Friend,

For the over 440,000 foster youth in the United States waiting to be adopted, the Every Child Deserves a Family Act, which was introduced earlier this year in both the House and the Senate, is not something that can wait. Far too few of them will be adopted this year, and discrimination in both foster care and adoption are a huge contributing factor that lawmakers can put a stop to today.

Many foster care youth and the individuals hoping to parent them face barriers due to their religion or lack thereof, identification as LGBTQ, and more.

And this crisis is compounded by legal discrimination in ten states that permit state-licensed child welfare agencies to turn away qualified LGBTQ, nontheistic, and single parents based on religious beliefs.

We need to put strong, continued pressure on lawmakers, urging an end this harmful discrimination. Contact your Members of Congress now and make your voice heard.

If you're on Twitter, you can join us today, July 25, from 2 to 3 PM EST, where we, along with many of our members and partner organizations, will be writing to lawmakers and tweeting our support of the Every Child Deserves a Family Act.

Lawmakers need to pressure from us to make this change. Join us today!

Here are a few sample tweets YOU can share:

• There are 440,000 children in US #fostercare. But qualified parents are being turned away left and right because they are the “wrong” religion or sexual orientation. This is NOT okay. Tell Congress to pass the #ECDFAct today! https://p2a.co/g6S3hE0

• The #EveryChildDeservesaFamilyAct protects #LGBTQ and single Americans + people of minority faiths or no faith from #discrimination in #fostercare and #adoption. Contact your reps and senators to tell them to cosponsor the #ECDFAct TODAY! https://p2a.co/g6S3hE0

• #LGBTQ, single, religious minority + secular Americans are turned away DAILY from providing loving homes to the 440,000 children in care. We believe that #EveryChildDeservesAFamily. Stand with us: https://p2a.co/g6S3hE0 #ECDFAct

• #LGBTQ Americans are 7Xs more likely to #foster and 7Xs more likely to #adopt children than non-LGBTQ parents. But 10 states have laws allowing #fostercare and #adoption agencies to discriminate, based on religious beliefs, and turn qualified LGBTQ parents away. #ECDFAct

• Every year, 20,000 youth age out of #fostercare w/o a family – facing higher rates of unemployment, depression, and incarceration. Religious-based bias should not be an excuse to turn away qualified parents. Tell Congress to sign the #ECDFAct today: https://p2a.co/g6S3hE0

• 27 percent of the 443,000 youth in #fostercare are waiting to be #adopted. Don’t leave them waiting. Call your Congress members and urge them to pass the #ECDFAct: https://p2a.co/g6S3hE0

• Your taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be used to keep children away from safe, permanent, loving families. Urge Congress to pass the #ECDFAct today: https://p2a.co/g6S3hE0