The Department of Health and Human Services is protecting parents’ rights to keep their children under their care, according to Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Brian Christine.
“If you have a set of parents and their child has gender dysphoria and there are threats to remove that child from your care, that’s absolutely wrong,” Christine told The Daily Signal in an exclusive interview.
The HHS Administration for Children and Families wrote a letter to state child welfare agencies telling them that the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act prohibits them from removing children from their home because the parent doesn’t affirm the child’s gender identity.
The Daily Signal first reported in January that the White House has weighed an executive order that would stop Child Protective Services from taking children away from parents who refuse to accept their child’s so-called gender identity.
At the State of the Union, President Donald Trump honored 19-year-old Sage Blair, who reportedly became a human trafficking victim after her school hid her transgender identity from her mother.
“This administration, Secretary Kennedy, we stand firmly against that,” Christine said.
Christine said HHS is also making sure foster parents don’t lose custody of their children in such cases. States including Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington have barred Christian families from adopting and fostering due to their religious beliefs about gender.
“We are absolutely making sure that those parents, foster parents, who feel that their children should not be subjected to sex-rejecting procedures, that they can’t be coerced or they can’t be threatened into going against what they deeply hold is best for their child,” Christine said.
HHS released a report last May detailing the dangers of experimental transgender medical interventions referred to as “gender-affirming care.” The report found “extremely weak evidence that puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or surgeries have any benefits in children and adolescents with gender dysphoria.”
Christine said the best way to treat children with gender dysphoria isn’t “castrating chemicals or mutilating surgeries.”
“It is with competent and compassionate mental health care, and we’re making sure that parents who decide to go that route with their child aren’t gonna be intimidated,” he said.
Instead of offering cross-sex hormones and surgeries to kids, Christine said the Trump administration offers parents hope.
“We’re offering the truth that mental health care is best for these kids,” he said. “We’re gonna stand with them, we’re gonna stand beside them. We’re gonna help the parents take care of and love these children.”
In addition to preventing children from undergoing irreversible transgender procedures, HHS will support those who already altered their bodies and regret it.
“[We are] recognizing the harm that they’ve been subjected to and honoring them and saying that these individuals had the courage to come forth and say, ‘This is what we’ve been through,’” he said. “We wanna speak boldly and openly, so other minors, other children don’t go through this.”
