Texas Bill Would Give Adoption Agencies the Option to Reject Families for Religious Reasons

Families who reside outside of what some see as a societal norm could soon face an uphill battle when looking to adopt a child in Texas.

If state-funded foster care and adoption agencies in Texas don't approve of children going to families they find objectionable for religious reasons – including those headed by gay or transgender people, atheists and others – they won't have to send them there – if the state House of Representatives-approved bill continues its success through the legislative process, reports The New York Times.

The bill would also let these agencies decide whether teenagers they care for should have contraceptives and abortion access, not to mention blocking the state from punishing an agency for declining services based on religion.

The bill has received both support and concern.

"We look forward to a swift approval by the Senate and the governor's signature, as this is a critical element of the foster care system reform," the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops executive director Jennifer Carr Allmon told The New York Times.

On the other hand, "I truly want to see something that doesn't create so much concern and fear," Rep. Donna Howard, a Democrat from Austin, said during the bill's debate. "That we recognize there are a wide variety of beliefs and non-beliefs and all should be guaranteed services and should not be denied services on the basis of their beliefs or of their gender identity."

This all underscores struggles in Texas' Child Protective Services department – i.e. when a federal judge determined it left children to face "an unreasonable risk of harm," breaking constitutional rights, reports The New York Times. The paper says there are roughly 22,000 Texas children awaiting placement in foster homes, citing numbers from the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. The Times quotes the chapter's legal and policy director saying that more than 250 children in the system died of abuse or neglect last year.

Rep. James Frank, who wrote the bill, said it wouldn't prevent a child from entering a foster home if being cared for by the state. The Department of Family and Protective Services would have "to ensure alternative providers are present to offer any service denied for reasons of sincerely held religious beliefs."

Texas isn't the first place where a bill like this has come to fruition. A similar bill became law in South Dakota in March, and a more specific bill that didn't apply to agencies backed by the public became law in Alabama even more recently, according to The New York Times.