June 3, 2026
Michael Haley & Michelle Wangerin: A foster care system should be about kids, not culture wars
May was National Foster Care Month, a time to recognize the thousands of New Hampshire children who have spent time in the foster care system and to reflect on what our state can do better for its most vulnerable young people. This year, it’s also worth asking a harder question: why did the New Hampshire Legislature spend months debating a foster care bill that has nothing to do with the actual challenges facing children and families in our state?
House Bill 1376, which will be up for a final vote in the House and Senate on June 4, singles out LGBTQ youth in foster care and injects political ideology into individual child welfare decisions — decisions that should prioritize each child’s best interest. The bill carves out an exception to state child abuse laws to say that raising a child “consistent with their biological sex” is not, in and of itself, abuse or neglect and limits courts’ ability to consider such actions when making important child welfare and custody decisions.