HHS moves to ensure faith-based adoption, foster care providers free to serve kids in need
The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Zack Pruitt regarding the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ notice of proposed rulemaking Friday to address a federal regulation that forced child welfare providers to abandon their deeply held religious beliefs to continue receiving federal funding to serve children in need:“Every child deserves a chance to be raised in a loving home. There are currently over 400,000 children in the foster care system and 100,000 eligible for adoption, and faith-based adoption and foster care providers play an integral role in serving these vulnerable kids. Sadly, the previous regulation—finalized in the 11th hour of the Obama Administration—failed to protect all providers and discriminated against faith-based providers simply because of their beliefs about marriage. That is not keeping kids first. HHS’s proposed rule to end this discrimination offers hope for children, more options for birth mothers, support for families, and increased flexibility for states seeking to alleviate real human need. We commend the administration for protecting a diversity of providers to ensure the greatest number of children find a permanent, loving family.”
ADF represents Catholic Charities West Michigan, an adoption and foster care provider, in a federal lawsuit against state officials. The lawsuit asks the court to protect Catholic Charities from being singled out, punished, or disfavored because of its religious beliefs—beliefs that motivate its care for children, birth parents, and other vulnerable members of the community.
- Keep Kids First: a coalition devoted to ensuring child welfare providers continue to serve children, families, and birth moms
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ABOUT Zack Pruitt
Zack Pruitt serves as senior counsel and director of U.S. government relations at Alliance Defending Freedom. In this role, he promotes ADF's policy and legislative work at the national level on behalf of the broader ADF public policy team. As a principal strategist, Pruitt oversees the federal and state government relations teams and provides legal counsel regarding ADF’s core issues to state officials, members and staff of the U.S. Congress, the White House, and federal agencies. Prior to joining ADF, Pruitt served as senior policy analyst at Americans for Prosperity and director of public policy for the Family Action Council of Tennessee. Pruitt earned his Juris Doctor with a certificate in International and Comparative Law from St. Louis University School of Law. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He is member of the state bar in Tennessee and the District of Columbia and is also admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court.