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Foster Children At Risk Due to RFRA's

Fostering an at-risk youth comes with many challenges.  2016 was a difficult time for my family as I spent a full year actively engaging CPS to obtain guardianship of my 16-year-old nephew.  I am a financially secure and highly educated woman. I had a well-paying job, and a spacious apartment with the extra room to add him to our home.  I am very proud to say, that he is now a welcome member of our household.  I made the decision to foster him after watching him flounder from different family members’ homes into CPS custody over the years.  I was finally able to offer him the stability that he needed to thrive in a positive environment.  I was determined to help him when I realized what he was going through.  I saw firsthand how the CPS system was challenged to meet housing needs for displaced children and yet, I personally experienced discrimination from a CPS worker in what I can only assume to be based on my sexual orientation.

When I first engaged with the CPS worker, she was very friendly and promised to get my nephew home to me as soon as possible.  When it came to the home study a few months later, I told her that I now had a girlfriend who moved in with me.  She mentioned that my nephew had some issues with his sexuality due to being a victim of child sexual abuse and I did admit to her that I was a lesbian and that he would be supported no matter what sexuality he identified with. 

After this very awkward conversation, the tone of interaction changed. The CPS worker became hard to contact and then reported that I was not interested in fostering him.  After my several attempts were stonewalled.  I am not one to shout the word discrimination freely; however, as a woman and a lesbian- I have felt the lash of discrimination.  Considering our current political climate, the concern of discrimination is more prevalent.   The recent religious restoration freedom activity that is being advocated by the current administration, have raised concerns of how this will impact the currently strained foster care system. 

An example of how religious freedom restoration acts (RFRA) can negatively impact other children in the foster care system is the AL-HB24 Child Placing Agency Inclusion Act which was passed in April 2017 (https://www.billtrack50.com/BillDetail/755056) in Indiana.  This act allows agencies such as the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to discriminate against individuals based on religion.  The HHSC is the umbrella agency over; Department of Public Safety (DPS), Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS), The Department of Family and Protective Services (DFP), Department of State Health Services (DSH), and the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS).

Indiana is not the only state that can be impacted by these discriminatory laws.  More than 40% of United States have some version of a religious freedom law (RFL) that allow state and government agencies the right to refuse services based on religious privilege. RFL’s have been around for years; however, they are receiving more attention in the face of speculation with the new presidential cabinet.  Resubmitted RFL’s are now flooding the legislative voting table to move forward with bills that received no traction previously. 

I live in Texas where the DFPS is experiencing significant challenges in the current child foster care system.  Displaced children have been known to sleep in CPS offices due to the lack of housing availability (https://www.dallasnews.com)2.  Residential treatment centers are being closed due to non-compliance in quality care or a lack of budget. This leaves many children without a home.  The HHSC has limited financial resources and have experienced resistance from law makers regarding increasing budget incentives for foster care redesign initiatives. 


I wanted to discuss my personal experience with how discrimination impacts children in the foster care system.  It would be catastrophic for a state worker to legally justify discrimination against anyone in the LGBTQ community based on religious preference.  I think about the many children who identify as LGBTQ having their voices quieted and forced to be raised in an environment that does not support their sexuality.  Imagine that may be people who would rather have a child live in a CPS care facility instead of in a family home where the child will get the attention that she/he needs in a loving and compassionate environment. CPS youth facilities are not a place that a child should be raised.  I have personally seen the shadow side of these places that the public is not aware of.  I was exposed to the unfortunate truth surrounding these facilities when I went to pick my nephew up from North Fork Education Center in Wylie, TX.  

Last summer, I drove 3 hours to the address that was provided for me by his CPS case worker.  When I arrived, I was confused because I looked around what appeared to be an abandoned shack in the middle of the country next to a small farm or ranch.  There was a derelict building with a rippled tin roof that looked like an abandoned warehouse. I had absolutely no idea if I was at the right place even though there was a faded sign indicated that I had arrived. I was expecting something that looked like a school building- not this strangely decrepit looking building without windows. 

I approached the first door that I saw tentatively and knocked in trepidation.  Nothing.  I spotted a lone man walking and approached him in desperation since I had been looking around for quite a few minutes. 


While relieved, I also felt hesitant since he looked non-descript in his casual clothing and lackadaisical attitude.  I asked him, “excuse me, I am here to pick up my nephew for the week for an approved visit.  Is this the North Fork Education Center?”  He nodded in agreement but just stood there looking at me awkwardly. “Ummm, where do I pick him up at?  The front office is closed.”


The unprofessional gentleman walked toward the strangely abandoned looking building and knocked on a door. The door opened abruptly and a bedraggled shirtless man opened the door while hanging from the side of a bed. “Wassup?” he grunts at us as he squinted into the sunlight. My jaw clenched in frustration as I stared at him while his eyes roamed casually up and down my figure.  The 10:00 AM summer sunlight shined like a beacon on his slothful visage.  “I am here to pick up my nephew.”  I answered with as much neutrality as I can.  He grunted in acknowledgment and closed the door in our faces as I stood there in shock.  The other gentlemen lead me to another door which opened to a dark large room that had minor hints of light coming from the seams gaping door-frames.  I stepped forward with determination wanting nothing more than to ride in like a knight in shining armor to rescue my nephew from this place. As I got to the door, I noticed a couple of other staff members scuttle guiltily from their around in a room with nothing more than rows upon rows of small beds.  A staff member rushed to block my path and line of vision and said “I’m sorry ma’am, you can’t go in there.  He will be out in just a few minutes.”

This was my first experience with a CPS approved foster care facility.  I was shocked and enraged. I was offended that these unprofessional and careless adults oversaw my nephew in what appeared to be a dark cell.  The staff were sleeping at 10:00 AM.  There was nothing to stimulate the children mentally.  I was already in the process of trying to obtain custodianship of him to give him a better life experience.  I fought for a full year trying to get my nephew home with me.  I went through two home studies.  This meant that my nephew had to stay in places like this while I was under scrutiny.  At first, I did not understand why the CPS worker at the time was so determined to deny me the right to take care of my nephew.


By the end of the year, we were fed up with the lies and the unfair treatment from his assigned caseworker.  We contacted the CPS Advocacy program.  After we advocated through the agency, the CPS worker was replaced and he was home with me within weeks of the change.  Though discrimination was never discussed, I was very aware of it and felt as if our rights were infringed upon.  My nephew suffered unnecessarily. 

If an agency representative can refuse to allow anyone from the LGBTQ community to adopt or foster a child on the mere premise of religious preference, how will this affect the currently over-burdened system?  CPS is so desperate to find housing for children, that they must relocate children like my nephew hundreds of miles away to find a home for them.  What happens when the right to exercise religious freedom becomes detrimental to the youth that are in the CPS custody?  Almost half a million children are placed in foster care in the US every year (https://www.acf.hhs.gov)3. 

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45% of children not returned to their parent will need alternative placement opportunities.  Considering the current challenges faced with finding adequate placement, it would be detrimental to the health of many children if they are not allowed to live with a warm and caring family based on an imposed religious belief that living with a homosexual is spiritually or morally unfit. Discrimination of homosexuality is a premise of controversy for this topic because the LGBTQ community may be significantly impacted by religious discrimination when being considered for child care placement opportunities under the direction of the DFPS. 

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http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/  4



76.5% of the religions in the USA have a negative perspective on homosexuality.  Christianity calls homosexual conduct an abomination while the Muslim faith sees homosexuality as a crime and punishable.  If 76.5% of the religions in the US have a negative perspective regarding homosexuality, then the concern that many have may be valid regarding the potential discrimination against the LGBTQ community.  It was more than 50 years ago when America saw separation enforced in “White” and “Black” drinking fountains and the division of class through legally protected discriminatory privileges.  Perhaps we may need to ask each other exactly how the landscape of the religious restoration movement will impact all of us. 

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References:

1. https://www.billtrack50.com/BillDetail/755056

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