Oregon LGBTQ foster care safeguards violate free speech, federal appeals court says

A federal appeals court granted a Malheur County woman’s request to halt Oregon’s policy requiring adoptive parents embrace their child’s sexual or gender identity, urging the state to implement a less prescriptive approach to protecting some of the foster care system’s most vulnerable youth. 

The Thursday ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals strikes down a November 2023 decision by U.S. District Judge Adrienne Nelson, who rejected the woman’s original request to stop the policy on the grounds that denying LGBTQ+ identity creates “collateral harm on the child’s development, safety, and physical well-being.” Studies have shown that LGBTQ+ youth are overrepresented in the foster care system, making up to one-third of existing cases.