The Biden administration, through government grants, is helping the legal system weaponize gender ideology against vulnerable families.

From Daily Caller. Parents increasingly find family court judges, who make life-changing decisions involving children, have fully bought into the agenda pushed by Biden-Harris administration-backed transgender activists.

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State courts have for years independently hosted transgender activist groups to lecture judges on appropriate pronoun usage and the importance of “affirming” a child’s perceived identity. But now the federal government is on board: In 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a $1 million grant to integrate gender ideology into juvenile justice and child welfare systems nationwide.

The grant, awarded to the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ), established a resource center to train judges, child welfare workers and other professionals involved with the juvenile justice system on sexuality and gender identity. The materials encourage judges to adopt an ideological framework that pits children against parents who do not support their self-selected identities.

“Gender identity is now being used as a cudgel to essentially break up family relationships,” Sarah Parshall Perry, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, told the DCNF. …

Elected state judges are able to initiate child protective services investigations or even send children to foster care, Perry told the DCNF. Multiple parents across the country who declined to affirm their child’s gender confusion have already reported losing custody.

In California, a judge stripped a father of custody of one of his sons in 2020 amid a divorce proceeding when he would not consent to allowing his son to undergo transgender medical procedures. In other states, including Maryland, Montana and Ohio, parents have likewise reported in recent years losing their children to the foster care system after judges denied custody over their refusal to treat the child as the opposite sex.

To create the grant-funded Pride Justice Resource Center, the NCJFCJ partnered with the National Center for Youth with Diverse Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Expression (SOGIE Center).

The National SOGIE Center is run by several researchers who previously received a federal grant in 2016 aimed at transforming the foster care system, which funded the development of programs in Ohio designed to convince parents and caregivers to “affirm” whatever beliefs their children hold about gender identity, the DCNF previously reported.

Biden administration officials looked to the “Affirm Me” program developed in Ohio as a model when crafting their new foster care rule, which requires state agencies to place children in homes that do not oppose their desires to live as the opposite sex. The program is also listed as a resource on the PJRC website. …

‘Beyond Disturbing’

The DOJ’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention announced it was expanding efforts to “protect youth who identify as LGBTQI+” in response to a June 2022 executive order from President Joe Biden. To highlight the need, the OJJDP cites a 2014 study that found LGBT identifying youth are twice as likely to be arrested or detained. …

The grant-funded Pride Justice Resource Center hosts a number of resources for juvenile justice system professionals, including webinars. The materials are designed to support “system change, family engagement, and acceptance, identifying gaps in knowledge related to LGBTQ2S+ and the intersections of multiple identities,” according to the website.

Judges who know a child’s identity can ensure services like “gender-affirming care” are offered, which may be required for “effective rehabilitation,” according to a guide produced by the PJRC. The guide states placements should be “made based on the person’s gender identity and where the young person feels most safe.” …

A four-year systematic review of transgender medical studies conducted in England, the Cass Report, determined there is weak evidence for giving children puberty blockers. Standards from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) often used to justify such procedures for minors have also come under fire after unsealed court documents revealed the Biden administration influenced WPATH to remove age limits.

Yet judges are told — and encouraged to convince parents of youth who enter their courtrooms — it is crucial to accept all of a child’s claims about his identity. …

Parental rights advocates expressed concern the center’s resources on gender were unsupported by science and could bias judges against the rights of religious families.

“This is our federal government promoting with the force of its authority, with its vast resources, an ideology and an ideological agenda that disrupts and disintegrates the family,” Vernadette Broyles, president and general counsel of the Child and Parental Rights Campaign, told the DCNF. “That opposes parents who believe in biological reality, who believe that man was created male and female, whether from scientific processes or by a Creator. It’s beyond disturbing.” …

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(Excerpt from Daily Caller. Photo Credit: iStock)