{"id":2663608,"date":"2026-09-17T20:11:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T00:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oregon-mom-gets-last-laugh-after-state-blocked-her-from-adopting-a-foster-child-due-to-her-christian-beliefs\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T20:14:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T00:14:52","slug":"oregon-mom-gets-last-laugh-after-state-blocked-her-from-adopting-a-foster-child-due-to-her-christian-beliefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oregon-mom-gets-last-laugh-after-state-blocked-her-from-adopting-a-foster-child-due-to-her-christian-beliefs\/","title":{"rendered":"Oregon Mom Gets Last Laugh After State Blocked Her from Adopting a Foster Child Due to Her Christian Beliefs"},"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\">38<\/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%2Foregon-mom-gets-last-laugh-after-state-blocked-her-from-adopting-a-foster-child-due-to-her-christian-beliefs%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=2663608&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>A Christian mother from Oregon, Jessica Bates, successfully challenged teh stateS policies that blocked her from adopting a foster child due to her religious beliefs. Bates filed a lawsuit in 2023 after the Oregon Department of Human Services denied her the opportunity to adopt because she refused to support gender-affirming parenting practices or promote children\u2019s gender transitions, which conflicted with her faith. the case was assisted by the Alliance Defending Freedom. The court eventually ordered Oregon officials to allow her to reapply for adoption while respecting her religious convictions. Bates, a widowed mother of five, emphasized her belief that gender is given by God and opposes gender-affirming treatments for minors, which she considers harmful. Her case highlights her struggle against policies she perceives as forcing her to violate her religious principles to help children in foster care.  <\/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\"><br \/>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\"><br \/>\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><html><body><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_0)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>A Christian mother from Oregon prevailed against the state this week after it tried to block her from adopting a foster child several years ago, citing her religious beliefs as the issue.<\/p>\n<p>Jessica Bates filed a lawsuit in 2023 against the Oregon Department of Human Services, challenging a rule that blocked her from adopting any children because of her political and religious views, according to a Monday <a href=\"https:\/\/adflegal.org\/press-release\/oregon-mother-is-free-to-adopt-after-winning-legal-battle-over-gender-ideology-mandate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news release<\/a> from The Alliance Defending Freedom, which assisted in her case.<\/p>\n<p>She had refused to exercise gender-affirming parenting and would not \u201clie to children about their identity by promoting the view that girls can become boys and vice versa,\u201d the release said.<\/p>\n<p>Oregon child-welfare officials have now agreed to a court order allowing Bates to obtain a license again to adopt children from foster care, while preserving her religious beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery child deserves a loving home, and children suffer when the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/9th-circuit-nixes-law-forcing-trans-ideology-on-adoptive-parents\/\" title=\"9th Circuit Nixes Law Forcing Trans Ideology On ...ive Parents\">government excludes people<\/a> of faith from foster care because of the state\u2019s own ideological crusade,\u201d ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse said.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">CASE SETTLED: Oregon mother Jessica Bates is now free to adopt after the state excluded her in 2023 for her religious beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>Read more: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/O7lb1CC5yu\">https:\/\/t.co\/O7lb1CC5yu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ADFLegal\/status\/2099600351863181696?\">September 14, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOregon officials turned Jessica away just because of her common-sense belief that parents should help children become comfortable with who they are instead of pushing them down a path of confusion and medicalization. We believe this settlement is a win-win that protects constitutional rights and puts children\u2019s interests first.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bates, a widowed mother of five, said she felt God wanted her to adopt and was shocked to find herself in a tumultuous legal battle over her worldviews.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was surprised to feel God nudging me to adopt. I never dreamt it would lead to a years-long lawsuit when Oregon excluded me just because of my religious convictions about gender,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am grateful for ADF picking up my case, advocating for my and every American\u2019s rights, and helping ensure many great homes can remain candidates to help the children in foster care,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>The order came after\u00a0the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled in July 2025 that Bates was likely to succeed on First Amendment grounds.<\/p>\n<p>Oregon then agreed to an injunction allowing her to begin the application process for adoption again, before it was ultimately made permanent.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, Bates will soon be reimbursed for lawyers\u2019 fees and court costs.<\/p>\n<p>She also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/oregon-settles-christian-mother-denied-foster-care-adoption-gender-identity-beliefs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">spoke with<\/a> Fox News Digital Wednesday about her experience, saying that when she finished foster care training, she had concerns about certain requirements related to gender identity and LGBT issues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the training, the state wanted me to be willing to put pride flags around the house or if a child should come into my care that didn\u2019t identify as binary or whatnot, then I would need to affirm their identity, use their preferred pronouns, support this behavior even if it conflicted with my faith and what I hold to be true,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I was on the phone call with them a few months later, they basically kind of set up the litmus test that, \u2018OK, well, what if we place a child in your care who wants to transition from one sex to the other, and we want \u2014 we need you to take this child to hormone injection appointments. Would you be willing to do that?\u2019\u201d Bates recalled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd that was kind of the straw that broke the camel\u2019s back, because I absolutely would not be willing to do that,\u201d she concluded.<\/p>\n<p>Bates started the process to become certified to adopt in March 2022, but by September that year, her application was denied by the state.<\/p>\n<p>When she submitted her application, Bates wrote, \u201cI need to let you know I cannot support this behavior in a child,\u201d KGW-TV <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kgw.com\/article\/news\/politics\/oregon-odhs-foster-care-gender-identity-policy-lgbtq-jessica-bates-case\/283-56b17f50-32a7-4ae8-af77-7cec5931c639\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have no problem loving them and accepting them as they are, but I would not encourage them in this behavior,\u201d she declared. \u201cI believe God gives us our gender\/sex and it\u2019s not something we get to choose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bates maintained that gender affirmation for minors amounts to \u201cchild abuse\u201d and lamented how little society knows about the side effects of hormone treatments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was hard being told you can\u2019t adopt or help at all when you know that there were literally, like, a few thousand kids out there in the foster care system,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd just knowing, nope, you can\u2019t help, and you\u2019re excluded was really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bates said her husband was killed in a 2017 auto accident. That gave her an understanding of grief and what it does to a person, making her want to help children who had no family of their own.<\/p>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #171717; display: flex;font-size: 16px;font-weight: 600;line-height: 1.5;margin: 24px 0;padding: 18px 20px 18px 30px;text-align: left;\">\n<div style=\"align-self: stretch;border-left: 3px solid #171717;flex-shrink: 0;padding-left: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<p><a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/\">Choose The Western Journal as your preferred source on Google and never miss reporting that defends truth, protects freedom, and advances Western civilization<\/a><\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey == typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts = { \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs = [ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i = 0; i < inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]] = document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display = 'block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display = 'none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src = firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display = 'inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id'] = firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting = jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display = 'none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display = 'block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/body><\/html><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oregon mother Jessica Bates wins legal case after state blocked her adoption over faith<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2663609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Jessica-Bates-adopt-lawsuit.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[56160,67046,6642],"class_list":["post-2663608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-christian-beliefs","tag-foster-care","tag-oregon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Jessica-Bates-adopt-lawsuit.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2663608","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=2663608"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2663608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2663612,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2663608\/revisions\/2663612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2663609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2663608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2663608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2663608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}