sexual orientation

The number of child welfare agencies working to create a more welcoming experience for thousands of LGBTQ foster youth took a big jump in the past year, according to a report released Thursday by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. 

Late Friday the Trump administration finalized a one-third reduction in the amount of data the government must collect about youth in foster care and their parents, sparking an outcry from advocates who charge that the changes are politically driven and will be bad for already-vulnerable kids.

In 2018, three states – Kansas, Oklahoma and South Carolina – joined the ranks of seven other states in passing laws to enable faith-based child welfare providers to discriminate against foster and adoptive parents, or even foster youth.

  The Trump administration has rewritten new child welfare data collection rules to eliminate information about sexual orientation and educational stability, as well as limit the amount of information collected about cases involving Native American children and parents.

Earlier this week, while reporting on the confirmation of new Administration for Children and Families (ACF) leader Lynn Johnson, Youth Services Insider speculated that perhaps an agreement had been reached, or assurances had been made, about a timeline to finalize new child welfare data collection.

Youth who identify as LGBTQ are very likely to be bullied, teased or rejected because of their status, according to a recent report by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). HRC and the University of Connecticut conducted a survey of more 12,000 LGBTQ youth from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. 

The Trump administration wanted public feedback on Obama-laid plans to collect more information about youth and adults involved in the foster care system. It heard from more than 200 parties, almost all of them weighing in with comments in the final week of the public period.

As Youth Services Insider reported back in March, the Trump administration has indicated that it might roll back some or many of the Obama-era changes to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), which is how the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reports state and national data on child welfare.

Note: An early draft of this column was originally posted, and has been updated here with the final version In many facets of life, American society writ large is a more tolerant and welcoming place for gay and transgender people.