RFK Jr. rolls back rule protecting LGBTQ+ kids in foster care from hostile parents

President Donald Trump’s administration has formally stripped away federal protections for LGBTQ+ children in foster care, a move that former officials, advocates, and foster youth themselves say will make life harder for young people already facing some of the highest levels of rejection, instability, and trauma in the child welfare system.Under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Department of Health and Human Services published the rescission Tuesday, eliminating a Biden-era rule that had been designed to help ensure that LGBTQ+ foster children could be placed in supportive homes, seek relief from hostile placements, and be protected from dangerous so-called “conversion therapy” and retaliation.For critics of the move, the policy change is not simply a matter of regulatory housekeeping. It is another example of the Trump administration removing safeguards from a group of vulnerable young people whose lives are already difficult enough.Related: Trump administration confirms it’s restoring LGBTQ+ youth crisis line it eliminated last yearLGBTQ+ foster youth already face worse outcomesResearch, including from the Williams Institute at UCLA’s Law School, consistently shows that LGBTQ+ young people are overrepresented in foster care and fare worse within the system. The consequences extend beyond where children are placed. The Trevor Project found that LGBTQ+ young people with a history of foster care had nearly three times the odds of attempting suicide in the previous year compared with those who had never been in the system. Forty percent of transgender and nonbinary respondents with foster care histories said they had been kicked out, abandoned, or forced to run away because of mistreatment tied to their LGBTQ+ identity.Julie Kruse, a former senior adviser on LGBTQI+ initiatives at HHS’ Administration for Children and Families, said LGBTQ+ foster youth are often overrepresented in the system because of rejection by their families of origin, then