Gov’t Agency Denies Religious Couple Right To Foster-Raise Their Great-Grandaughter Because Of Views On Sexuality. Judge Rules In Great-Grandparents’ Favor.

After an Idaho state government agency denied the great-grandparents of a 1-year-old girl the right to apply to be her foster parents and eventually adopt her because of their religious views vis-a-vis sexuality, a United States District Judge reversed the decision, holding that the state regulations likely violated the Free Exercise Clause and thus ruling in the great-grandparents’ favor, allowing them to apply for a foster-care license.

As Professor Eugene Volokh writes in Reason, James and Gail Blais, devout Seventh-Day Adventists, wanted to foster and eventually adopt their great-granddaughter, “H.V.” That was prompted by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare  (IDHW) removing H.V. from her birth parents’ care, then contacting the Blaises about the possibility of fostering or adopting her.