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Federal Court Rules in Favor of Christian Woman Blocked by Oregon From Adopting Because of Her Beliefs

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A federal appeals court is siding with a Christian mom who has been barred from a state adoption program due to her biblical worldview on gender and sexuality.

Jessica Bates, a Christian and a widowed mother of five, applied to adopt two 9-year-old children in 2023, but the Oregon Department of Human Services excluded Bates from participating in the adoption program since she would not agree to unilaterally “respect, accept, and support” the “sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression” of children placed in her care, which ODHS said included using children’s “preferred pronouns,” taking them to LGBTQ+ Pride events, or taking them to gender-transition procedure appointments.

Bates insisted that her Christian beliefs prevented her from lying to children about their gender or sexuality and told ODHS officials that she would “happily love and accept any child” placed under her care, but the agency rejected her application and barred her from adopting any child, regardless of the child’s age or the child’s own religious beliefs. With the assistance of attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom, Bates filed a lawsuit, alleging the ODHS decision and the rule it was based on violated her First Amendment rights.

A federal district court rejected the Oregon mother’s request for a preliminary injunction, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision Thursday, issuing a preliminary injunction and allowing Bates to obtain an adoption license while litigation continues at the district court level. Judges Daniel Bress, appointed by President Donald Trump, and Michael Daly Hawkins, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, sided with Bates, while George W. Bush appointee Judge Richard Clifton dissented.

In the majority’s opinion, Bress noted that ODHS guidance requires adoptive and foster parents to encourage pro-LGBTQ+ sentiment—including through talking about pronouns and gender identity and hanging LGBTQ-themed signs and flags in the house—even if children placed in their care do not identify as LGBTQ+. The judge observed, “Among other things, the [ODHS] materials state that for LGBTQ youth, ‘[p]rejudice and rejection can occur’ in certain settings, listing among them ‘faith-based communities.’” (Read more from “Federal Court Rules in Favor of Christian Woman Blocked by Oregon From Adopting Because of Her Beliefs” HERE)

Congress’s Adoption Tax Credit Legislation Is Pro-Life and Pro-Family

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. . .Amidst rising inflation, soaring housing prices, and increased living costs, raising a family has become more expensive. Adoption itself is no exception; today, the process can cost between $20,000 and $45,000, making this meaningful path to family formation simply unaffordable for many. A 1985 Washington Post article gives an example of an adoption that cost just $4,000 in 1980, or about $15,000 in today’s dollars, indicating that adoption costs may have outpaced overall inflation rates.

While some outstanding nonprofits help reduce the financial barriers to adoption, the process is still far too costly for many would-be parents. Enter third-party “baby brokers,” firms that sometimes use unethical practices to connect prospective birth mothers with adoptive parents. These brokers are not licensed adoption agencies, have no legal authority to place children, and are inadvertently driving up the cost of adoption. . .

Thankfully, there’s a practical solution that could make adoption more accessible: the Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act. Introduced in 2023, this bill has garnered bipartisan support, including from Senators Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. In a hyperpartisan political landscape, and in the aftermath of a divisive presidential race, it is encouraging to see a measure that both sides can rally behind.

National Review Institute Senior Fellow Kathryn Jean Lopez recently said in a webinar, “[A]fter Roe, Dobbs — what it means to be ‘pro-life’ has to be more of an examination of conscience. We have to be more creative about it … and there also is tremendous opportunity for common ground.” The Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act is common ground and a measure of support for both children and families.

The Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act would amend the U.S. tax code to provide adoptive parents with a refundable tax credit for adoption-related expenses. The current adoption tax credit, which is non-refundable, functions like a deduction: it reduces a family’s tax liability but doesn’t put money back in their pockets. The new refundable credit will do just that for many low- and middle-income families. Given today’s cost of living, this tax relief could allow more families to pursue adoption and provide loving homes to children. (Read more from “Congress’s Adoption Tax Credit Legislation Is Pro-Life and Pro-Family” HERE)

Biden’s New Rule Would Limit Christians From Adoption

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GOP Rep. Jim Banks (IN) has unveiled a new bill that would cut off federal funding for child welfare agencies who discriminate against Christians and other people of faith.

Banks’ bill, the Sensible Adoption for Every (SAFE) Home Act, is a response to a proposed Biden administration Health and Human Services rule that would require foster or adoptive parents to support a child’s gender “transition.” The caretakers would have to affirm a child’s preferred pronouns, their “chosen name,” and “allow the child to dress in a way that reflects that gender identity.”

“The Biden administration is cruelly preventing countless children in the foster care and adoption system from going to loving homes just because parents are opposed to irreversible sex change procedures on kids,” Banks said. “This isn’t a liberal or conservative issue. This is just plain wrong, and every sane person knows it.”

The administration claims the HHS rule is necessary to protect “LGBTQI+ youth,” who they say are overrepresented in the foster care system and often suffer from abuse.

However, 18 state attorneys general have already signed on to a letter from Alabama AG Steve Marshall urging HHS to reject the proposed rule. These Republican states – which include Georgia, Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, and Kentucky – all see the rule as discriminatory and a clear violation of the First Amendment, both freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Their letter argues that the rule would effectively remove faith-based providers who refuse to bend on their religious beliefs from the foster care system. (Read more from “Biden’s New Rule Would Limit Christians From Adoption” HERE)

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Oregon’s Ban on Christians Adopting Violates the First Amendment — And Good Sense

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Christians have a long history of caring for children in need. The Christian apologist St. Basil the Great opened what is regarded as one of the first orphanages in the fourth century. He dedicated a wing of his monastery to raising and educating orphans where the monastics acted as “surrogate parents.” And here, in what would later become America, some of the first orphanages were founded in the early 18th century by Catholic nuns and Lutherans.

Jessica is a mother of five children, a part-time ultrasound technician, and a devout Christian. She’s also a widow. Her late husband died in a car wreck several years ago. Then, after hearing a broadcast about one man’s adoption story, she felt convicted. The Bible describes God as a Father to the fatherless and a protector of widows. He had provided for her. Now she felt called to extend that same love to a child in need.

But when Jessica applied to Oregon’s Department of Human Services, the state put her through an ideological litmus test — one that ferrets out people of faith who disagree with the state’s views on the metaphysical differences between men and women. . .

Specifically, state regulations require prospective caregivers to demonstrate that they will “accept” and “support” a child’s sexual orientation and so-called gender identity and expression. This means caregivers must agree to use preferred pronouns, take their children to events such as LGBT pride parades, and even take young children to receive hormone shots as part of what the left calls “gender transition.” When Jessica explained that she would love any child, but she just couldn’t do anything that went against her Christian faith, the state turned her away. According to Oregon, people with traditional religious beliefs about our sexual differences are unfit to care for children.

This policy violates the First Amendment. It categorically excludes entire religious communities from the adoption and foster-care process, violating our constitutional protections for religious liberty. It also violates our rights to free speech by compelling Jessica to affirm by word and deed her beliefs in the state’s ideology. (Read more from “Oregon’s Ban on Christians Adopting Violates the First Amendment — And Good Sense” HERE)

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Leftist Logic: Adoption Is More ‘Traumatic’ Than Abortion, but Surrogacy Is Just Great

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The delusional leftists arguing that adoption is more “traumatic” than abortion aren’t making a convincing argument for their brutal baby death cult, but they are making a great point against the rise of surrogacy as a means for clients such as gay and “transgender” males to achieve their personal parenting fantasies.

Just look at some of the arguments that Elizabeth Spiers, who was adopted as an infant, advanced in a 2021 New York Times essay about “the trauma [adoption] can inflict” and why abortion is a better solution all around. (She’s not the only one pushing the talking point, either.)

“While pregnant, [mothers] will undergo the bonding with a child that happens by biological design as an embryo develops into a living, breathing, conscious human,” Spiers wrote. “And then that child will be taken away.”

In an abortion, the child — who is a living human from the beginning of pregnancy, and is taking practice breaths by 10 weeks and developing “brain connections that stimulate memory, decision-making, [and] emotions” by 15 weeks — is also “taken away” from his mother. It’s just that, instead of having the chance to grow up in a loving family, the child’s lifeless body is discarded into a bucket of medical waste.

Mothers experience natural physical and emotional bonding with their unborn children, and abortion doesn’t erase that. It’s one of the reasons many women experience abortion regret. (Read more from “Montana Officials Deny Viral Midair ‘Explosion’ Video Amid Concerns Over Chinese Spy Balloon” HERE)

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Homosexual Couple Arrested for Allegedly Using Adopted Children to Make Child Porn

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A Georgia couple have been arrested for using their two adopted children to make child porn, according to police.

Around 4 p.m. on July 27, detectives with the Criminal Investigation Division of the Walton County Sheriff’s Office raided a home in Loganville – a town about 35 miles northeast of Atlanta. The officers had received tips that a man at the residence was downloading child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and obtained a search warrant.

“During the subsequent interview with the suspect, it was discovered that he was, in fact, receiving/collecting CSAM and that a secondary suspect lived in Walton County,” the Walton County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “Detectives were told that this secondary suspect was producing homemade child sexual abuse material with at least one child who lived in the home with the perpetrator.” . . .

During the search of the home, police officers discovered that the two adult males who lived at the residence were “engaging in sexually abusive acts and video documenting this abuse,” according to the Walton County Sheriff’s Office. The two men allegedly used their two adopted children to make child porn.

William Dale Zulock, 32, and Zachary Jacoby Zulock, 35, were arrested. The couple were booked at the Walton County Jail and charged with aggravated child molestation, sexual exploitation of children, and enticing a child for indecent purposes, according to WSB-TV. Zulock was reportedly also charged with child molestation. (Read more from “Homosexual Couple Arrested for Allegedly Using Adopted Children to Make Child Porn” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

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Surprise! Religious Rights Victory Is Wonderful News for Children

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In a victory for religious rights across America, the state of Michigan has agreed to settle a lawsuit with a provision that allows a religious adoption agency to decline to place children with same-sex duos, because that would violate members’ faith.

The state also will be paying the agency $550,000 for its fees and costs in the dispute.

The Washington Examiner reported the conclusion of the case involving Michigan and St. Vincent Catholic Charities is that “faith-based adoption agencies and foster care organizations contracting with the Michigan government will not be required to grant children to same-sex couples.”

Michigan Department of Health and Human Services announced in a statement that it was resuming contracting with agencies that disallow adoptions by same-sex duos.

Officials cited a June 2021 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, on the same dispute in Philadelphia, in which Chief Justice John Roberts wrote Philadelphia’s discrimination against those organizations violated the First Amendment. (Read more from “Surprise! Religious Rights Victory Is Wonderful News for Children” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

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Christian Adoption Agency Surrendered ‘Before Battle Began’

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A Christian adoption agency’s decision to allow same-sex couples to adopt children is a surrender to the sexual revolution, charged Albert Mohler Jr., the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Mohler was responding on his website to the announcement by Bethany Christian Services, one of the nation’s largest evangelical agencies involved in adoption and foster care.

“Bethany Christian Services has now surrendered to the sexual revolution and the attempts to reshape the family into a new form that violates God’s good design,” Mohler wrote. “This is a historic moment that, to be fair, we have seen coming.”

He noted that in 2018, BCS “altered its local policies in the city of Philadelphia when the city authorities put pressure on Christian-based adoption agencies to provide services for same-sex couples. BCS capitulated then and now they have submitted to the demands of the LGBTQ movement at the national level. The surrender is total and unconditional.”

Bethany’s “capitulation is all the more astounding given the fact that the Supreme Court will rule in coming months on the Philadelphia case,” he said. “There is reason to believe that the Supreme Court will rule in favor the Christian charities and adoption agencies in the city, but BCS went ahead and changed their policies. (Read more from “Christian Adoption Agency Surrendered ‘Before Battle Began'” HERE)

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Young Boy Praying to Be Adopted Says God Is the Reason He Still Smiles After Years in Foster Care (VIDEO)

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A Texas boy made quite an impression during an interview with a local television station on Wednesday, when he showed up wearing his Sunday best for the opportunity to someday gain a forever family.

But it wasn’t just the suit that set this child apart — when he opened his mouth, he spoke of his faith and credited the Lord for being the reason he still smiles after years in foster care. . .

Jonah, 12, sat down with WFAA-TV in Dallas to be featured on the station’s “Wednesday’s Child” segment, regular reports that “offer a glimpse into a child’s life in foster care who wants more than anything to be adopted.” . . .

The honor roll student spoke passionately during the interview about how God has carried him through tribulations and helps him keep a smile on his face despite the challenges he’s faced during his young life.

“He’s brought me through many, many things,” Jonah said of the Lord. “As far as abuse, before I came to CPS, he brought me through a lot…just, a lot, overall.”

(Read more from “Young Boy Praying to Be Adopted Says God Is the Reason He Still Smiles After Years in Foster Care” HERE)

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Federal Judge Sides With Christians in LGBT Adoption Case

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A Catholic adoption agency will not have to abandon its beliefs on marriage and the family in order to continue working with the state of Michigan for the time being, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

“This case is not about whether same-sex couples can be great parents,” District Judge Robert Jonker wrote in his ruling granting an injunction against new state rules. “What this case is about is whether St. Vincent [Catholic Charities] may continue to do this work and still profess and promote the traditional Catholic belief that marriage as ordained by God is for one man and one woman.”

The ruling bars Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel from acting on the terms of a legal settlement with the ACLU reached back in March that would have forced faith-based organizations that work with the state to place children in same-sex households, regardless of any deeply held religious beliefs. Michigan, like many other states, contracts with private adoption agencies to place foster children in new homes, and the ACLU sued in 2017 saying that prospective LGBT parents had been turned away by christian organizations.

In April, religious liberty legal nonprofit Becket responded to the settlement with a lawsuit on behalf of St. Vincent Catholic Charities, adoptive parents Chad and Melissa Buck, and a former foster child.

Jonker, a George W. Bush appointee, also wrote, “Under the Attorney General’s current interpretation of Michigan law and the parties’ contracts, St. Vincent must choose between its traditional religious belief, and the privilege of continuing to place children with foster and adoptive parents of all types.” The ruling also stated that the state’s position “strongly suggests the State’s real goal is not to promote non-discriminatory child placements, but to stamp out St. Vincent’s religious belief and replace it with the State’s own.” (Read more from “Federal Judge Sides With Christians in LGBT Adoption Case” HERE)

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