The Trump administration, citing a court ruling last year, is moving to rescind a Biden-era directive to protect LGBTQ youth in the foster care system.
In April of 2024, the Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services announced a finalized rule intended to protect LGBTQ individuals in the foster care system by stipulating that providers must support the child’s LGBTQ identity; receive training with appropriate knowledge and skills to provide for the child’s needs related to their sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression; and facilitate the child’s access to age- or developmentally-appropriate resources, services, and activities supporting their well-being.
Moreover, under that policy, states were required to offer a designated placement for LGBTQ youth in foster care who request or would benefit from such a placement in order to follow through on the promise of a safe and appropriate placement for LGBTQ children.
Now, however, the Trump administration — which sided with anti-LGBTQ adoption agencies during the president’s first term — is looking to roll back the Biden-era policy to protect queer youth in foster care.
A proposed rule posted on March 6 stated that the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is seeking to remove the requirements of the Biden-era policy, pointing to a June 2025 ruling in the Eastern District of Texas that vacated the Biden-era policy. The ruling, according to the proposed rule, concluded “that the final rule exceeded the Department of Health and Human Services’ statutory authority.”
The Trump administration, when reached for comment by Gay City News on March 9, claimed without evidence that the Biden administration’s policy deterred religious families from participating in foster care.
“ACF has rescinded a Biden-era rule that required prospective foster families to affirm support for a child’s gender transition or sexual orientation in order to receive federal funding,” Emily G. Hilliard, Administration for Children and Families’ press secretary, told Gay City News in a written statement attributed to ACF. “This requirement discouraged many faith-based families from participating in foster care at a time when the nation is experiencing a record year-over-year decline in foster families. By removing this barrier, ACF is expanding the pool of qualified caregivers and reinforcing its commitment to biological reality, parental rights, and equal access to the foster care system.”
Like other proposed rules, the policy will undergo a 30-day commenting period.
The proposed rule comes seven years after the first Trump administration ran to the defense of Miracle Hill Ministries — a homophobic South Carolina-based foster care agency known for banning LGBTQ employees — and gave the agency an exception from an HHS regulation stipulating that no person will face discrimination in HHS programs and services based on a wide range of factors, including sexual orientation and gender identity. At the time of that exemption, when Gay City News asked the first Trump adminstration to commen on the move, an ACF spokesperson said they were intending to “protect the religious liberty of [South Carolina’s] faith-based foster care providers.”
