Coalition Sign-On Letter Opposing Aderholt Amendment

The ACLU and more than 200 other organizations signed this letter opposing an amendment proposed by Rep. Robert Aderholt to the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill for FY 2019. In violation of state and federal nondiscrimination policies, the Aderholt Amendment would allow child welfare providers receiving taxpayer dollars to decide which families and children to serve. The amendment would affect a wide variety of child welfare services, including family preservation services; foster care, counseling and other services for children; and adoption services. Taxpayer dollars should not be used to discriminate and no family should be told they are not qualified to serve as foster or adoptive parents because they are LGBTQ or the “wrong” religion by a taxpayer-funded provider. This amendment would allow agencies to use a religious litmus test to determine which families or children to serve, and which services to provide, while still receiving taxpayer dollars.