In Massachusetts if you want to be a foster parent, you must apply for and receive a license to do so.
The basic requirements are that you be over 18 years old; that you be a state resident; that you have a stable source of income; that you own or rent a safe home; that you are physically and mentally able to care for a child; and that you pass criminal background checks. As part of the review process, you must have a clean record, good references, and a solid bill of mental and physical health.
Lydia and Heath Marvin have been foster parents since 2020 and have passed all of those requirements. Not only that, but they’ve already cared for eight foster children, all under the age of four, in addition to raising their own three children. Some of those foster kids have had comprehensive medical needs.
Now, they say, they’ve lost their foster parenting license because they refused to sign a form that would have required them to betray their Christian values.
The Marvins live in Woburn, Massachusetts. It’s a picturesque small town just north of Boston. It has a town square with a proud flagpole at its center, just across the street from a city hall with a steeple reminiscent of Normal Rockwell’s America. The same is true of the Marvins. They embody the Christian and family values that Rockwell captured time and again with his iconic paintings.
You don’t come by such personal character like the Marvins’ if you sign any form someone gives you or cave to any pressure someone else places upon you. So it was no surprise that the Marvins paused when social workers told them that in order to continue fostering children, they had to sign a “gender-affirming policy” form. Had they signed the form, they would have had to agree to “support, respect, and affirm a foster child’s sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.” No questions asked.
This means that if a four-year-old, a nine-year-old, or a 13-year-old foster child in their custody had experienced any gender confusion, they as foster parents would have had to “affirm” the confusion and not try to actually parent their way through it, reminding the child that he or she is who and what they were born to be.
In other words, had they signed the form and lived their Christian values, they would have been in violation of state requirements for foster parents. The Marvins had a choice to make: “Compromise our values to continue foster parenting, or stick to them and lose our license?”
They said “no” and now any number of children in need of good Christian foster parenting will not have the opportunity to receive loving care from them or other potential foster parents who refuse to sign the same form.
WBZ-TV in Boston talked to the Marvins about their story. The couple said they couldn’t sign the form in good conscience because they felt it went against their Christian faith.
Heath Marvin pointed to the Book of James where, he said, it states “true, undefiled religion is to care for the fatherless.” The couple told WBZ that the last foster child they cared for was a baby with serious medical needs. “Every night for 15 months, we were up at least three times (with the child),” Heath said.
“We certainly thought we would have young children in our home for… we didn’t know how long, but we were not done,” Lydia added.
The Marvins made a commitment to foster parenting. They had set up their home for the purpose of caring for their existing family and foster children. They had all the furniture, space for activities, and kitchen and dining configurations to accommodate.
Still, the woke bureaucrats at the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) looked past all of this, ignoring or even dismissing all of the good, to focus on the lie that is transgenderism and attempt to foist it on the family. In April, the DCF said if the couple refused to sign the form the state could not renew the license.
As you might expect, the Marvins are not giving up without a fight. They are talking to lawyers.
Two other Christian foster families in a similar situation have joined in a federal lawsuit against DCF. The Massachusetts Family Institute and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) are representing them. Their claim is that the state is forcing foster parents to “renounce their beliefs in both speech and practice.” This, they feel, is a violation of their First Amendment rights.
Washington has taken note. The White House has sent a letter of its own to the DCF that condemns the “gender-affirming” requirement and it specifically mentioned the Marvins.
How far will this go before we get a final verdict? It wouldn’t surprise me if ends up on the docket at the U.S. Supreme Court. Common sense and the truth have to prevail.
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