Ark. to allow Christian adoption, foster care groups not to place kids with same-sex couples
April 15, 2025
The Governor of Arkansas has signed a law protecting faith-based adoption and foster care agencies from being forced to place children in homes that violate the organization’s’ moral and religious beliefs.
The Christian Post reports that last week, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed the Keep Kids First Act which passed both chambers of the Arkansas legislature earlier this month.
The new law prohibits state officials from forcing faith-based organizations to “perform, assist, counsel, recommend, consent to, refer, or participate in any placement of a child for foster care or adoption when the proposed placement would violate the private child placement agency’s sincerely held religious or moral beliefs.”
The measure also protects adoptive and foster parents from state action based on their religious beliefs or “[r]efusal to accept or support any government policy regarding sexual orientation or gender identity that conflicts with” their “sincerely held religious beliefs.”
Under the new law, prospective foster and pre-adoptive parents may not be officially excluded from consideration for placement of a child “based in whole or in part on the person’s sincerely held religious beliefs regarding sexual orientation or gender identity.”
Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Greg Chafuen explained why the law was needed in a statement released last Friday, saying, “Every child deserves a loving home that can provide them stability and opportunities to grow. Yet other states have put politics over people by excluding caring families and faith-based adoption and foster care organizations from helping children find loving homes.”
According to the Christian Post, there have been numerous legal battles over the question of whether Christian charities that work with government agencies should be forced to follow antidiscrimination laws regarding gender identity and sexual orientation.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 2021 in the case of Fulton v. City of Philadelphia that Philadelphia, Pennsylvania officials could not exclude Catholic Social Services from its foster program solely because the agency refused to place children with same-sex couples.
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