Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Sept. 3 on behalf of two Massachusetts families after the commonwealth told them that they are no longer eligible to continue serving as foster parents because of their religious beliefs.
Even though the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families is in need of foster families, it now requires every family to promise that they will encourage a child to “transition” socially and medically, use a child’s chosen pronouns, and otherwise “affirm” without question a child’s desire to change their gender, even if doing so violates their faith.
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“DCF’s policy applies categorically to all families, regardless of whether the family has ever cared for a child who identifies as LGBTQ+,” Alliance Defending Freedom noted. “It excludes loving families who disagree, even if the family cares only for infants or close family members or provides respite care — caring for a child for a few hours or days at a time. DCF’s policy violates the First Amendment by conditioning foster-care licenses on parents’ willingness to renounce their religious beliefs in both speech and practice to provide a loving home for vulnerable children.”
1,400 children needing a home
ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse noted, “Massachusetts’ foster care system is in crisis: The commonwealth has more than 1,400 children who are waiting to be placed with a loving family. Yet Massachusetts is putting its ideological agenda ahead of the needs of these suffering kids.
Nick and Audrey Jones are Christians and have been a licensed foster family since 2023, providing care to seven children under the age of six. The Joneses currently care for a 17-month-old foster child who has lived with them since she was close to two months old.
ADF attorneys filed the lawsuit, Jones v. Mahaniah, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Sam Whiting of the Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center is serving as local counsel for the Joneses and the Schrocks, and Andrew Nussbaum and James Compton of First & Fourteenth PLLC are serving as co-counsel in the case.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was originally published by the Alliance Defending Freedom.
