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Posted on 02/24/2026 2:39:42 PM PST by Morgana
Vermont has agreed to a policy change that allows Christian foster parents to care for children without being forced to endorse gender ideology.
The state’s decision comes after a lawsuit essentially forcing it to back down from revocation of foster-care licenses for families holding traditional religious beliefs on sex and gender. The decision made it difficult for Christian foster parents to adopt children while staying true to Christian and normal biological views that boys and girls are different.
The settlement in Wuoti v. Winters and a related case finalized today comes after the Department for Children and Families (DCF) revised its guidance. The new policy clarifies that foster families need not endorse or affirm specific identities or use particular language related to gender identity, sexual orientation, or identity expression as a condition of licensure.
As part of the agreement, Vermont rescinded the revocation decisions for the Wuoti family (Pastor Brian Wuoti and Katy Wuoti) and the Gantt family (Pastor Bryan Gantt and Rebecca Gantt), restoring their ability to serve as foster and adoptive parents.
The families, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), dismissed their appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit following the policy shift and victory for their religious freedoms.
The Wuotis became foster parents in 2014 and had adopted two brothers, while the Gantts began in 2016, specializing in loving and supporting children with drug dependencies or fetal alcohol syndrome, and adopted three children.
Their licenses were revoked — the Wuotis’ in 2022 and the Gantts’ in 2024 — after they expressed religiously inspired beliefs that sex is binary and fixed, and they could not promote views contrary to their Christian faith, such as encouraging gender transitions or using preferred pronouns that conflict with biological reality.
Pro-life and religious freedom advocates hailed the outcome as a victory for children in need and for protecting conscience rights. The settlement ends what critics described as an ideological litmus test that excluded loving Christian families from Vermont’s foster system amid a shortage of homes for vulnerable children, including those affected by the opioid crisis.
ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse said, “This is an incredible victory for children in Vermont’s foster-care system. No parent should be forced to lie to a vulnerable child about who they are, much less promote irreversible and life-altering procedures that don’t have any proven health benefits. And, unfortunately, other loving families have been unable to open their homes to children in need just because of their Christian worldview. We commend Vermont for respecting the religious diversity of foster parents and ending its exclusionary policy that deprived children of opportunities to find loving homes.”
The Wuotis stated, “We’re thankful that common sense won out and that Vermont has changed its policy to put children’s interests above divisive ideologies. We’re grateful for one more opportunity to help give children a safe and loving home.”
The Gantts said, “There are more kids in the foster-care system than there are families to care for them. Our focus throughout this case has been on the children who need stability and love above everything else. We’re overjoyed that Vermont is doing right by the children in the system.”
The resolution follows earlier lawsuits highlighting similar issues, including concerns that Vermont’s policies prioritized ideological conformity over the best interests of children awaiting stable homes.
By backing down from requirements that compelled speech or affirmation contrary to religious beliefs, Vermont has opened the door for more qualified families — including Christians — to provide loving care and adoption opportunities for children in need.
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We are in a big, big ship that is headed in the wrong direction. But stories like this give some hope (or at least some wishful thinking) that we are slowly, very slowly, starting to change directions.
Well, do they do the Heresy of Ba’al of Peor?
Are they welcoming of Adam & Steve in place of Adam & Eve?
Have they had their tubes snipped & clipped?
Abortion is legal and protected at all stages of pregnancy in Vermont, with no legal bans or gestational limits...yet they endorse preventing Christians from adopting orphaned children? What’s wrong with this picture?
It being noteworthy that Christians are being allowed to adopt children is possibly one of the most shocking and depressing things I have read in a very long time. Franz Kafka would have loved this.
Good outcome in this specific case. However the people who made this queer affirming policy remain in power and will implement deviance every overt and subtle opportunity that they administer. A real victory would be if the citizens now aware of who represents them rose up and removed them permantly from public life. The officials who implemented this horrific policy must be doxed and kept on a data base.
Unfortunately only a settlement agreement which Vermont can go back on..
Vermont is filled with trust-fund kids who like to ski and haven’t found a real job yet and never will. They’ll never be as successful as their parents and are just beginning to realize that.
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