Child-welfare officials in Oregon have agreed to a court order freeing a woman to begin the process of adopting children from foster care, after previously rejecting her due to her religious beliefs about human sexuality.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) helped Jessica Bates fight her case after the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) blocked her from adopting after she refused to endorse transgender ideology.
ADF reports Bates faced discrimination for her religious beliefs because “she would not lie to children about their identity by promoting the view that girls can become boys and vice versa.”
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ODHS reportedly denied her application when Bates stated she would not use inaccurate pronouns for a child or to take children to pride parades.
ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse said, “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. We believe this settlement is a win-win that protects constitutional rights and puts children’s interests first.”
As CBN News reported, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled on Bates’s behalf in July of 2025, but it took all this time for Oregon to reach a final settlement in the case.
“No one thinks, for example, that a state could exclude parents from adopting foster children based on those parents’ political views, race, or religious affiliations,” the 9th Circuit wrote in its ruling in Bates v. Pakseresht. “Adoption is not a constitutional law dead zone. And a state’s general conception of the child’s best interest does not create a force field against the valid operation of other constitutional rights.”
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Bates is already a mother, but she felt called by God to open her home to even more children.
“As a widowed mom of five, I was surprised to feel God nudging me to adopt. I never dreamt it would lead to a years-long lawsuit when Oregon excluded me just because of my religious convictions about gender,” Bates said. “I am grateful for ADF picking up my case, advocating for my and every American’s rights, and helping ensure many great homes can remain candidates to help the children in foster care.”
Widmalm-Delphonse described the final outcome as a victory for foster children who need good parents.
“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,” he said.
