FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 25th, 2025
Contact: Ashley Vaughan
[email protected]
BILL INTRODUCED TO PROTECT PARENTS AND FACILITATE ADOPTION AND FOSTER CARE
Senate Bill 442 was filed which aims to shield parents from losing custody of their children, and to facilitate adoption and foster care. Parents should never be required to affirm dangerous and unscientific gender transition interventions in order to parent, adopt, or foster children. There have been cases around the country of parents losing custody of minor children for refusing to support social and medical gender transition interventions, including in Indiana, Ohio, California, and Illinois. Currently in North Carolina, social workers are directed to assess whether children in foster care are at risk of ‘maltreatment and rejecting behaviors’ including parents refusing to affirm gender identity or sexual orientation. Court rulings and policies like these are not only wrong, they are also in direct conflict with legal precedent on parental rights. The North Carolina Supreme Court has just ruled in Happel v. Guilford County Board of Education that parents have a fundamental Constitutional right to direct the upbringing of their own children—including medical decisions—and government imposition of gender identity ideology on parents violates this principle.
NC Values Coalition Executive Director Tami Fitzgerald applauded the bill, saying “Parents should have the freedom to raise their children according to their values and make decisions for their well-being without fear of the government taking their child away. There is growing consensus in the US and abroad from a scientific perspective that the harms of gender transition interventions – including cancer, heart disease, bone problems, sterility, and mental health problems – make these treatments dangerous for minors.”
The bill, officially titled “Parents Protection Act,” is sponsored by Sens. Jim Burgin, Benton Sawrey, Amy Galey, Timothy Moffitt, and Norman Sanderson.
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