I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 6181 
To prohibit discrimination on the basis of religion, sex (including sexual 
orientation and gender identity), and marital status in the administration 
and provision of child welfare services, to improve safety, well-being, 
and permanency for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or 
questioning foster youth, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 20, 2025 
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois (for himself, Ms. CRAIG, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Ms. 
CHU, Mr. AMO, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. BELL, Mr. BEYER, Mr. BISHOP, Ms. 
BONAMICI, Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Ms. BROWN, Ms. BROWNLEY, 
Mr. CASTEN, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Mr. CAR-
SON, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. COSTA, Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Ms. 
DEAN of Pennsylvania, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. DELAURO, Ms. DELBENE, 
Mr. DELUZIO, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. EVANS
of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
GARAMENDI, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. GOLDMAN 
of New York, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. HORSFORD, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. JOHN-
SON of Georgia, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. KELLY of Illi-
nois, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. LANDSMAN, Mr. LARSON of Con-
necticut, Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania, Mr. LYNCH, Mrs. MCIVER, Ms. NOR-
TON, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. PETERS, Ms. PLASKETT, Mr. POCAN, Mr. 
QUIGLEY, Mrs. RAMIREZ, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Ms. SCANLON, Ms. 
SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Ms. SE-
WELL, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. SIMON, Mr. SORENSEN, Mr. STANTON, Mr. 
SUOZZI, Mr. SWALWELL, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. THANEDAR, Mr. THOMPSON 
of Mississippi, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. TOKUDA, 
Ms. UNDERWOOD, Mr. WALKINSHAW, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Ms. 
MCCOLLUM, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. LIEU, Mr. GARCIA of California, and 
Mr. GOTTHEIMER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
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A BILL 
To prohibit discrimination on the basis of religion, sex (in-
cluding sexual orientation and gender identity), and mar-
ital status in the administration and provision of child 
welfare services, to improve safety, well-being, and per-
manency for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and 
queer or questioning foster youth, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘John Lewis Every 
Child Deserves a Family Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) Every child or youth unable to live with 
their family of origin is entitled to a supportive and 
affirming foster care placement. Federal law re-
quires, and child welfare experts recommend, that 
children and youth be placed with a family or in the 
most family-like setting available. 
(2) Thousands of children and youth lack a sta-
ble, safe, and loving temporary or permanent home 
and have been placed in a congregate care setting, 
which is associated with more placements, poorer 
educational outcomes, and greater risk of further 
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trauma. More homes are needed to accommodate the 
close to 400,000 children and youth who are in fos-
ter care nationwide, as of the date of enactment of 
this Act. 
(3) Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 
U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) protects people from discrimi-
nation based on race, color, or national origin in 
programs, activities, and services administered or 
performed by child welfare agencies. Eliminating dis-
crimination in child welfare based on religion, sex 
(including sexual orientation and gender identity), 
and marital status would increase the number and 
diversity of foster and adoptive homes able to meet 
the individual needs of children and youth removed 
from their homes. 
(4) Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and 
queer or questioning (referred to in this Act as 
‘‘LGBTQ’’) youth are overrepresented in the foster 
care system by at least a factor of 2, comprising at 
least 30 percent of children and youth in foster care. 
These numbers are higher for transgender and non-
binary youth compared to their cisgender LGBQ 
counterparts. 
(A) While some LGBTQ youth enter foster 
care for similar reasons as non-LGBTQ youth, 
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the 2 most common reasons for LGBTQ youth 
are high rates of physical abuse and conflict 
with parents. 
(B) LGBTQ foster youth report twice the 
rate of poor treatment while in care experienced 
by foster youth who do not identify as LGBTQ 
and are more likely to experience discrimina-
tion, harassment, and violence in the child wel-
fare system than their LGBTQ peers not in the 
child welfare system. 
(C) Because of high levels of bias, LGBTQ 
foster youth have a higher average number of 
placements and higher likelihood of living in a 
group home than their non-LGBTQ peers, neg-
atively affecting mental health outcomes and 
long-term prospects. 
(D) Approximately 28 percent of homeless 
youth with histories of time in foster care iden-
tified as LGBTQ and were significantly more 
likely to experience 7 of 8 adverse events, such 
as being physically harmed, or being stig-
matized or discriminated against, compared to 
their peers with no foster care history. 
(E) LGBTQ youth in foster care had near-
ly 3 times greater odds of reporting a past-year 
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suicide attempt compared to LGBTQ youth 
who were never in foster care (35 percent for 
those youth in foster care as compared to 13 
percent for those youth who were never in fos-
ter care). These numbers were even higher for 
LGBTQ foster youth of color (38 percent) and 
highest for transgender and nonbinary foster 
youth (45 percent). 
(F) LGBTQ youth who had been in foster 
care had over 3 times greater odds of being 
kicked out, abandoned, or running away due to 
treatment based on their LGBTQ identity com-
pared to those who were never in foster care 
(27 percent for those youth who had been in 
foster care as compared to 8 percent for those 
youth who had never been in foster care). These 
numbers were higher for LGBTQ foster youth 
of color (30 percent) and transgender and non- 
binary foster youth (40 percent). 
(5) ‘‘Conversion therapy’’ is a form of discrimi-
nation that harms LGBTQ people. It undermines an 
individual’s sense of self-worth, increases suicide ide-
ation and substance abuse, exacerbates family con-
flict, and contributes to second-class status. No sci-
entifically valid evidence supports this discredited 
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practice, which is prohibited by many States and 
foreign nations. Approximately 350,000 LGBTQ 
adults were subjected to so-called ‘‘conversion ther-
apy’’ as adolescents, and an estimated 16,000 
LGBTQ youth ages 13 to 17 will be subjected to it 
by a licensed health care professional before age 18. 
(6) Many youth, especially LGBTQ youth, in-
volved with child welfare services identify with a 
cross-section of marginalized communities. Youth of 
color are overrepresented in the foster care system, 
and the majority of LGBTQ foster youth are youth 
of color. Children and youth with multiple margina-
lized identities often experience more stress and 
trauma than other youth, compounding the negative 
effects of discrimination and increasing the likeli-
hood of negative outcomes. 
(7) Prospective parents who experience the 
heartbreak and dignitary harm of discrimination 
based on religion, sex (including sexual orientation 
and gender identity), or marital status may not be 
able or willing to apply at another agency, resulting 
in fewer available homes, and knowing that discrimi-
nation exists may deter them from even attempting 
to foster or adopt. 
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