Senator Lankford Supports Efforts By the Administration to Find Loving Homes for Foster, Adoptive Children

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) supports efforts by the Trump Administration to reverse a change in regulation made at the end of the Obama Administration to expand Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, which provides funding for foster care and adoption, in a way that resulted in some faith-based Child Placing Agencies (CPAs) having to choose between serving vulnerable children and families or operating in accordance with their religious beliefs. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is clarifying the regulation to align with federal law and recent Supreme Court precedent.

“I’m grateful to the Administration for their support of the right of any group, including faith-based organizations, to help find a home for children in the foster care system or seeking adoption,” said Lankford. “The government should not stand in the way of groups trying to find children a loving home by forcing them to abandon the same faith that drives them to care for these vulnerable children. There are more than 430,000 children in state foster care systems across the country, including 532 children in Oklahoma who are currently eligible for adoption. We should support as many agencies as possible as they walk with families through the adoption process, not discourage them because they choose to live out their faith.”

Lankford is a cosponsor of Senator Mike Enzi’s (R-WY) Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act, which would allow child-placing agencies with sincerely held religious beliefs to live out their faith and consider religious beliefs when placing children in homes.

Lankford is a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Finance Committee.  

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