The ERLC filed public comments with the Department of Health and Human Services urging the removal of a Biden-era rule that blocked religious foster care families from serving children, a rule courts have already struck down as unlawful.
These comments were filed in response to a notice of proposed rule making (NPRM) entitled “Designated Placement Requirements Under Titles IV-E and IV-B for LGBTQI+ Children; Rescission.” The Trump administration is proposing to remove harmful anti-religious liberty language under Titles IV-E and IV-B of the Social Security Act, which supports child welfare and foster care system. The rescission noticed by HHS proposes removing language added by a Biden administration 2024 Final Rule that flagrantly distorted the “safe and proper” foster care placement language in the statute to mean LGBT-identifying children could only be placed in “affirming” homes.
This rule discriminated against religious foster care providers and characterized them as unsafe and improper for upholding biblical convictions surrounding gender and sexuality. The ERLC previously filed comments opposing the Biden administration’s rule in November 2023. The rule was finalized the following year.
Biden-era rule deemed unlawful
Thankfully, in June 2025, a Texas district court struck down the Biden administration’s rule after Texas challenged HHS for lacking statutory authority to issue its mandate and conflicting with Title IV-E of the Social Security Act. While the rule was vacated by the courts, the language remains in the federal Code of Regulations. In order to prevent confusion among state and tribal Title IV-E and Title IV-B foster care program agencies, it is important that HHS remove the now vacated language.
How has the ERLC advocated in support of religious foster and adoptive families?
The ERLC has repeatedly urged the department to rescind the 2024 final rule on designated placements. In addition to the ERLC’s public comments in 2023, we have thrice urged the department to rescind the final rule. Following the 2024 election, the ERLC urged the Trump administration to begin rescinding the final rule as a top priority as the President took office. In response to the Office of Management and Budget’s Request for Information (RFI) on deregulation, the ERLC filed comments outlining “unnecessary, unlawful, unduly burdensome, or unsound” regulations like the 2024 Designated Placements final rule. Finally, in response to HHS’s own RFI on deregulation, the ERLC filed comments again urging the rescission of this unlawful and burdensome regulation.
In 2022, Southern Baptists resolved “to continue and increase their efforts to serve and support … foster-care and adoptive families, doing invaluable and often under-recognized work in the care of women and children at every stage of life”. Additionally, Southern Baptists desire for children to be cared for in safe and loving homes, yet it is unfair to claim religious foster homes cannot offer that environment to children regardless of their purported identity. It is further incorrect to assert that the only way to love a child identifying as LGBTQ is to affirm them. The affirmation of biological and biblical truth is not unloving; it is the truth of the Word of God that is the most loving, powerful, and redemptive force known to mankind.
Why does this matter to Southern Baptists?
Southern Baptists have long answered the call to care for vulnerable children, not as a political statement, but as an expression of the gospel. Removing this rule clears the way for faithful families to keep doing what they’ve always done: open their homes, love children well, and point them toward the hope found in Christ. The ERLC will continue to advocate for the freedom of churches and families to serve without being forced to choose between their convictions and their calling.
