Washington lawsuit over foster parents being forced to go along with child sex changes goes forward

A federal district court ruled Wednesday that a Washington state foster care licensing rule may violate the First Amendment by requiring foster parents to affirm a child’s gender transition, allowing the case to move forward.

The ruling came in DeGross v. Hunter, a lawsuit filed by Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys on behalf of Shane and Jennifer DeGross. The couple says Washington officials refused to issue them a standard foster care license because of their religious objections to socially or medically transitioning children.

The US District Court for the Western District of Washington denied the state’s motion to dismiss, allowing the DeGrosses’ claims to move forward.

Shane and Jennifer DeGross had previously served as foster parents in Washington, but state officials declined to renew their license in 2022 under a rule requiring foster parents to use a child’s chosen pronouns. The couple sued in 2024, alleging religious discrimination. Washington later allowed them to reapply.

After the renewed licensing process, however, officials declined to issue the couple a standard license. According to the lawsuit, the state instead limited them to placements involving children under age five unless they agreed to comply with the state’s requirements.

In its decision, the court said Washington’s rule plausibly restricts and compels speech on issues involving sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression. The court wrote that the Department had forced the DeGrosses to choose between “forfeiting their freedom of speech” to receive an unrestricted license or maintaining their beliefs and receiving a more limited license.

“When children are sleeping on cots in child-welfare offices for lack of loving homes, states like Washington should be doing everything they can to bring in more qualified foster parents,” said ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse. “But Washington state is putting its own ideological agenda ahead of children’s needs, even though a federal court already enjoined a similarly unconstitutional policy in 2021. Washington should take the hint: it needs to end its unconstitutional and discriminatory policy.”