Human Rights Campaign

Illinois will beef up services and existing mandatory training for staff members, partner organizations and foster care providers to improve how LGBTQ people are treated within the child welfare system.

As a growing number of states pass laws permitting discrimination against LGBTQ people interested in foster care and adoption, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation has released a toolkit to help the child welfare field better serve LGBTQ families.

A group of child welfare workers, educators and medical professionals are calling on states to enact legislation protecting LGBTQ youth from being subject to conversion therapy, a highly controversial practice intended to forcibly “change” a person’s sexual orientation.

Since the U.S. legalized same-sex marriage in 2015, several states have passed laws allowing publicly funded child welfare organizations to exclude millions of LGBTQ adults as potential foster parents. This, combined with a Trump administration executive order on religious liberty, is cause for concern over the future of child welfare programs, according to a new policy brief from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation’s All Children – All Families initiative has expanded its focus to include issues facing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) foster youth. Launched in 2006, All Children – All Families started by providing child welfare agencies and prospective foster and adoptive families with tools and skills to effectively work with LGBT foster youth.