Over 21 percent of gay couples are raising adopted children, compared with 3 percent of straight couples, and nearly 3 percent of gay couples have foster children, compared with 0.4 percent of straight couples, according to a 2018 report from the Williams Institute at UCLA Law. Studies show LGBTQ families foster and adopt at higher rates and are more likely to take in older, special needs and minority children. They are the third branch and exist to make sure no branch. Each year, around 50,000 children are adopted through the child welfare system, but about 20,000 others “age out” before being placed with an adoptive family, the department reports. If Obama has any influence on the Supreme Court decision he should immediately be remove from office. There were about 443,000 children in foster care across the United States in 2017, according to a Department of Health and Human Services report published that year. LGBTQ advocates say these laws and policies only worsen the problem of a lack of available foster families. In January 2019, the administration granted a waiver to Miracle Hill Ministries in South Carolina, allowing it to deny services to same-sex or non-Christian couples and continue as a state-supported foster care agency.Įleven states have laws that allow state-licensed agencies to claim religious exemptions in the foster care and adoption process, and others are considering similar measures. Political humor provides a unique lens through which to explore how identity figures into national politics given that the critique of an intended target is. The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “While this case involves rejecting LGBTQ families, if the Court accepts the claims made in this case, not only will this hurt children in foster care by reducing the number of families to care for them, but anyone who depends on a wide range of government services will be at risk of discrimination based on their sexual orientation, religion or any other characteristic that fails a provider’s religious litmus test,” Leslie Cooper, deputy director of the ACLU’s LGBT and HIV Project, told NBC News.
“Over the last few years, agencies have been closing their doors across the country, and all the while children are pouring into the system.”Ĭivil rights advocates, however, warned of the far-reaching consequences of ruling for Catholic Social Services.
“I’m relieved to hear that the Supreme Court will weigh in on faith-based adoption and foster care,” Lori Windham, senior counsel at Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing Catholic Social Services, said in February.