Washington state’s foster care department has agreed to revise its policies to grant religious couples foster licenses without requiring them to use children’s preferred pronouns or promote gender ideology.
The agreement between the Department of Children, Youth and Families and Shane and Jennifer DeGross encompasses a permanent injunction that bans the department from denying foster care licenses to families solely based on their religious beliefs, including their beliefs on marriage and gender, legal nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) stated in a press release.
Represented by ADF, the DeGrosses sued the department in 2024 after the state enacted a policy requiring foster families to use children’s preferred pronouns, which blocked the couple from renewing their license. They had been foster parents for nine years.
In 2025, the couple received a waiver allowing them to renew their license if they agreed to several conditions, including completing “LGBTQIA+ Basics for Supporting Youth” training. The DeGrosses amended their complaint to challenge those restrictions as well, according to court documents.
The settlement follows a federal district court decision from April that ruled the state’s policy plausibly violated the First Amendment, according to ADF.
To comply with the injunction, the department is required to update its policies to ensure that foster parents are protected from having to agree to use “prescribed words or language, including chosen pronouns, to express views about sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression inconsistent with their sincerely held religious beliefs” as a condition for licensure.
The department is also ordered to walk back the restrictions its waiver originally applied to the DeGrosses, requiring it to issue the couple “a full and unrestricted foster care license.”
In the release, ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse said that the settlement is beneficial for both the DeGrosses and the state.
“The DeGrosses merely asked to be treated the same as any other family — without being asked to compromise their core beliefs. This is a win-win because it will ensure more families can serve as foster parents to help meet the needs of every precious child in Washington’s foster-care system,” he stated. “We are thrilled to see common sense and religious liberty prevail.”