HHS Scraps Biden Rule Requiring LGBTQI-Affirming Foster Placements
The rescinded 2024 mandate tied Title IV-E and IV-B foster care funding to states certifying homes as identity-affirming for LGBTQI+ children.
- 2024 rule barred placing LGBTQI+ youth with caregivers unwilling to affirm their identity.
- New rule takes effect July 14, 2026, filed as Federal Register document 2026-14131.
- States regain full placement discretion, freed from the federal certification mandate on foster homes.
Why it matters: Whoever writes a program's funding conditions decides how a foster child is placed, not the family or the state.
HHS/ACF Final Rule, Federal Register ↗ · Jul 14, 20267/14/26