Woodhull Response to HHS Proposed Rule Change to Rescind LGBTQI+-Affirming “Designated Placements” in Foster Care Settings
April 2, 2026
Regulations with the June 13, 2025 ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in State of Texas v. United States Department of Health & Human Services which concluded that the final rule “exceeded the Department of Health and Human Services’ statutory authority and conflicted with the text of title IV-E.” ACF uses the court’s decision to justify this current proposed rule to remove the 2024 final rule from the Code of Federal Regulations since it “is no longer in effect or enforceable, and to ensure clarity for the public and regulated entities.”
We submit this comment to express our opposition to the Eastern District Court ruling, which vacated the federal rule requiring foster care agencies to provide LGBTQI+-affirming “Designated Placements” under Titles IV-E and IV-B. We also submit this comment to make a public record of the egregious rollback on human rights protections for LGBTQI+ children represented by that court ruling and the proposed rule by ACF to remove the final rule from the Code of Federal Regulations.
Ending the final rule, Designated Placement Requirements Under Titles IV-E and IV-B for LGBTQI+ Children, and removing it from the Code of Federal Regulations, means LGBTQI+ youth have lost several critical protections in foster care settings, including:
- LGBTQI+ youth are no longer ensured the ability to request and receive foster care placements that affirm their sexual orientation and gender identity.
- LGBTQI+ youth are no longer ensured safe foster care placements free from hostility, abuse, or harassment based on their gender expression or sexual orientation.
- Foster parents and staff in foster care agencies are no longer required to receive specialized training to ensure they meet LGBTQI+ children’s needs.
- Transgender and nonbinary youth are no longer guaranteed placement in environments consistent with their gender identity.
- Foster care agencies are no longer required to ensure access to appropriate mental and behavioral health services, as well as resources supporting LGBTQI+ children.
The Eastern District Court ruling and removing the Designated Placement Requirements from the Code of Federal Register is part of broader assaults on the LGBTQ+ community across the United States. This includes myriad attacks by the White House as enshrined in several Executive Orders which erase transgender, nonbinary, and gender expansive people from public life and falsely treats sex as a fixed male and female binary, direct federal agencies to impede young people’s access to lifesaving gender-affirming healthcare, and ban trans women and girls from competing on sports teams that align with their gender. The assault on trans people is so dire that the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security has warned that policies targeting transgender people in the United States are indicative of the early stages of genocide.
Our opposition to the Eastern District Court ruling and this proposed rule is informed by this wide-sweeping assault on LGBTQI+ people and sexual freedom more broadly and by irrefutable facts about sexual orientation and gender identity, which we have exhaustively researched as part of our Fact Checked by Woodhull series. In this series, we address the reality that LGBTQI+ people are at extreme risk for harassment, discrimination, and violence, with current laws not sufficiently protecting LGBTQI+ people’s rights. The Designated Placement Requirements were created to address this reality and protect some of America’s most vulnerable young people, LGBTQI+ children in foster care.
In our Fact Checked series, we also address the truth about gender and sex, including the fact that restrictive binary categories of gender and sex cause serious harm by excluding and shaming anyone who exists outside of these lines, especially transgender and intersex people. Without the Designated Placement Requirements in effect, transgender, nonbinary, intersex, and gender expansive youth are at heightened danger if placed in a foster care setting that does not affirm their sex or gender identity. The outcomes of this could be devastating, risking the health and even the lives of vulnerable children.
Woodhull calls on HHS to fulfill its duty to protect and support all Americans, including LGBTQI+ youth, and ensure their safety and protect their rights within foster care settings.
Sincerely,
Ricci Joy Levy
President & CEO
Woodhull Freedom Foundation
We have included a PDF copy of this comment as an attachment along with the following Fact Checked by Woodhull articles: