Oregon had thousands of kids waiting for homes and turned away a widow with five of her own.
Four years later, the state that called her faith disqualifying just agreed she was right all along.
What Oregon was forced to do next didn't just affect her – it changed the rules for every family in the state.
Oregon Used a Gender Ideology Mandate to Block Jessica Bates From Foster Care
Jessica Bates lost her husband in a 2017 head-on collision.
With five children and a faith that pointed her toward the vulnerable, she decided to open her home to a child in the Oregon foster system.
Oregon had other plans.
The state's certification training made clear what was required: display pride flags in the house, use a child's preferred pronouns, affirm any gender transition, and take a child to hormone injection appointments if asked.
Oregon's policy formally required foster parents to "respect, accept and support the … sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression" of any child placed in their home – a pledge Alliance Defending Freedom described as a government-mandated endorsement of ideology.
Bates told state officials she would love and accept any child placed in her care.
She would not lie to that child about biology.
When officials posed the hormone appointment question directly, she gave them her answer.
"That was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back," Bates told Fox News Digital, "because I absolutely would not be willing to do that."
Oregon denied her certification application in September 2022.
"It was hard being told you can't adopt or help at all when you know that there were literally like a few thousand kids out there in the foster care system," she said.
Oregon Lost Its Religious Freedom Case and Stripped the Mandate for Every Foster Parent in the State
Alliance Defending Freedom filed a federal complaint on her behalf in March 2023. When a federal district court ruled against her, she appealed.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals – not a court known for siding with Christians – sided with Bates in July 2025, ordering Oregon to let her restart the adoption process while the case proceeded.
The appellate court found Oregon's policy amounted to compelled speech: the state was forcing prospective parents to publicly endorse beliefs they did not hold as a condition of caring for a child.
That ruling was a warning shot – and this month, Oregon surrendered entirely.
The Oregon Department of Human Services agreed in federal court that it will not "categorically disqualify" applicants based on religious beliefs about gender and human sexuality, and will not attempt to regulate their speech on the subject.
The settlement went further than Bates herself.
Oregon was forced to strip the gender affirmation pledge from its foster parent certification requirements statewide – meaning no prospective parent in Oregon now has to promise to affirm a child's gender transition to open their home to a child in need.
"Every child deserves a loving home, and children suffer when the government excludes people of faith from foster care because of the state's own ideological crusade," said ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse.
Alliance Defending Freedom Has Now Beaten This Mandate in Four Blue States
Oregon is the fourth blue state to lose this fight in under a year.
Vermont backed off an identical mandate in February 2026 after ADF sued on behalf of two Christian couples whose foster care licenses had been revoked for refusing to affirm hypothetical children's gender identities.
Massachusetts dropped its gender affirmation requirement for foster parents in December 2025 under the same legal pressure.
Washington state agreed to a permanent court injunction in May 2026 barring officials from conditioning foster licenses on religious beliefs – and paid $250,000 in attorneys' fees to settle the case.
State bureaucracies decided that a parent's willingness to march a child toward hormone therapy mattered more than whether that child had a loving, stable home. Federal courts have spent the past year telling them they're wrong.
"Oregon officials turned Jessica away just because of her common-sense belief that parents should help children become comfortable with who they are instead of pushing them down a path of confusion and medicalization," Widmalm-Delphonse said.
Bates called the settlement a victory for every family of faith that wants to help a child in need.
"I never dreamt it would lead to a years-long lawsuit when Oregon excluded me just because of my religious convictions about gender," she said.
Every family in these cases told the state they would love any child placed in their home. The government decided that wasn't enough – it wanted their beliefs too. Four federal courts have now answered that demand the same way.
Sources:
- Rachel del Guidice, "Oregon settles with Christian mother denied foster care adoption over gender identity beliefs," Fox News, September 16, 2026.
- Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse, statement, Alliance Defending Freedom, September 15, 2026.
- "Following ADF lawsuit, religious families in WA state are free to serve as foster parents," Alliance Defending Freedom, May 2026.
- "Vermont Backs Off 'Gender Ideology' Mandate for Christian Foster Families," Alliance Defending Freedom, February 2026.
- "Massachusetts Drops Gender Ideology Rule for Foster Parents," Alliance Defending Freedom, December 2025.
