From: Nathan Pierce – Family Protection Ministries
Bill: SB 407 – No Religious Convictions For Foster Parents
Author: Wiener (D-San Francisco)
Position: Strongly OPPOSE
1. What Happened In The Hearing:
SB 407 was heard yesterday in the Assembly Human Services Committee and was voted to pass 6 ayes, 2 noes.
The bill will be heard in the Appropriations Committee next and we will send an alert when it has a hearing date with instructions on how to help us fight this bill!
Nathan Pierce speaks about the hearing of SB 407 and what action can be taken!
2. What You Can Do Now:
This bill will be heard again and the members of the committee need to hear our voiced opposition! This bill will be heard in a new committee soon, until we know when please contact the Assembly Member who represents your district to make your voice heard.
Call your Assembly Member TODAY! Click the button below and enter your address in order to find out who your representatives are.
Tell them: “Please vote no on SB 407. This bill threatens parental rights, religious liberty, and forces any parent or couple looking to be foster parents to deny their own beliefs and mimic the state’s stance on family and gender.”
Notes:
• Always contact legislators as a parent and citizen. This bill affects all families with children.
• This is not an exclusively homeschool issue. Do not call or write as a homeschooler.
• Do not disclose the source of this Alert. All bills are available on the Internet.
• Pass this on to your friends, church, school, and group.
• Pray for a proper outcome.
Clip of Assembly Member Lackey’s Opposition to SB 407
Although the bill was passed through the Human Services Committee, there were two votes against the bill: Senator Lackey voiced opposition and he and Assembly Member Alanis voted no!
Please reach out to these Assembly Members to thank them for their no vote on SB 407!
Juan Alanis
Phone: (916) 319-2022
Tom Lackey
Phone: (916) 319-2034
3. You Will Be Informed On What Steps To Take Nexts!
Once SB 407 has a hearing date, we will be sending out another Action Alert to let our supporters know what to do next to make the most impact in opposition of SB 407.
If you haven’t signed up for our emails yet, sign up and get more updates to how you can be involved. We send our emails to individuals who are interested in our ministry and getting involved when we have Action Alerts. You can sign up for emails below.
Summary of Concern
SB 407 would force foster families with religious beliefs out of the selection pool in California, leaving many foster children without a family to foster them. By creating this requirement of support for gender identity, many potential foster families will be forced to choose between abandoning their religious convictions or losing the ability to foster at all.
Opposition Points
A requirement for foster parents to support gender ideology sets a dangerous precedent, and if this logic is followed to its conclusion, it would eventually lead to requiring biological parents to support the state’s gender ideology in order to maintain custody of their own children. This outcome would not be outlandish or remote to expect if this requirement is already in existence for all foster families.
Cultural change and degradation does not often occur suddenly. It is a slow process, similar to the erosion of a rock by water, and is only noticeable after much time has passed and the change is already underway. Each step taken to replace the role of the family with the power of the state is part of this gradual erosion of the family. The common phrase that “politics is downstream of culture” is often true, but the inverse can clearly be demonstrated to be true.
SB 407 – Would require a family looking to foster a child to use the child’s preferred pronouns and be LGBTQ+ affirming. This political change, as explained above, would become one of many examples of legislation drastically altering cultural understanding of the role of parents in the lives of their children.