Rep. Jim Banks introduces bill to place trans foster kids into abusive homes

Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) has introduced a bill to ensure that transgender kids in foster care can be placed in unsupportive environments that harm their well-being. His bill, the Sensible Adoption for Every (SAFE) Home Act, would cut federal funding to any child welfare agencies and groups that refuse to place trans kids with transphobic foster parents.

Banks introduced his bill in opposition to a proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that would require foster care agencies to place LGBTQ+ minors with care providers who respect their identities. The rule change is meant to “address the extensively documented risk factors and adverse outcomes” that LGBTQ+ children in foster care often experience, the HHS wrote.

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“The Biden administration is cruelly preventing countless children in the foster care and adoption system from going to loving homes just because parents are opposed to irreversible sex change procedures on kids,” Banks told Fox News Digital. “This isn’t a liberal or conservative issue. This is just plain wrong, and every sane person knows it.”

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Banks’s comment grossly distorts the HHS’s proposed rule.

The proposed rule change would require foster agencies and providers to offer training materials about caring for an LGBTQ+ child’s cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral well-being. Agencies and providers must have review systems in place to house kids in safe, supportive environments.

The HHS defines a safe, supportive environment as one free from hostility, mistreatment, or abuse based on a child’s LGBTQI+ status. This includes recognizing the child’s gender identity and pronouns, allowing them to express their identity, and facilitating their access to age-appropriate resources, services, and activities, including gender-affirming care. Gender-affirming care providers don’t conduct “irreversible sex change procedures” on minors, contrary to Banks’s claim.

The HHS’ proposed rule also specifically says that it “would not require that every provider become designated as a safe and appropriate placement for LGBTQI+ children,” especially when doing so would contradict someone’s religious beliefs.

Despite this, earlier this week, 18 Republican attorneys general signed a letter opposing the proposed rule change, saying that the rule goes “far beyond [HHS’s] statutory authority,” violates constitutional rights, and contradicts state bans on gender-affirming care for transgender youth (many of which have been blocked by courts).

LGBTQ+ kids in foster care experience higher levels of misgendering, bullying, abuse, forced isolation from other kids, inability to access LGBTQ+-affirming resources, and placement into so-called “conversion therapy” programs that aim to change their sexual orientation and gender identity, according to the HHS. Such mistreatment has been linked to an increased risk of depression, suicide, homelessness, food insecurity, illegal drug use, and other serious health risks.

Banks has a long history of anti-LGBTQ+ views. In February 2023, Banks introduced a bill to ban transgender people from serving in the U.S. military. In July 2022, he endorsed a national trans sports ban. Banks supports government retaliation against corporations that publicly oppose anti-LGBTQ+ laws. He was also once banned from Twitter (now X) for misgendering a trans female government official and considers drag queens “deeply disturbing and offensive.”