The End of the Age of Inclusion: How LGBTQ Orphans in the U.S. Became Hostages to the New Conservative Revolution

Rin, a transmasculine teen from rural Oregon, made a mistake he quickly came to regret: he came out to another teen in a group home. Instead of support, he faced ostracism from his peers, a complete lack of understanding from the staff, and a profound sense of isolation. Rin was fortunate—he found a local nonprofit that affirmed his identity and helped him transition smoothly out of foster care.

Today, organizations like the one that saved Rin are struggling to survive. On one side is their core mission of protecting vulnerable children; on the other are the stringent demands of Donald Trump's conservative administration, which controls access to federal funding.

Why are LGBTQ children in foster care such a large at-risk group?

The scale of the problem is difficult to overstate. According to various studies, about one-third of all foster children in the U.S. identify as LGBTQ+ (в то время как среди обычных подростков этот показатель составляет всего 9,5%).

Once in foster care, these children are extremely vulnerable. They are several times more likely to attempt suicide. Because of negative attitudes toward their identity in foster families, they are almost four times more likely to be kicked out, abandoned by their caregivers, or simply run away from home.

Founder of the youth support group Unicorn Solutions Elliott Hinkle, who experienced the foster care system firsthand as an LGBTQ teenager, offers a simple explanation: the problem is not the children themselves, but their environment. When a child lives in a world that tells them, “We don't want you here,” the logical—albeit tragic—response is to want to disappear altogether. In Hinkle's view, foster parenting is a privilege, not an unconditional right. A foster parent must accept a child for who they are, regardless of their race, culture, or identity. But Washington now has other priorities.

How the White House Is Dismantling Protections for LGBTQ Youth

Since Donald Trump's return to the White House, his administration has launched an aggressive assault on LGBTQ policies. Key measures include revising the legal definition of sex (federal law now recognizes only male and female), banning transgender people from serving in the military, restricting federal funding for gender-affirming care, and barring trans women from competing in women's sports.

The foster care system has also come under attack. In July, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. formally rescinded a Biden-era rule. The rule required LGBTQ children in foster care to be placed only with families that respected and supported their sexual orientation and gender identity. Democrats argue that rescinding the rule without offering an alternative puts the lives of thousands of children at risk. Trump supporters, however, have called the previous rules “an attack on family values.”

Ultimatums to the States and Melania Trump's Order

Pressure on the states intensified in the fall of 2025. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), part of the Department of Health and Human Services, sent letters to 13 states. The letters explicitly stated that requirements for prospective foster parents to support children's LGBTQ identity violate foster parents' religious freedom and may be unconstitutional. ACF head Andrew Gradison openly threatened to strip states of federal grants.

States have begun to capitulate:

• Massachusetts under threat of lawsuits and financial losses, removed requirements from its rules mandating support for a child’s sexual orientation and gender, replacing them with the vague wording “respect individual needs.” Local officials said their priority was to ensure that no one was denied the right to become a foster parent because of their religious beliefs.
• Vermont made similar concessions as part of a settlement of federal lawsuits, eliminating the mandatory requirement that prospective foster parents accept children’s LGBTQ identity in order to be licensed.

In October 2025, Donald Trump signed an executive order to reform the foster care system, an initiative spearheaded by First Lady Melania Trump. The document explicitly condemned states that “discriminate” against religious foster parents who disagree with children’s LGBTQ identity, citing their “sincerely held religious beliefs and adherence to basic biological truths.” Then, in March 2026, ACF sent a letter to all 50 states strongly recommending that they: not remove children from families where parents refuse to recognize a child’s gender transition.

The Deflating Balloon Effect

Decades of progress in protecting the rights of foster children—which, by the time Trump returned to office, had resulted in safeguards of varying strength in 35 states and the District of Columbia—is rapidly unraveling. Trump-appointed officials at the local level are shutting down training programs for social workers and foster parents, while experts describe a climate of fear that has taken hold in the profession. Professionals are simply afraid to openly advocate for LGBTQ children because they could be fired or have their programs shut down.

Nonprofit charities are bearing the brunt of the impact. The federal government is requiring them to sign pledges to comply with Trump’s anti-DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) policies. For many, this means abandoning science- and evidence-based practices for working with adolescents.

Sean Suib, executive director of the Oregon-based organization New Avenues for Youth, compares what is happening to squeezing a balloon: “When you press down on it in one place, it inevitably bulges out somewhere else”. We are under tremendous pressure due to policies and cuts to healthcare and social services funding. But the prospect of losing our federal partner is a reality we have to contend with every day.

While politicians debate religious freedom and traditional values, thousands of teenagers in the U.S. foster care system are left on their own to face a system that no longer guarantees them safety even in their own homes.