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Targeted: Child Welfare Services

Targeted exemptions provide a blanket exemption, or license to discriminate, to anyone operating in a specific area, such as child welfare services. The person or organization does not need to seek out this exemption as with RFRAs; it is a blanket license to discriminate. This map shows targeted exemptions for child welfare service providers, which permit child-placing agencies to refuse to place and provide services to children and families, including LGBTQ people and others, if doing so conflicts with their religious beliefs.
State permits state-licensed child welfare agencies to refuse to place and provide services to children and families, including LGBTQ people and same-sex couples, if doing so conflicts with their religious beliefs
(13 states)
State has targeted religious exemption that permits state-licensed child welfare agencies to refuse to place and provide services to LGBTQ children and families, but this does not apply to all agencies (see note beneath map)
(3 states)
State has no religious exemption law related to child welfare services
(34 states + 5 territories + D.C.)
Citations & More Information

Note:
States in light orange have child welfare religious exemptions, but they only apply to certain agencies. In Alabama and Michigan, the law applies only to state-licensed agencies that do not receive state funding; if the agency receives state funding, the exemption does not apply. In Utah, the law applies only to private agencies, and it also requires those agencies to refer individuals they refuse to work with to other agencies that will work with them. Click the “Citations & More Information” button for more detail.

 

Recommended citation: 
Movement Advancement Project. 2026. “Equality Maps: Religious Exemption Laws.” www.mapresearch.org/equality-map/religious-exemptions/#child-welfare. Data as of June 12, 2026.

Percent of LGBTQ Population Covered by Laws

*Note: These percentages reflect estimates of the LGBTQ population (ages 13+) living in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Estimates of the LGBTQ population in the five inhabited U.S. territories are not available, and so cannot be reflected here. Population data are from UCLA’s The Williams Institute.

23%
23% of LGBTQ people (ages 13+) live in states that permit state-licensed child welfare agencies to refuse to place and provide services to children and families, including LGBTQ people and same-sex couples, if doing so conflicts with their religious beliefs
6%
6% of LGBTQ people (ages 13+) live in states that permit state-licensed child welfare agencies to refuse to place and provide services to LGBTQ children and families, but this does not apply to all agencies
71%
71% of LGBTQ people (ages 13+) live in states that have no religious exemption law related to child welfare services