{"id":2212065,"date":"2024-04-03T09:28:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T13:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/washington-parents-denied-foster-care-license-sue-state-over-gender-ideology\/"},"modified":"2024-04-03T09:28:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T13:28:23","slug":"washington-parents-denied-foster-care-license-sue-state-over-gender-ideology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/washington-parents-denied-foster-care-license-sue-state-over-gender-ideology\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents in Washington who were denied a foster care license are suing the state over gender ideology"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwashington-parents-denied-foster-care-license-sue-state-over-gender-ideology%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2212065&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Shane\u2063 and Jennifer DeGross, foster parents \u2062in Washington state, \u2062lost their license\u200b due to their\u2064 religious\u200c beliefs on gender identity policies. They filed a federal lawsuit against the Washington State Department\u2062 of Children,\u200d Youth &#038; Families, alleging discrimination. The case highlights the challenges faced by foster parents and the balancing act between religious freedoms and\u200c state regulations in\u200d the foster \u2064care system.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(The Center Square) \u2013 After nine years serving as foster parents in Washington state, Shane and Jennifer DeGross say they have lost their foster care license because of their religious beliefs concerning gender identity policies.<\/p>\n<p>The couple has filed a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/adfmedia.org\/case\/degross-v-hunter\">federal lawsuit<\/a><\/strong> in U.S. District Court against the Washington State Department of Children, Youth &#038; Families.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWashington state officials are putting their own ideological agenda ahead of children who just need a loving home,\u201d Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse, legal counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing the couple, told The Center Square. \u201cThe DeGrosses were told that based on new <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/wac\/default.aspx?cite=110-148-1520\">regulations<\/a><\/strong> passed in Washington as of 2022, they would be required to disavow their religious beliefs if they wanted to continue being foster parents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Widmalm-Delphonse explained that foster parents in Washington must now accommodate gender-affirming and sexual identity language and care for any child in their custody.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWashington is putting families like the DeGrosses to an impossible choice: speak against your faith and lie or give up the opportunity to care for hurting children,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The Center Square reached out to DCYF for comment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is well-documented that children and youth who identity as LGBTQIA+ have high rates of depression, anxiety, suicide, self-harm and eating disorders,\u201d DCYF said in a statement emailed to The Center Square. \u201cThey are 4 times more likely to attempt suicide, have suicidal thoughts, or self-harm than youth who are cis-gender or straight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>DCYF went on to say, \u201cWhether a family accepts or rejects a child\u2019s sexual orientation, gender identity or expression (SOGIE) has a profound impact on their wellbeing, and children and youth who identify as LGBTQIA+ are over-represented among the foster care population. In Washington, we are committed to ensuring that these vulnerable children and youth do not experience additional trauma when placed out-of-home into foster care.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>DCYF has struggled for many years to recruit and retain foster parents, especially those willing to take older kids and teens who may be harder to place, according to Widmalm-Delphonse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe DeGrosses were willing to take kids of any age, and they have cared for older teens with behavioral challenges,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s an ongoing challenge for the agency, Widmalm-Delphonse added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDue to a lack of foster families in the system, children were placed in what they call \u2018placement exceptions,\u2019 like hotel rooms more than 4,500 times in 2023, because there is no other place to take them,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat this really comes down to is the First Amendment and whether the state can force someone to say something they don\u2019t believe in, in order to serve children.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Widmalm-Delphonse indicated this is not the first time the state has been sued for religious discrimination in the foster system.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was a couple who sued because they wanted to care for their great granddaughter, and the state tried to exclude them as well because of their religious beliefs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn that case, the baby had just been taken from her parents, but the state tried to turn the great-grandparents away,\u201d Widmalm-Delphonse said. \u201cThat couple won their lawsuit with the state entering into a permanent injunction to end discriminatory practices.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>DCYF referenced that same case in their comments to The Center Square.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe U.S. District Court\u00a0for the Eastern District of Washington entered a permanent injunction in <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/casetext.com\/case\/blais-v-hunter\">Blais v. Hunter<\/a><\/strong>, in which it ordered that we have authority to require that foster parents follow a child\u2019s case plan, which is determined by the dependency court, DCYF, and the child\u2019s legal parents or guardians,\u201d DCYF said. \u201cWe cannot and do not disqualify people from becoming foster parents on the basis of sincerely held religious beliefs. However, the permanent injunction does permit DCYF to take an applicant\u2019s views on LGBTQ+ issues into account when reviewing foster family home license applications.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Widmalm-Delphonse claimed the state is focusing on a small part of the injunction to make its case.<\/p>\n<p>In response to DCYF\u2019s claim about the precedent case: <\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe entire foster care system is about promoting the best interests of children. And the\u00a0Blais\u00a0court\u2019s injunction allows DCYF to make individualized placement decisions\u2014ensuring that every child goes to a family well-suited for him or her, and that every parent follows the child\u2019s case plan. But the DeGrosses are not demanding to care for a specific child. The DeGrosses merely want to renew their license to continue serving children. Yet the State is categorically excluding them from caring for\u00a0any child\u00a0because of they disagree with DCYF\u2019s pronoun policy that requires them to promote its gender ideology\u2014not because they refused to follow a specific child\u2019s case plan. That\u2019s exactly what happened in\u00a0Blais: the Department tried to exclude a couple from caring for their own great-granddaughter because they gave the \u201cwrong\u201d answers to hypothetical questions about a hypothetical child who wanted hypothetical hormone injections. The permanent injunction is clear: an \u201capplicant\u2019s sincerely held religious beliefs regarding LGBTQ+ issues cannot serve to disqualify them.\u201d Yet that is exactly what DCYF has done\u2014excluding loving families from foster care while children sleep in hotel rooms and unlicensed facilities because they don\u2019t have anywhere else to go.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shane and Jennifer DeGross, foster parents in Washington state for nine years, lost their license due to their religious beliefs on gender identity policies. They have filed a federal lawsuit against the Washington State Department of Children, Youth &amp; Families, citing discrimination<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2212066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/lgbt-cnn-1024x591.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2212065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/lgbt-cnn-1024x591.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2212065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2212066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2212065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2212065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2212065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}