protect LGBTQI+ youth in care. Some states rely on agency policy, while others allow agencies or officials to refuse services or placements based on religious or moral objections.
Family Equality’s state-by-state foster care guide explains what protections exist for LGBTQI+ prospective foster parents, what protections exist for LGBTQ+ youth in care, and what other rights foster parents and youth may have.
Share your story
Stories help show what discrimination and affirmation look like in real life. If you are an LGBTQ+ parent, prospective parent, kin caregiver, foster or adoptive parent, youth or former youth in care, or someone with a child welfare story, Family Equality wants to hear from you. Your story can help us advocate for better laws, stronger protections, and child welfare systems that respect every child and family.
