AUSTIN — Today, the Texas House of Representatives voted to advance House Bill 3859 (HB3859), a bill that would allow child welfare caseworkers and state-funded child adoption and foster agencies to impose their personal religious beliefs on children in their care and disqualify LGBT families from the State’s foster and adoption system.

“Discrimination in the name of religion has no place in our laws or in our state, and it certainly should not be used to harm children,” said Rebecca L. Robertson, legal and policy director for the ACLU of Texas. “There are currently 22,000 children awaiting placement in Texas and last year alone, 252 children died of abuse and neglect in our broken CPS system. It is shocking that the Texas House would respond to this crisis by prioritizing the personal religious beliefs of providers over the best interests of the children in the state's care.”