Hateful foster parents will have more access to LGBTQ+ children under bill that TN just passed
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/hateful-foster-parents-will-have-more-access-to-lgbtq-children-under-bill-that-tn-just-passed/ar-BB1l0Pb2?ocid=windirect&cvid=ffc1569c5c144a5bbae32bd706fa1216&ei=42
Story by John Russell (3 April 2024)
A bill that would ensure that people with anti-LGBTQ+ prejudices can foster and adopt children passed in the Tennessee House of Representatives on Monday after having passed the state senate last month.
... the "Tennessee Foster and Adoptive Parent Protection Act" would prohibit the state's Department of Children's Services (DCS) from denying prospective adoptive or foster parents' "eligibility to foster or adopt based, in whole or in part, upon the parent's sincerely held religious or moral beliefs regarding sexual orientation or gender identity."
The bill's Republican supporters have argued that it is needed to expand the pool of potential foster and adoptive families in the state. But opponents warn that it could lead to LGBTQ+ youth, who are overrepresented in the U.S. foster care system, being placed in homes that do not accept their sexual or gender identities and with foster parents who may even subject them to conversion therapy.
Studies have shown that many LGBTQ+ young people end up in the foster care system specifically because they have already faced rejection or mistreatment from their family of origin due to their sexual orientation or gender expression. Placing them with foster families with religious or moral objections to their identity would lead to further trauma, according to the bill's opponents.