May XX, 2016
The Honorable Sylvia M. Burwell
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
C/o Mr. Rafael Lopez, Commissioner, Administration on Children, Youth and Families
Dear Secretary Burwell:
On behalf of [Organization Name], we urge you and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to issue guidance prohibiting discrimination against LGBT children and adults by federally-funded state and private child welfare providers.
[Additional organization information].
There are over 415,000[1] children in the foster care system, more than 22,000[2] of whom age out each year without finding forever families, leaving them vulnerable to a number of negative outcomes such as homelessness, poverty, and sex trafficking. All of this despite the more than 2 million lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgenderAmericans who may consider fostering or adopting children but for laws, policies, and practices that prevent them from doing so.[3]
Unfortunately, we’ve seen a growing number of barriers to fostering and adopting by prospective parents who are LGBT as numerous states across the country continue to propose and pass legislation allowing child welfare service providers to refuse to work with LGBT parents and LGBT youth in careon the basis of personally-held moral or religious beliefs. To open and maintain more homes for youth in care, HHS must issue an unequivocal mandatethat any entity receiving federal funding to conduct child placement services cannot engage in sexual orientation or gender identity/expression discrimination.
Throughout the Obama administration, the Department has been a great ally in the movement for LGBT equality, and has made strong recommendations urging child welfare providers to abide by best practices and to employ nondiscrimination principles when recruiting prospective foster and adoptive parents and when working with LGBT youth in care. However, these recommendations fall short of a mandate which would establish a nationwide standard, leaving child placing agencies free to use federal tax dollars to discriminate. It is imperative that the Administration take action now to prohibit discrimination in adoption and foster care, as failure to do so leaves a critical piece of the Administration’s work unfinished and leaves too many of our most vulnerable children at-risk.
May is National Foster Care Month, which is a perfect time to put the needs of children first by ending sexual orientation and gender identity and expression discrimination against potential foster and adoptive parents and youth in care. As Secretary, you have the existing authority to take this action now, ensuring our nation’s foster youth have the best chance possible to find the forever homes with the love and permanency they need to thrive.
We thank you and the Department for your ongoing commitment to equality and your respect for LGBT individuals and families.
Sincerely,
[SIGNATURE]
[1] The AFCARS Report: Preliminary FY 2014 Estimates as of July 2015,
[2]Id.
[3] Gary J. Gates et. al., Adoption and Foster Care by Gay and Lesbian Parents in the United States, 2007.