When I think about my future, I think about the children that my partner and I hope to foster and adopt, but I also worry about the discriminatory barriers that LGBTQ couples can face in the fostering and adoption process.

Right now, there are still states across the country that continue to propose and pass legislation allowing child welfare service providers to refuse to work with LGBTQ parents. If that wasn’t bad enough, horrifyingly, some federally-funded state and private child welfare providers are also using our tax dollars to discriminate against LGBTQ foster youth in their care!

This is outrageous, dangerous, and has to stop!

The good news is that we can stand up for LGTBQ families and children in the foster care system by urging the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Sylvia Burwell, to issue a mandate prohibiting child placement services that receive federal funding from discriminating against children and adults on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.

Join me in taking action now! Urge Secretary Burwell to issue an LGBTQ non-discrimination mandate regarding the foster care system!

May is National Foster Care Month which makes it the perfect time to ensure that an LGBTQ non-discrimination mandate is issued by HHS immediately.

Why? Well, there are over 415,000 children in the foster care system and LGBTQ youth are significantly overrepresented. More than 22,000 children age out of the system each year without finding forever families, leaving them extremely vulnerable to homelessness and poverty. Meanwhile, an estimated 2 million LGBTQ Americans are interested in fostering or adopting, but discriminatory laws, policies, and practices prevent or dissuade us from doing so.

Tell Secretary Burwell: A non-discrimination mandate would ensure that all foster children receive the care they need and that loving and qualified LGBTQ individuals & couples can serve as stable families for thousands of foster children.
LGBTQ foster youth report being treated poorly by the foster care system at more than DOUBLE the rate of their non-LGBTQ peers. This sub-par treatment means that they experience a higher than average number of foster care placements, are more likely to be living in a group home, and are more likely to have been hospitalized for emotional reasons at some point in their lifetime. 

At MomsRising, we’re a community of moms, dads, parents, grandparents, and people who are caregivers and who love caregivers. We have all kinds of families in every size, shape and configuration imaginable. We know that what makes a family is love. Our voice is really important when it comes to standing with and up for the most vulnerable among us.

Families around the country celebrated a major civil rights victory last year when marriage equality became the law of the land, but we need more than marriage because LGBTQ couples and individuals can still be legally discriminated against in most states in numerous ways, including fostering and adoption.

Your voice on this issue is critical, so please take a moment to sign on. We have the power to help make the change needed so that LGBTQ kids and families in the foster care system are given the protections they need and deserve.

Take a moment right now and send Secretary Burwell a message letting her know you support a non-discrimination mandate that would ensure that all foster children receive the care they need and that loving and qualified LGBTQ individuals & couples can serve as stable families for thousands of foster children.

It’s time for Secretary Burwell to issue guidance prohibiting federally-funded child welfare providers from discriminating against LGBTQ children and adults! This is about equality and child welfare. We must ensure that every child in our nation’s foster care system has the best opportunity to find a safe, stable and loving home.

Throughout the Obama administration, HHS has been a great ally in the movement for LGBTQ equality, and has made strong recommendations urging child welfare providers to abide by best practices and to employ nondiscrimination principles when recruiting prospective foster and adoptive parents and when working with LGBTQ youth in their care. However, these recommendations fall short of a mandate which would establish a nationwide standard, leaving child placing agencies free to use federal tax dollars to discriminate.

It is imperative that HHS takes action now to prohibit discrimination in adoption and foster care, as failure to do so leaves a critical piece of the Administration’s work unfinished and leaves too many of our most vulnerable children at-risk.

Together, we are a powerful force for LGBTQ children and families.