"The Safe & Appropriate Foster Care Placement Requirements" calls for states to ensure that LGBTQ children are placed in environments  "free from hostility or discrimination."

It also requires potential foster parents to undergo training to develop "knowledge and skills to support the needs of LGBTQ children."

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) cites what it calls a "recent confidential survey" showing that 32 percent of foster children between the ages of 12 and 21 identify as having a diverse sexual orientation or gender identity.

The NPRM also cites a 2019 study by a group of psychology professors that found that LGBTQ+ youth are almost 2.5 times as likely as heterosexual youth to experience foster care placement.

The Biden administration also cites multiple recent surveys by The Trevor Project showing that foster children identifying as LGBTQ+ are 50 percent less likely to be suicidal, use drugs, or have mental health issues if they are allowed to talk openly about their sexual identity with caregivers.

Organizations like The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention accuse the Biden administration of "cherry picking" evidence to create a "false assumption" that affirming a child's LGBTQ sexuality is the only way to provide a safe foster home.

"Contrary to such assertions by HHS, a foster family should not have to agree with every political, spiritual, and other belief of a child to be deemed "safe and proper," the group wrote in a statement.

"A foster parent's biblical belief regarding sexuality and gender identity does not detract from their ability to warmly welcome a vulnerable child into their home. Inevitably, there will be many beliefs on which the child and family disagree."