Maryland parents lost custody of their autistic son after staff at the Children\u2019s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. informed them he was transgender, according to a lawsuit<\/a> filed in March. Officials told them to \u201cremove passages from their Bibles that affirm traditional sexual values\u201d and refused to return their son until \u201cthey renounced their lifetime faith,\u201d the complaint alleges.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n As we Christians believe the Rapture, or extraction of the church is near, Satan is really ramping up his attacks on children. As children that have not reached the age of accountability, will be extracted with the church. But if Satan can so pollute them with his world system, you’d have to think he’s trying to lower the age of accountability in as many children as possible so they’ll be left in the tribulation, his final time to act before being locked away for a millennia. And as the state has weaponized the education system against children and parents, get them out before it’s too late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2024\/10\/14\/activists-behind-biden-harris-foster-care-regulation-want-to-strip-custody-from-non-affirming-parents\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n By Katelynn Richardson and Megan Brock<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTransphobia is child abuse,\u201d Alex Roque, who runs the Ali Forney Center for homeless LGBTQ youth in New York City, asserted on a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) webinar last fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In less than three minutes, he cast a vision for completely transforming child protective systems nationwide. Family rejection of a child\u2019s gender identity cannot be dismissed as a personal view, he argued. Non-affirmation must be treated as abuse. \u201cIf they were denying them food or denying them access to school or denying other things, there would be headlines,\u201d Roque continued. \u201cThere would be prosecution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among gender activists the Biden-Harris administration has enlisted<\/a> to shape its policies, Roque\u2019s definition<\/a> of abuse is not fringe, and his vision for reshaping the system is not hypothetical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While crafting its foster care rule finalized<\/a> in April, HHS officials took inspiration from social workers in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, who spent years pioneering a program that strong-arms parents into affirming whatever confused beliefs children express about their gender. Parents who decline risk losing a voice in their child\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The program developed in Cuyahoga County using federal grant funds provided the HHS\u2019 Administration for Children and Families (ACF) with an ideal model for infusing gender ideology into foster care and social services, the Daily Caller News Foundation discovered in reviewing hundreds of documents and emails obtained via public record requests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Biden-Harris administration\u2019s new federal rule<\/a> directs states to ensure foster children who identify as LGBTQ are placed in affirming homes. These \u201cdesignated placements\u201d must commit to creating an environment that supports a child\u2019s \u201cstatus or identity,\u201d including through access to age-appropriate \u201cresources, services, and activities.\u201d To gender activists consulted by the Biden administration, being \u201caffirming\u201d means assuming the child knows best about his or her identity \u2014 even if what he or she claims to want is life-altering medical procedures like hormone blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries to appear more like the opposite sex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To Cuyahoga County child protective services, being affirming often means providing kids access to items like chest binders or prosthetic packers that mimic a penis, according<\/a> to an information sheet for caregivers on the Cuyahoga County Division of Children & Family Services (DCFS) website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Frequent communications with federal officials indicate Cuyahoga County played a prominent role in shaping the rule, which was just one part of a broader effort to support LGBTQ youth the agency undertook<\/a> at the direction<\/a> of President Joe Biden. But voices of county social workers weren\u2019t the only ones the agency heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ACF senior advisor for LGBTQI Initiatives Julie Kruse, who celebrated the Cuyahoga County team as \u201ctrailblazers,\u201d reached out to dozens of other activists to weigh in on the agency\u2019s efforts, emails obtained by the DCNF show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the rule was announced<\/a> in September 2023, it quickly faced resistance. A coalition<\/a> of 19 Republican states slammed the proposed rule, arguing it would infringe on religious liberty and free speech protections. Religious groups warned<\/a> it would restrict faith-based providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those concerns were well-founded: In states like Washington and Vermont, Christian couples have lost<\/a> their foster care licenses due to similar state regulations. But as the activists consulted in the development of the federal rule show, these objections only scratch the surface of problems with the rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parents in a handful of states have already sounded the alarm, claiming local authorities deemed them unfit guardians for refusing to allow their children to undergo a gender transition. In light of federally funded programs, like the one operating in Cuyahoga County, stories like these sound more like harbingers of an organized effort to undermine the family than one-off incidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vernadette Broyles, president and general counsel of the Child and Parental Rights Campaign, told the DCNF there has absolutely been \u201can uptick in families that are having their custody of their child taken away, investigated or disrupted\u201d because they believe in \u201cbiological reality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe underlying premise of the rule is that it is mistreatment and abuse if you do not affirm a child\u2019s self-selected identity,\u201d Rachel N. Morrison, director of the HHS Accountability Project at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, told the DCNF.\u00a0\u201cThis premise is dangerous and could extend outside the foster care context to adoption, custody disputes, and schools.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Affirming LGBTQ+ children and youth in their gender expression document (Credit: Kinnect\/Affirm Me\/ Cuyahoga County)<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the tail end of the Obama administration, a group of researchers at the University of Maryland received<\/a> a five-year, $10 million federal grant<\/a> to establish a center aimed at supporting LGBTQ children in foster care. The idea<\/a> was to work with child welfare agencies in multiple locations to develop \u201cinterventions\u201d that ensured \u201caffirming\u201d placements for LGBTQ youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The group<\/a> established through the grant, cumbersomely known as the National Quality Improvement Center on Tailored Services, Placement Stability and Permanency for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Two-Spirit Children and Youth in Foster Care (QIC-LGBTQ2S), selected<\/a> four implementation sites: Allegheny County in Pennsylvania, Cuyahoga County in Ohio, the state of Michigan and Prince George\u2019s County in Maryland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Cuyahoga County site became particularly important, as federal officials drafting the rule later looked to it as model for infusing gender ideology into foster care and social services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Cuyahoga County Health and Human Services special project coordinator Jennifer Croessmann explained in a podcast interview<\/a> quoted<\/a> by the county, the aim was to \u201cdevelop practices that inform everyone that understanding a youth\u2019s SOGIE (and we all have one) is critical to determining their safety, stability, and service needs.\u201d SOGIE is an acronym for Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression used frequently throughout the program\u2019s materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the four-year grant project concluded in 2022, the agency boasted<\/a> that their program had \u201cprovided a blueprint for Health and Human Services divisions throughout the nation to follow.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The county\u2019s \u201cAFFIRM.ME\u201d model<\/a> included four interventions: the first identifies LGBTQ youth, the second convinces parents to affirm their children, the third helps LGBTQ kids locate affirming adults in their circles and the fourth trains prospective foster parents to become affirming. Though the grant has now ended, a county spokesperson confirmed elements of the program, including the Safe Identification and Youth Acceptance Project, are still used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPrograms like Affirm Me take for granted that affirmation is consistent with promoting the health and general welfare of a child, and conversely, that non-affirmation is akin to a form of emotional or psychological abuse,\u201d Manhattan Institute Policy Analyst Joseph Figliolia told the DCNF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These kinds of programs \u201care used to try and establish the intellectual architecture needed to advance policies that promote affirmation as the default intervention for gender dysphoria by linking it with the mental and emotional welfare of children,\u201d Figliolia said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet, many studies cited in the federal foster care rule \u201crely on self-report surveys that cannot determine causality and often have other methodological or conceptual flaws,\u201d Figliolia added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Affirm Me Theory of Change (Credit: Cuyahoga County HHS Affirm Me Guide)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first intervention is the \u201cSafe Identification Initiative,\u201d which is designed to identify LGBTQ youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All youth over 13 years of age \u2014 along with some as young as three \u2014 are to participate in a SOGIE conversation with their caseworker. The disclosure form<\/a> walks the child through a series of leading questions about pronouns, feelings of gender and expressions of gender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDo you have crushes on boys, girls or other kinds of people?\u201d one question asks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another asks children to tell their social worker whether they \u201cfeel more like a boy or more like a girl, some other gender or maybe somewhere in between?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe original goal was to serve LGBTQ+ youth, ages 12\u201321 in agency care, but the age range was later changed to 5\u201321 years old to account for younger children disclosing diverse gender identity or expression and to include youth involved with DCFS, not just those in the care of DCFS,\u201d the county\u2019s AFFIRM.ME guide<\/a> states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once LGBT youth are identified, the Youth Acceptance Project (YAP) can be implemented to persuade hesitant parents to affirm their child\u2019s gender dysphoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an overview<\/a> of YAP, the program\u2019s creator, the California-based nonprofit Family Builders, touts the \u201csuccess\u201d story of a family who became involved with the system because they \u201cstruggled to accept their child as a transgender girl.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAfter several months of work, there were significant improvements,\u201d the document states. \u201cThe father consented to gender affirming medical care for Salima. The father gave Salima a purse for her birthday. And the father once helped Salima put on a wig.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The program is designed to help parents and caregivers of children already in the welfare system, or \u201cat risk\u201d of entering, become affirming, according to the AFFIRM.ME guide. The program also pushes families to \u201creconcile\u201d their values, including their faith, to accept their child\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many caregivers are referred to the program because they are \u201cnot allowing their youth to express themselves fully in public (hairstyles, clothing, hygiene\/ beauty products)\u201d or resist using preferred pronouns and names, according to the Family Builders overview. <\/p>\n\n\n\n YAP is currently being implemented in California, New York, Pennsylvania and Missouri, along with Ohio, according<\/a> to the SOGIE Center. Of the 34 Cuyahoga County families who started the program between 2018 and 2021, seven cases were successfully \u201cclosed\u201d when parents stopped opposing their child\u2019s gender-bending desires, according<\/a> to SOGIE Center data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI mean, they don\u2019t say anything to my face anymore about it and they stopped being super religious around me because they used to,\u201d said one young person who was part of the program in Spring 2021, according to the data sheet. \u201cI don\u2019t know what was their problem, but they used to try to push a lot of weird religion stuff on me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another adolescent reported having a \u201cvery conservative\u201d family approve of transitioning after going through YAP. \u201cSo I could start testosterone and things of that sort soon,\u201d the youth said. \u201cAnd [mom is] helping me with the name change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ohio-based nonprofit Kinnect, which received a contract<\/a> from the state worth nearly $24 million, helped implement YAP in Cuyahoga County while the program was ongoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDuring the Affirm Me program, YAP was used as a prevention tool for young people who were at risk of leaving their caregiver\u2019s home because of rejection,\u201d Kinnect explains<\/a>. When the grant ended, Frontline Services, a nonprofit that contracts with Cuyahoga County to provide homeless and trauma support services, \u201cembedded the program as part of their existing work with the support and partnership of Family Builders,\u201d according to Kinnect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kinnect did not respond to the DCNF\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Cuyahoga County spokesperson told the DCNF the program works with LGBTQ youth or families who have an open case with DCFS and desire additional support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs with other supportive services offered by DCFS, this service is available to youth in county custody and those who remain in their homes in order to prevent them from coming into custody,\u201d Cuyahoga County HHS deputy communications director Deonna Kirkpatrick told the DCNF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A third intervention helps foster children find adults who will affirm their identity and potentially become their legal caretaker, in some cases instead of their parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chosen Affirming Family Finding (CAFF) model, developed by Kinnect, helps LGBTQ youth \u201clocate\u201d affirming family members from existing connections, who can include \u201cfamily, chosen family, or other important people that the young person has a relationship or contact with.\u201d The ultimate goal is building \u201ccommitted, life-long, and positive connections,\u201d even if this is with \u201cchosen family\u201d and not blood relatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese connections lead to a robust network of affirming individuals who provide emotional and potentially legal permanency for LGBTQ+ young people,\u201d the practice manual explains<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a first meeting, social workers ask questions, including who a young person \u201cfeel is their family,\u201d would like to have in their lives and are \u201ccurrent safe and affirming connections.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A report<\/a> on the use of CAAF in Cuyahoga County from 2019-2021 states that 12 youth completed the program, having an average of five identified connections joining their \u201cnetwork of support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the Affirm Me program ended in 2021, two other Ohio foster youth programs, Kinnect to Family and Youth-Centered Permanency Roundtables, have since integrated CAFF into their programs \u201cas a cultural adaptation to their work,\u201d according<\/a> to Kinnect\u2019s website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fourth program, called \u201cAFFIRM Caregiver,\u201d is designed to increase the number of homes available to LGBTQ youth already in the system by preparing foster parents to support kids in their care who desire to live as another gender, even if that means providing access to irreversible medical procedures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe AFFIRM Caregiver model recognizes that pervasive exposure to homo\/bi\/transphobic attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors at multiple levels in society impacts the way caregivers may view and understand their child\u2019s LGBTQ+ identity,\u201d the Cuyahoga County guide states. \u201cThrough a variety of didactic and interactive activities delivered over seven sessions, the AFFIRM Caregiver model helps caregivers adopt an affirming approach toward their youth\u2019s identity as a critical step toward creating safe and healthy environments for their LGBTQ+ youth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A pre-test<\/a> given to caregivers prior to the training asks them to rate their ability in areas like creating a \u201csafe space\u201d for LGBTQ youth or making \u201caffirmative statements,\u201d according to material obtained by the DCNF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another form<\/a> later asks caregivers how strongly they would support behaviors associated with different gender identities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI would take my child to a medical facility for hormone treatment that would help them look like a different gender if that\u2019s what they wanted,\u201d one statement reads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parents are also asked if they \u201cdisplay pro-LGBTQ+ symbols\u201d in their home or would allow their child to bring a \u201csame-gender significant other to family events and celebrations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chosen Affirming Family Finding (CAFF) test (CREDIT: Daily Caller News Foundation)<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the HHS developed its rule, grant-funded researchers who established the QIC-LGBTQ2S center helped connect federal officials with the team operating in Cuyahoga County. Angela Weeks, project director for the center, made the introduction in May 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Weeks told the county team that HHS senior advisor Julie Kruse had closely followed the work and was \u201creally impressed with all that you did at Cuyahoga County,\u201d according to an email<\/a> obtained by the DCNF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe would like to bring in ACF leadership to hear from you, including Assistant Secretary January Contreras,\u201d Weeks said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kruse quickly followed up on Weeks\u2019 introduction by heaping praise on the Cuyahoga County group, calling them \u201ctrailblazers\u201d and letting them know their work was \u201cvery appreciated at ACF.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The email exchange led to a June 9 call<\/a> with Kruse and an invitation to present to Contreras in July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Emails indicate the Cuyahoga County team understood<\/a> their conversation with HHS leadership to be part of fulfilling a direct charge to the agency from Biden, who announced<\/a> in a 2023 pride month statement that the HHS would advance rulemaking designed to \u201cprotect LGBTQI+ youth in foster care\u201d by requiring state agencies to provide affirming placements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In preparation for the July call, the Cuyahoga County team put together a presentation agenda to explain why their program was \u201ca promising model for replication.\u201d One staff member shared \u201creal life experiences\u201d from implementing the interventions, according to an agenda<\/a> obtained by the DCNF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The team was thrilled to speak to the administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019re obviously a group of rock stars!\u201d Karen Anderson, deputy director of resources and placement at the DCFS, wrote in a July 7 email<\/a> to Kruse. \u201cThis is life saving work and we are grateful that this administration is so thoughtfully considering how to imbed it inpolicy [sic]\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kinnect included<\/a> the meeting in its August 2023 newsletter, sharing that the organization was invited to participate in a meeting about affirming LGBTQ youth with federal officials at the HHS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The feeling was mutual. Catherine Heath at the ACF\u2019s Children\u2019s Bureau emailed<\/a> the county group who participated in the July call to thank them for a \u201cgreat virtual site visit.\u201d She also noted a previous visit she made to Cuyahoga County had been important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe put many aspects of your work into the latest Program Instructions issued<\/a> to states,\u201d Heath said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The July meeting wasn\u2019t the last time the Cuyahoga County team interfaced with federal officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Members of the team also agreed to participate in an interview with Mathematica, a research and data analytics consultancy firm contracted by the ACF to visit child welfare agencies to learn about data practices \u201cthat could potentially help develop nationwide requirements for SOGIE data collection,\u201d per an email<\/a> obtained by the DCNF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In September 2023, Kruse emailed<\/a> multiple individuals from DCFS and Kinnect to invite their comments on the proposed rule and help them \u201cidentify LGBTQI+ foster and adoptive parents\u201d who could talk to top officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Family Builders, which developed YAP, submitted public comments on the proposed foster care regulation in November 2023, telling<\/a> the agency that offering religious exemptions would provide a \u201clicense to discriminate and to do harm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAny provider that is unwilling to provide safe and proper care for youth who are LGBTQI+ are unable to provide safe and proper care to any youth,\u201d they advised. \u201cWe recommend all placement providers and child welfare agencies be held to a standard of care where they are prohibited from discrimination based on all protected classes, including sexual orientation, sex, and gender.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kinnect also submitted<\/a> a public comment in support of the proposed rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-6.png\")
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u2018Conceptual Flaws\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nIdentification<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Acceptance<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Family Finding<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Preparing Foster Parents<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u2018Promising Model For Replication\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n