Trump's week in review: Oval Office prayer meeting, DHS shakeup, demands Iran's 'unconditional surrender'
2. HHS tells states children can’t be removed because parents oppose gender ideology
In a statement published Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families announced that it sent a letter to all 50 states informing them that parents' refusal to surrender to gender confusion doesn't justify removing their child from the home.
“Parents have a right to raise their children according to their sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions,” said Alex Adams, assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families. “When states overstep their bounds, ACF will take action to deter inappropriate policies that drive unnecessary interactions with child welfare systems. This is one such example.”
Adams provided additional details about his letter in a video alongside Assistant Secretary for Health, Admiral Brian Christine, published Tuesday.
Christine identified the guidance as necessary in light of the experience of Sage Blair, a guest at President Donald Trump’s State of the Union last week, who ran away from home as a teenager after school officials sought to socially transition her behind her parents’ backs.
As Trump explained during his remarks, Blair ended up in Maryland, where a judge refused to return her to her parents and instead placed her at an all-boys’ state home.
Christine explained that the letter advises states that “Acknowledging biological reality and exercising sincerely held religious beliefs should not constitute child abuse or neglect under federal law.”
“A state’s decision to break up a family cannot be based solely on a parent’s objection to radical gender ideology or irreversible, sex-rejecting medical interventions,” Adams added as he clarified that HHS oversees the enforcement of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. “Our letter encourages states to adopt clearer definitions of abuse and neglect that explicitly protect parents’ rights to raise children consistent with their biological sex.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
