Protecting LGBTQ+ Rights in Foster Care
Last week we issued a statement regarding the Vermont Department for Children and Families (DCF) Family Services Division (FSD) and its settlement of two federal lawsuits challenging foster care licensing requirements related to LGBTQ+ youth. The cases - Wuoti v. Winters and Antonucci v. Winters - brought on by organizations staunchly opposed to LGBTQ+ existence, sought to carve out religious exemptions from the state’s requirement that foster parents support and affirm LGBTQ+ youth.
This moment demands more than a legal update. It calls for a deeper understanding of the impact on some of Vermont’s most vulnerable young people, young people who live in our communities and are often voiceless, underrepresented, and dependent on adults and systems to ensure their safety and well-being.
At this very moment, those same systems are under growing political pressure to retreat from affirming LGBTQ+ youth, a known imperative for their survival. Across the country, hospitals are being pushed to stop providing gender-affirming care, lawmakers are advancing sweeping statewide policies targeting transgender youth, and well-funded, coordinated campaigns are working to stoke fear and hate.
These efforts do not exist in a vacuum, rather they filter into child welfare systems, courtrooms, and foster homes, emboldening the argument that religious belief can justify withholding gender-affirming foster care. But let’s make no mistake about it - affirmation is not ideology. It is a basic component of safety, dignity, and care.
While we cannot ignore the broader context, we also can not allow the needs of LGBTQ+ youth to be overshadowed by political agendas that attempt to render them invisible.
Here’s what you need to know.
LGBTQ+ Youth are Overrepresented in Foster Care.
Key statistics provided by the National Foster Youth Institute shows that young people who identify as LGBTQ+ make up a much larger share of the foster care population than in the general youth population. As taken from their research:
Of the nearly 400,000 youth in the U.S. foster care system, 30–34% of youth in foster care identify as LGBTQIA2S+ , compared to about 11% of youth nationally.
One study found that 78 percent of LGBTQIA2S+ youth were removed or ran away from foster placements because of the caregiver’s hostility toward their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Placement instability is significantly higher for LGBTQ+ youth.
The Human Rights Campaign issued a brief, LGBTQ Youth In The Foster Care System, that shows the challenges LGBTQ+ youth in the foster care system experience. It highlights the instability of LGBTQ+ youth placements, citing that they experience a higher average number of placements and a higher likelihood of living in a group home setting. That average number for LGBTQ+ youth is 6.35 compared to their cisgender, heterosexual peers, which is around three.
Non-Affirming Foster Homes Compound Harm & Create Health Disparities.
Many LGBTQ+ youth in foster care have already endured what scholars describe as Minority Stress. Coined by Illan H. Meyer, Minority Stress Theory posits that LGBTQ+ individuals who face chronic identity-based stressors such as parental rejection or anti-LGBTQ+ aggression are at an elevated risk for depression, anxiety, suicidality, and other adverse outcomes.
Within this context, a system that permits foster parents to “pick and choose” whether they will affirm core aspects of a young person’s identity is not neutral, it compounds minority stress. Rather than interrupting patterns of rejection, it reinforces them.
Caregiver Affirmation is a Protective Factor for LGBTQ+ Youth Mental Health
We know that when there is parental support and affirmation of a young person’s identities, there is a lower rate of stress, anxiety, depression and suicidality. For trans youth specifically, research unequivocally demonstrates that gender-affirmation is a protective factor directly associated with positive mental health outcomes.
Because of this clear connection between caregiver affirmation and youth well-being, and given what is known about the elevated risks faced by queer and trans youth in foster care, it’s increasingly recognized that youth need intentional, affirming approaches. In response, new models have emerged that are grounded in frameworks that integrate the compassionate parenting practices any youth in the foster system requires. One such evidence-based model gaining traction is AFFIRM, which has demonstrated its effectiveness in improving mental health outcomes and supporting resilience among LGBTQ+ youth in foster care.
A Young Person’s Developmental Needs Outweigh Adults’ Preferences
As many of you know, adultism is the systematic privileging of adult beliefs, authority, and comfort over the rights, needs, and lived realities of young people. When caregivers’ religious objections to sexual orientation or gender identity are prioritized above well-established best practices on youth mental health, those adult beliefs are not simply being accommodated, they are elevated above evidence, ethics, and, most egregiously, the welfare and safety of a young person.
This issue represents one of the clearest and most disturbing examples of adultism in practice. At its core, this is not a debate about religious liberty or differing viewpoints, it is a question of whether the foster care system can and will continue to fulfill its fundamental obligation to protect young people from harm.
Stay tuned!
While a settlement has been reached, the issues therewithin are far from resolved. Through policy, practice, and placement decisions, DCF must continue to make clear that affirmation is not optional. This means families and systems providing care must receive comprehensive training and ongoing guidance as a standard part of their role.
DCF must remain steadfast in prioritizing young people’s developmental, emotional, and psychological needs by intentionally matching youth with affirming homes and care providers prepared to support them fully. Anything less risks abandoning LGBTQ+ youth to the same patterns of rejection and harm that brought many of them into care in the first place.
We Have Your Backs!
At Outright Vermont, we will continue to partner with foster families, social workers, and community members to provide training, resources, and direct support to LGBTQ+ youth in care. We will continue to speak up when political narratives put young people at risk. And we will continue to remind our community that affirmation saves lives.
And if you have the interest and capacity to show up for LGBTQ+ youth in the foster care system - we encourage you to think about becoming a foster caregiver.
Thanks for staying informed about the very issues impacting LGBTQ+ youth here in Vermont and across the country. As we all know, knowledge = power.
