Trump administration formally ends Biden-era LGBTQ+ foster care protections
Donald Trump and Joe Biden (Getty Images)
The Trump administration has officially rescinded a Biden-era rule that was designed to help ensure LGBTQ+ children in foster care could access safe, supportive, and affirming placements.
Originally introduced in April 2024, the rule required child welfare agencies receiving federal funding to identify designated foster placements equipped to meet the needs of LGBTQ+ young people.
It also included training requirements for agencies and sought to ensure LGBTQ+ children had access to age-appropriate support and services. Although the rule never took effect after a federal judge vacated it in 2025, the administration has now formally removed it altogether.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF) argued that the removal of the regulation would help recruit more foster families across the country, with HHS Secretary Alex Adams telling right-wing media outlet The Daily Wire in a 14 July statement: “The message that we think it sends is that all families are welcome. We have too few foster families nationally. We must roll out the red carpet, and we must ensure that there’s homes waiting on kids, not kids waiting on homes.”
Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Takano condemned the decision in a 14 July press release, warning that eliminating the protections without replacing them “puts children at risk, plain and simple”.
“Every child in foster care – including LGBTQI+ children – deserves a safe home, which is exactly what the Biden Administration sought to accomplish with this rule,” Takano said. “Rescinding this rule without putting forward an alternative to protect LGBTQI+ foster children puts children at risk, plain and simple.”
Equality Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Angie Craig, an adoptive mother, also criticised the move, calling it “yet another disgraceful attack on LGBTQ+ foster youth”.
“The Trump Administration’s decision to rescind this rule with no clear alternative is yet another disgraceful attack on LGBTQ+ foster youth and on families across this country,” Craig said. “As an adoptive mother myself, I won’t stop fighting to ensure that foster youth have the chance to land in a safe and supportive home.”
The administration has not announced a replacement policy specifically addressing protections for LGBTQ+ children in the foster care system.
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