Christian foster parents in Vermont will have their licenses reinstated after a legal battle over the state’s gender ideology mandate. Married couple Melinda Antonucci and Casey Mathieu obtained their foster license in January 2024. The couple found themselves in hot water, however, with DCF when Melinda signed a petition to encourage the local school board to strengthen parental rights with a parental notification policy for when a student expressed confusion over their gender. After Melinda shared the petition on social media, she was contacted by DCF over concerns of her views. At the time, Vermont had a requirement that foster parents must support the gender transition of a child in their care. Casey and Melinda were required to attend an LGBTQ+ training for their license and answer questions about caring for a transgender child.

As Christians, Melinda and Casey hold strong religious beliefs about a person’s inherent gender, and while Melinda stated she would foster an LGBTQ+ child, she would not support medical transition or preferred pronouns. She was informed by the DCF employee that such views would most likely get the couple’s license pulled. The agency said the couple could choose to pull their license on their own or DCF would need to send a formal denial. The couple requested that DCF formally deny their license and then turned to legal action, claiming the agency had violated their First Amendment rights. “We became foster parents because we love children and wanted to help kids in need. The state tried to disqualify us because of our protected beliefs and because we wouldn’t say what the government wanted us to say,” Melinda told Fox News Digital.

The couple were represented by the Center for American Liberty. After filing a lawsuit, the Center announced it had reached a final settlement with DCF, with an agreement to reinstate the couple’s license. According to the agreement, a transgender-identifying child will not be placed in in a home with foster parents unwilling to socially transition children. “Vermont tried to turn foster licensing into an ideological screening process—conditioning the ability to serve vulnerable children on compelled speech and mandatory adherence to the government’s preferred views,” said Josh Dixon, lead attorney for the Center for American Liberty. “This settlement is a major win for constitutional rights and for kids who need safe, loving homes. Vermont is restoring our clients’ license and adopting statewide guidance that puts the focus back where it belongs: on real-world caregiving and child safety—not political orthodoxy.”

In a separate case, the Alliance Defending Freedom announced that a settlement had been reached with the state of Vermont that would remove the LGBTQ+ gender ideology requirements for foster parents. The state has created new guidelines, stating, “[a]pplicants’ sincerely held personal, cultural, religious, moral, or philosophical beliefs shall not be considered in the licensing process” and that “Applicants shall not be excluded based on any such beliefs nor on an intent to live, parent, and make day-to-day caregiving decisions consistent with those beliefs, so long as required standards of safety, care, non-discrimination, and respect for a child’s safety, well-being, and dignity are met.” Foster parents who had their licenses revoked for their religious beliefs will have their licenses reinstated. ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse lauded the new guidelines. “No parent should be forced to lie to a vulnerable child about who they are, much less promote irreversible and life-altering procedures that don’t have any proven health benefits,” he said. “And, unfortunately, other loving families have been unable to open their homes to children in need just because of their Christian worldview.”