The Biden administration has issued a new regulation for foster care that is intended to ensure safe and appropriate care for LGBTQI+ children. States are supposed to comply with it by October 1, 2026.

A greatly modified regulation that applies to all Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) grants is now in effect. The regulation bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) in the 13 HHS funding programs that include a prohibition on sex discrimination.

In contemporary contexts, Mary’s example and the Magnificat inspire believers to advocate for religious freedom not only as a personal right but as a communal and institutional good that benefits all of society.

Preventing youth substance abuse and juvenile delinquency isn’t just about warning teens and children of the dangers of alcohol and illicit substances. It’s also about offering youth opportunities to develop resilience and hope. 

Principled pluralism is the idea that public institutions need not be sanitized of the sacred in order to promote the public good. It wholeheartedly resists the notion that religious faith is merely a private devotion.

Given the severe harm facing children caught in our country’s criminal justice system, how might we change things so that those in ‘the dawn of life’ might not have their bright future dimmed by incarceration?