The Trump administration moved Friday to repeal rules barring faith-based adoption and foster-care agencies from serving children and families based on their religious beliefs. The move secures taxpayer funding for such groups even if their belief systems lead them to exclude LGBT applicants from consideration for fostering or adoption.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stated that a decision had been made not to enforce the Obama-era rules.
The Trump Admin is right to fix misguided Obama era regulations that threatened both children’s welfare and religious freedom. No adoption agency or foster care service should be penalized simply because they believe children deserve both a mom and a dad. https://t.co/rdyfsbIu74
— Ryan T. Anderson (@RyanTAnd) November 1, 2019
In a statement, the HHA said that “Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a Notice of Nonenforcement to inform the public that certain regulatory provisions in The Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for HHS Awards … will not be enforced because of serious concerns regarding the prior administration’s implementation of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, which governs the issuance of certain regulations.”
The final weeks of the Obama administration saw rules introduced that included sexual orientation as a protected trait under anti-discrimination regulations. This move put e.g., faith-based adoption agencies in a dilemma that pitted their religious beliefs against what they considered a compulsion to place children with same-sex couples if they wished to continue receiving government grant funding for their activities.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops made a statement to the effect that “To restrict faith-based organizations’ work by infringing on religious freedom … is unfair and serves no one, especially the children in need of these services.”
.@BishopDewane, @bishop_conley, and Bishop Robert J. McManus issued a statement commending the Administration's action to prevent government discrimination against faith-based adoption, foster care, and social service providers. Read more: https://t.co/rCiIY0rZpk pic.twitter.com/aeSPBetlEi
— U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (@USCCB) November 1, 2019
In a press release, the Family Research Council applauded the move by the Trump Administration. FRC President Tony Perkins said: “This is tremendous news for children, birth moms, and adoptive families, who want the opportunity to work with an agency that shares their values and core beliefs without fear of government discrimination.
“Thanks to President Trump, charities will be free to care for needy children and operate according to their religious beliefs and the reality that children do best in a home with a married mom and dad. Under the proposed HHS rule, faith-based adoption providers will no longer have to choose between abandoning their faith or abandoning homeless children because the government disapproves of their views on marriage.
As homes for these poor waifs is desperately needed everyone should be able to help even if the anti-normal family nut jobs get their feelings triggered.
Just as hetero couples can be unfit to rear children, so can same-sex couples. In fact, they should be vetted to assure they are not going to impose their life style upon a child. Homosexuality is, after all, not something learned but inbred in the mind. Isn’t that what we are told?
Another Obama mess cleaned up. No doubt it will be churned through the courts for years and cost millions of dollars to invoke common sense.