(Texas Scorecard) – A federal district court granted a motion to vacate a Department of Health and Human Services rule forcing gender identity ideology onto Texas’ foster care system.
The final rule, named the “Designated Placement Requirements Under Titles IV-E and IV-B for LGBTQI+ Children,” would have prevented foster care programs from receiving federal funding unless they created a category of foster children who have “LGBTQ+ identities.”
“Biden’s attack on Texas’s foster care system, families, and laws has been totally defeated,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Tuesday in a press release.
Since September 2024, Paxton has fought the Biden Administration on the rule, which went into effect in early July 2024.
In March 2025, the United States Eastern District Court of Texas granted Paxton’s request to prevent it from taking effect nationwide, ruling that the department lacked the statutory authority to impose it on states.
The court asserted that the department had a “limited administrative review of States’ foster-care systems” and did not have the authority to create its own foster care category for children.
In addition, Texas and other states, by law, were entrusted with providing proper foster care.
“This victory will protect vulnerable children from dangerous and radical ‘gender ideology,’” stated Paxton.