Twenty-two Republican senators joined South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott in introducing the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act on March 10. The bill would protect faith-based child welfare providers from being discriminated against for acting in accordance with their deeply held religious beliefs.  

Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly introduced companion legislation in the House.

In recent years, faith-based foster and adoption agencies have faced mounting pressure from state governments to serve same-sex couples regardless of their Biblical beliefs that children should be placed with married heterosexual couples.

For example, in 2011, Illinois told child welfare providers they must be willing to place children with same-sex couples. Catholic Charities stood by its policy to only place children in families with one mother and one father. As a result, it was forced to end its contract with the state after 40 years of service. An estimated 2,000–3,000 children were displaced while the state shuffled them into other agencies.

“ … Across the country, faith-based foster care providers support the 400,000 children in our foster care system who—through no fault of their own—have nowhere else to go,” said Scott in a press release. “At a time when religious freedoms are under assault, the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act is a necessary protection for those who are living according to their convictions.”

Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford believes that faith-based child welfare organizations “should not be compelled to set aside their deeply held religious beliefs to serve children and families alongside government.” 

“We can help place children in good homes while not discriminating against those who choose to live their faith,” he told CBN News. “Unfortunately, the Biden administration and some in Congress have taken the position that you have to check your faith at the door if you want to help children in need of a forever home. 

“There is no reason our nation cannot have both faith-based options and non-faith-based options to help children in a crisis,” he reasoned. “We need all the help we can get serving our most vulnerable kids.”

The legislation is supported by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Heritage Action and Family Research Council.

“Far too many children are waiting, right now, either for adoption or foster families,” said Russell Moore, president of the ERLC. “Our government must not stand in the way of those seeking to care for them. It is difficult to imagine a more important goal for child welfare policy than the goal of seeing vulnerable children who need a loving home be united with families committed to caring for them. 

“Protecting the rights of faith-based adoption and foster care agencies only ensures that more children will have access to the love and support they so desperately need. This is precisely what the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act would do.”

 
Above: Sen. Tim Scott attends a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 17.

Photo: Stefani Reynolds/CNP/MediaPunch/Alamy Stock Photo