A bill that’s cleared the legislature says Iowans cannot be excluded from adopting or becoming foster parents due to their beliefs about sexual orientation or gender identity. Representative Craig Williams, a Republican from Manning, says the new policy will likely lead to an increase in the number of foster care families in the state.
“Every additional qualified family willing to open their home helps children who are waiting in the system for stability, safety and love,” Williams said. “Many of the people most likely to foster or adopt are people of faith. They feel called to it. They volunteer. They take in children who need homes, yet we’ve heard many some prospective parents feel that they’re unwelcome, even disqualified because of those sincerely held religious beliefs.”
Representative Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, a Democrat from Ames who opposes the bill, says it prioritizes an adult’s beliefs over a child who is L-G-B-T-Q.
Williams says the bill’s final version is a compromise among stakeholders, including state officials and the conservative evangelical organization known as The Family Leader.
