Paxton should stop playing politics with adoptive families

Attorney General Ken Paxton cares deeply about preventing discrimination in adoptions. Except for when he doesn’t.

Paxton is putting the might of his office behind an effort to overturn the Indian Child Welfare Act, arguing the 1978 federal law discriminates against non-Indians who wish to adopt Native American children. The law gives priority on placing such children with relatives, other members of their tribe or members of another tribe.

Paxton’s efforts betray a disappointing ignorance of not-too-distant U.S. history, when up to a third of Indian youth in some states were forcibly removed from their homes and adopted by non-Indian families, alienating these children from their culture and further eroding Native American tribes.

The attorney general’s efforts also reek of hypocrisy. Paxton condemns the law for depriving children “of loving families committed to their well-being.” Yet his office does that very thing by supporting policies that discriminate against same-sex or non-religious couples who wish to adopt.

Paxton’s office sent a letter in December urging federal officials to overturn an Obama-era regulation that bars faith-based nonprofits who provide foster care or adoption services, using federal dollars, from discriminating against LGBTQ couples and others who do not share their religious views.

Paxton argued these nonprofits “should not be required to forfeit their sincerely held religious beliefs.” But allowing these groups, which act on behalf of the government in placing children in new homes, to impose their own religious test on adoptive couples runs afoul of the separation between church and state — and will surely result in children being deprived “of loving families committed to their well-being.”

A 2017 Texas law allows faith-based nonprofits to turn away prospective adoptive parents who don’t meet their religious standards, though they must refer them to another organization. Reports indicate the Trump administration is preparing to do likewise on the federal level.

We recognize these efforts are much bigger than Paxton. So why does he feel compelled to weigh in, using the resources of his office in such a divisive manner?

As of last August, Texas had nearly 7,800 children who were waiting to find adoptive homes, among roughly 16,000 children in the state’s overburdened foster care system. Instead of capitalizing on political wedge issues, Paxton should leave adoption matters to the agencies and families who have the best interests of the children at heart.