Symposium introduction

Children in the foster care system deserve appropriate foster care placements. Unfortunately, our duty to find caregivers for children in need has become the latest minefield in the conflict between LGBTQIA equality and religious liberty. Most states rely on private foster agencies to recruit, certify, and train foster parents. While foster children and foster parents may identify as LGBTQIA, many foster agencies are religious organizations that believe homosexuality and gender nonconformity are sinful. The inevitable conflict arrived at the Supreme Court last year in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia.