VFA Policy Intern Blog Post: The Impact of Recent "Changing of Tides" to the Child Welfare System
With a new administration comes a changing of tides. While in recent times child welfare has witnessed large wins like the passage of the Family First Prevention Act some incredibly harmful legislative has been enacted as well. For decades, the LGBTQ community was slowly gaining their footing on being allowed the same rights as other Americans. However, large scale changes have since been implemented to this community and over represented population in foster care. The recent decision of the administration to strip the CDC and other government agencies from being able to use the words “transgender” and “evidence-based” and other terminology when referring to this population and research simply causes harm and confusion. Along with this change to language, HHS has removed information pertaining to the LGBTQ community from it’s website. This is especially harmful to those in this population who are victims of assault, sex trafficking, and or carry HIV/AIDS. By hiding helpful resources to this community our nation could be causing a lack effective care. Even more so, it is denying our waiting children who identify within in this community from receiving the support that they require, and/or encourages an especially impressionable population of children to hide who they truly are from the world. Not only is this harmful to their physical health but also to their psychological and emotional health. Among other words that have been banned from government language are “science based”, “vulnerable”, “entitlement”, “diversity”, and even the word “fetus” (Sun, Eliperin)1. Overall, this list of forbidden words not only harms the American population but slows our advances in the scientific community and punishes our waiting youth who are identified as a “vulnerable” population.
As a nation, we need to call a truce
Furthermore, the use of religion in foster care and adoption to discriminate against certain sexual orientation, gender identities/expressions (SOGIE), and religions is drastically impacting our nation’s waiting children. Organizations have been using the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act to discriminate against people based on SOGIE due the businesses’ strong religious values (Wildeman)2, however, in South Carolina this issue has begun to impact the foster care system. One of the eleven faith based foster care agencies in the state is denying potential parents who are not of christian belief and/or who identify as gay from fostering with their organization. While DSS has stated that this harmful action must be changed the Governor signed an executive order asking for a waiver to allow agencies to practice within in their religious beliefs. If this order is allowed the children within South Carolina’s foster care system will suffer longer, as the state currently is already searching for homes for 4,300 children (Wildeman). Similar to the issues in South Carolina, the proposed Aderholt Amendment to Labor-HHS Appropriations seeks to allow service providers to turn away qualified adoptive and foster care parents based on religion, marital status, sexual orientation, and gender identify- limiting the number of permanent homes for foster care children. This amendment would not only cause harm to the number of prospective parents but could change the course of care for children in foster care. We know that when faced with the difficulties of being able to foster/ foster-adopt families many times will seek out other options for growing their families such as international adoption, and surrogacy. Diminishing the population of parents seeking to care for our nation’s waiting children only exacerbates the foster care problem in this country and causes negative lifelong effects to our children.
Child welfare, foster care, and adoption is not the space to fight over values that have been addressed at the highest levels, and highest courts
As a nation, we need to call a truce. This battle is something that should have been an issue of the past and should not be affecting those who do not yet have a voice. Child welfare, foster care, and adoption is not the space to fight over values that have been addressed at the highest levels, and highest courts. It is essential for our nation to have the well being of our children at the forefront of our minds. This is accomplished by promoting all families to be involved in fostering/ foster adopting our foster care youth. With the support of all agencies and families we can find our waiting children forever homes, encourage permanent outcomes, and encourage the ability for all of us, including our children, to be who we are… without fear or retaliation or harm.
1 Sun, Lena H., and Juliet Eilperin. “CDC Gets List of Forbidden Words: Fetus, Transgender, Diversity.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 15 Dec. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cdc-gets-list-of-forbidden-words-fetus-transgender-diversity/2017/12/15/f503837a-e1cf-11e7-89e8-edec16379010_story.html?utm_term=.84867a999aa0.
2 Wildeman, Mary Katherine. “South Carolina Foster Care Group Defends Policy That Allows Only for Christian Foster Families.” Post and Courier, 18 Mar. 2018, www.postandcourier.com/health/south-carolina-foster-care-group-defends-p....
