Across the country, courts and agencies are increasingly permitting foster parents to claim religious or free speech exemptions in order to refuse support for LGBTQ+ youth in their care. These decisions are framed as defending constitutional freedoms. However, they ignore the deeper truth: being a foster parent is not a right, it is a public responsibility funded by taxpayers and overseen by the state.

We must be clear: freedom of religion and speech is not freedom to harm. If it were, we would allow corporal punishment or medical neglect in the name of faith. We do not. Because when the government intervenes to remove a child from their home due to abuse or neglect, it assumes a moral and legal duty to place that child in an environment that is safer, not just in a different location.

According to self-report surveys, over 30% of youth ages 12–21 in out-of-home care identify as LGBTQ+ (Matarese, et al., 2021 & Sandfort, 2020). However, most agencies do not intentionally collect data on sexual orientation or gender identity, making thoughtful, affirming placements nearly impossible. And for LGBTQ+ youth who come out after placement, the risks are profound: rejection, emotional abuse, instability, or running away. This trauma compounds. Studies have shown that 40% of youth experiencing homelessness identify as LGBTQ+, many of them prior foster youth who credit rejecting caregivers as a factor leading to their homelessness (Morton, et al., 2018; Trevor Project, 2022) . Further, this type of rejection leads to severely increased risk to suicide, as heavily documented by the research community (read a summary of research on LGBTQ+ suicidality). 

If courts and agencies insist on allowing foster parents to serve while openly rejecting LGBTQ+ identities, then the burden of this impact is squarely on the state. It is the government’s job to:

1. fund comprehensive clinical support programs (such as the Youth Acceptance Project) that reduce the risk to suicidality, depression, and anxiety, all of which are exacerbated by non-affirming caretakers;
2. create targeted resources to address increased youth homelessness, and the impact that it has on schooling and employability in the future;
3. implement training and coaching programs (such as AFFIRM Caregiver) for foster parents, especially those operating under religious exemptions, to equip them with at least the minimum tools to prevent psychological harm.

Because if you are going to permit discrimination, then you must pay for the damage it causes. This is not a call for special treatment. It is a demand for equal protection, dignity, and investment for youth who are overrepresented in the system and underprotected by it. It is hypocrisy to say “we removed you from your family to protect you” only to place you in a home that has been given permission to harm you. 

If you will not fix the placements, fund the safety net. Better yet, don’t allow discrimination in the first place and we can, instead, work on creating spaces where all young people can thrive.