{"id":335713,"date":"2025-08-05T16:53:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T21:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=335713"},"modified":"2025-08-05T14:42:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T19:42:52","slug":"court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Court rules in favor of woman barred from adopting from foster care"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit <a href=\"https:\/\/adfmedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/batesninthcircuitruling.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ruled<\/a> on July 24 that an Oregon mother will be allowed to begin the process of adopting siblings from foster care following a legal battle around her religious beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>The state had rejected Jessica Bates&#8217; adoption application because she would not vow to encourage a hypothetical child who has gender dysphoria to &#8216;transition.&#8217;<\/p>\n<h2>Key Takeaways:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Oregon rejected Jessica Bates&#8217; application to adopt a pair of siblings through foster care because she said she would not take a hypothetical child for hormone injections or call a child by the wrong pronouns.<\/li>\n<li>Bates filed a lawsuit that remains ongoing, arguing that the state rule ordering foster parents to agree to affirm a child&#8217;s gender dysphoria, hang pro-LGBTA+ signage, or take children to pride parades violates her First Amendment rights.<\/li>\n<li>On July 24, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Bates will be allowed to continue her adoption process as the case proceeds because it feels she will likely win the case.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>The Details:<\/h2>\n<p>The case revolved around an Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) rule that excluded Bates from adopting any child because she would not affirm the gender dysphoria of a hypothetical child and tell them that boys can be girls and vice versa. Bates asked the Ninth Circuit to lift the exclusion rule and allow her to reapply to adopt while her lawsuit continues in court.<\/p>\n<p>The court ordered the ODHS to reconsider her application because it believes she will likely succeed in proving that the rule violates her First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n<p>The ruling states:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>The panel held that Oregon\u2019s application of \u00a7 413-200- 0308(2)(k) to Bates, in denying her certification to be an adoptive parent, triggers strict scrutiny for both her free speech and free exercise claims. <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Strict scrutiny applies to Bates\u2019s free speech claim because Oregon\u2019s policy both restricts and compels speech based on content and viewpoint in the areas of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Strict scrutiny applies to Bates\u2019s free exercise claim because Oregon\u2019s policy burdens Bates\u2019s religious exercise and is neither neutral nor generally applicable.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It said that Oregon likely violated the First Amendment in barring Bates from adopting children from foster care.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery child deserves a loving home, and children suffer when the government excludes people of faith from the adoption and foster system. Jessica is a caring mom of five who is now free to adopt after Oregon officials excluded her because of her common-sense belief that a girl cannot become a boy or vice versa,\u201d said Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) Senior Counsel and Vice President of Litigation Strategy Jonathan Scruggs, who argued before the court on behalf of Bates. \u201cBecause caregivers like Jessica cannot promote Oregon\u2019s dangerous gender ideology to young kids and take them to events like pride parades, the state considers them to be unfit parents. That is false and incredibly dangerous, needlessly depriving kids of opportunities to find a loving home. The 9th Circuit was right to remind Oregon that the foster and adoption system is supposed to serve the best interests of children, not the state\u2019s ideological crusade.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>The Backstory:<\/h2>\n<p>Two years ago, Bates <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-oregon-sues-adoption-rejecting-transgenderism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">applied<\/a> to adopt children from foster care after feeling called to adopt following the death of her husband in a car accident.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was like, \u2018Oh, I didn\u2019t see that coming,&#8217;\u201d she said, \u201cbut I feel like I need to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She had been hoping to adopt a pair of siblings under the age of nine and had provided all of the necessary information proving her financial stability, work history, background check, and had taken the required adoption training.<\/p>\n<p>Barnes learned during her training that she was expected to display \u201csymbols indicating an LGBTQ-affirming environment\u201d and \u201cpictures and posters of diverse people who are known to be LGBTQI2-S \u2026 and families with same-sex parents\u201d as well as participate in \u201cLGBTQ community activities,\u201d and she raised her concerns.<\/p>\n<p>She emailed a state adoption official about the requirements.<\/p>\n<p>The official asked her if she would bring a child to receive hormone injections, and she said no. She would also not agree to use the wrong pronouns for a child or take children to LGBTQ+ parades.<\/p>\n<p>Bates told ODHS that she would love and respect any child, but officials denied her application, refusing to allow her to take in any children, even those with the same values and beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>She filed a lawsuit arguing that the rule violates her rights \u2014 with the help of ADF and friend-of-the-court briefs from 20 states, detransitioners, free speech advocates, religious liberty groups, and adoptive parents. They argued that the rule penalized Bates and other people for their religious views, compels parents to violate their own conscience, and deprives children of loving homes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><b><i>Follow Live Action News on <\/i><\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveactionnewsonline\/\"><b><i>Facebook<\/i><\/b><\/a><b><i> and <\/i><\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/LiveActionOrg\/\"><b><i>Instagram<\/i><\/b><\/a><b><i> for more pro-life news.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled on July 24 that an Oregon mother will be allowed to begin the process of adopting siblings from foster care following a legal battle around her religious beliefs. The state had rejected Jessica Bates&#8217; adoption application because she would not vow to encourage a hypothetical [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":335719,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3473,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Court rules in favor of woman barred from adopting from foster care<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The state rejected Jessica Bates&#039; adoption application when she refused to urge a hypothetical child with gender dysphoria to &#039;transition.&#039;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Court rules in favor of woman barred from adopting from foster care\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The state rejected Jessica Bates&#039; adoption application when she refused to urge a hypothetical child with gender dysphoria to &#039;transition.&#039;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-05T21:53:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-05T19:42:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Untitled-design-2025-08-02T172303.335.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nancy Flanders\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nancy Flanders\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nancy Flanders\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef\"},\"headline\":\"Court rules in favor of woman barred from adopting from foster care\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-05T21:53:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-05T19:42:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/\"},\"wordCount\":827,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Newsbreak\",\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/\",\"name\":\"Court rules in favor of woman barred from adopting from foster care\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-05T21:53:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-05T19:42:52+00:00\",\"description\":\"The state rejected Jessica Bates' adoption application when she refused to urge a hypothetical child with gender dysphoria to 'transition.'\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Court rules in favor of woman barred from adopting from foster care\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, &amp; Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef\",\"name\":\"Nancy Flanders\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dee54060bdc22fdfbf36d946b3026cca?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dee54060bdc22fdfbf36d946b3026cca?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nancy Flanders\"},\"description\":\"Nancy Flanders is Associate Editor for Live Action News. She has 25 years of experience writing and editing. For more than a decade, she has focused her work on pro-life issues through human interest stories and political issues regarding abortion and physician-assisted death as well as research articles and op-eds dismantling the lies of the pro-abortion, pro-death agenda. Her work has appeared in Catholic Digest, Pregnancy Help News, and a variety of other publications.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/nancy\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Court rules in favor of woman barred from adopting from foster care","description":"The state rejected Jessica Bates' adoption application when she refused to urge a hypothetical child with gender dysphoria to 'transition.'","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Court rules in favor of woman barred from adopting from foster care","og_description":"The state rejected Jessica Bates' adoption application when she refused to urge a hypothetical child with gender dysphoria to 'transition.'","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2025-08-05T21:53:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-08-05T19:42:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":650,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Untitled-design-2025-08-02T172303.335.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nancy Flanders","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nancy Flanders","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/"},"author":{"name":"Nancy Flanders","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef"},"headline":"Court rules in favor of woman barred from adopting from foster care","datePublished":"2025-08-05T21:53:20+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-05T19:42:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/"},"wordCount":827,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Newsbreak","Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/","name":"Court rules in favor of woman barred from adopting from foster care","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-08-05T21:53:20+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-05T19:42:52+00:00","description":"The state rejected Jessica Bates' adoption application when she refused to urge a hypothetical child with gender dysphoria to 'transition.'","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-favor-woman-adopting-foster-care\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Court rules in favor of woman barred from adopting from foster care"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, &amp; Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef","name":"Nancy Flanders","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dee54060bdc22fdfbf36d946b3026cca?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dee54060bdc22fdfbf36d946b3026cca?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nancy Flanders"},"description":"Nancy Flanders is Associate Editor for Live Action News. She has 25 years of experience writing and editing. For more than a decade, she has focused her work on pro-life issues through human interest stories and political issues regarding abortion and physician-assisted death as well as research articles and op-eds dismantling the lies of the pro-abortion, pro-death agenda. Her work has appeared in Catholic Digest, Pregnancy Help News, and a variety of other publications.","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/nancy\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335713"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335713"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":335775,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335713\/revisions\/335775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}