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A Christian couple who spent more than a decade caring for foster children is celebrating a major legal victory after Washington state agreed to change its licensing rules following a dispute over requirements that foster parents use children's preferred pronouns and comply with gender identity policies, even when those requirements conflicted with their religious beliefs.
Shane and Jennifer DeGross told Fox News Digital in an interview Wednesday that the dispute began in 2022, when they attempted to renew their foster care license and discovered the state had changed its requirements concerning gender identity.
The couple said they were willing to love and care for any child placed in their home but could not agree to certain state-imposed requirements they believed violated their Christian faith.
"We were made aware that the state had updated and changed some of their requirements," Jennifer DeGross told Fox News Digital. "While we agreed that we would love and care for any child in our home, they had specific things that we could not agree to as Christians."
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Shane DeGross said the state required them to affirm the state's views on gender identity and human sexuality.
"Those views directly conflict with the biblical worldview of human sexuality," Shane DeGross said. "So, as Christians, we just couldn't accept that. Our allegiance is to God and the truth of Scripture. And we just couldn't abide by what they were requiring us to affirm."
Washington's licensing policies required foster parents to affirm and support LGBTQ children, including expectations concerning gender identity and the use of preferred names and pronouns. The DeGross family challenged the requirements on religious freedom grounds. Jennifer said the state eventually partially reinstated their license but restricted the ages of children they could foster.
"We felt like even when they reinstated a partial license to us that they were still discriminating against us," she said.
"When a child reached 5, they had to be removed from our home," Jennifer said. "So not only was that upsetting to us, but that's not good for kids, right?"
Jennifer argued that such a restriction could disrupt a child's placement even if the child had already spent years living with a foster family.
"If we had had a child for a couple of years, and then they have to be removed just because they turned or reached a certain age, it's definitely not in the interest of children," she said.
The legal battle resulted in a settlement under which Washington agreed to revise its foster care licensing rules, addressing the conflict between the state's gender identity requirements and foster parents' religious freedom claims.
Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, told Fox News Digital that the DeGross' case should serve as a lesson for the rest of the country.
"These foster care agencies, they have to respect the First Amendment rights of foster parents, as well as the children in the system and everyone that they work with," Widmalm-Delphonse said.
"So, states should be on notice from this settlement, as well as some of the other cases that we've seen like the Bates v. Pakseresht decision, that they have to respect First Amendment rights, they have to respect free speech rights, and the way you do that is you invite as many foster parents into the system as possible on the front end, and then you match at the back end according to children's individual needs or family's abilities, comfort level, things like that, which is what they've been doing for decades, and this settlement shows that they can continue doing that now," Widmalm-Delphonse added.
Widmalm-Delphonse said that since the settlement, Washington State has a new proposed regulation, WSR 26-20-103, currently undergoing the public notice and comment process which would in part give foster parents like Shane and Jennifer DeGross a religious exemption.
"This new rule, in part, would give foster parents like the DeGross's a religious exemption from any rule requiring them to violate their religious beliefs on gender or sexuality," Widmalm-Delphonse said.
Shane DeGross told Fox News Digital, "It's a great victory in the sense that more Christians can be available to love and care for foster kids without fear of being excluded because of their religious beliefs."
"It's a huge victory for kids that need a loving home," he added.
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"We are proud of the diversity of our foster parent and kinship caregiver community who have different cultures, religious beliefs, and lived experience," the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families said in a news release on the settlement. "We are grateful that they all open their doors and provide a loving home to children and youth in foster care."
"This settlement agreement respects the religious beliefs of foster parents, while ensuring LGBTQIA+ youth are placed in an environment that is safe and supports their well-being," DCYF Secretary Tana Senn said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Washington DCYF for further comment.



Iâm a retired military prosecutor, U.S. Air Force Academy instructor, and former Wind Cave National Park Ranger. I love the life that my wife and I have built in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Iâm running for Senate as an independent because Iâm tired of seeing Big Money overpower common sense. The values I learned growing up in a small rural town from my machinist fatherâthe same values that built this great countryâare being treated as though they matter less than a politicianâs personal ambition or a billionaireâs appetite.
More than at any time in my life, I believe our political system needs to be shaken up and that We the People need to overcome the corrupting influence of Big Money. Self-dealing is screwing hard-working, honorable South Dakotans out of their chance to live the American Dream.
Iâm convinced that term limits are the best way to do it. Hereâs a good example of why I believe that. Last month it was reported that my opponent, Sen. Mike Rounds, allowed one of his top advisers â whoâs drawing a 6-figure taxpayer-funded salary â to simultaneously work as a lobbyist for Meta. This adviser, also a former Rounds campaign manager, has been pushing Big Money interests in the halls of the South Dakota state capitol, then advising our U.S. Senator on the very same issues, on the very same day.
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There ought to be a law prohibiting that sort of thing. That is why, when Iâm elected, the first bill Iâll introduce is to make ALL lobbying by congressional staff illegal. Iâve had enough. My second bill would be term limits. Washingtonâs culture is so corrupt and out of touch that the people who live there too long donât even realize it anymore.
It was also recently reported that Mike Rounds spends more taxpayer money on private jets than any other member of the Senate.
Iâm not trying to dump on Mike.
I believe Mike Rounds is a good man. Iâm not here to add to the name-calling and personal meanness that does nothing to solve the very serious problems our state and nation face. Iâm here to say that Washington, D.C. needs to change. Most of us can agree our local communities are the ones who pay the price when an elected official stays in Washington too long. We're paying a huge price now.
I agreed with President Donald Trump when he ran on "no new wars." As a patriot whoâs proud to have served in both the Navy and the Air Force, I believe commanders-in-chief have a duty to only send our fighting men and women into harmâs way when itâs absolutely necessary. I agreed with him when he said that we needed to fight to make life less expensive. Where I come from, a promise is a promise.
But now, every time I fill up my Ram 1500 at the Corner Pantry, Iâm paying over $4.00 a gallon. When I buy groceries for my family at Sonnyâs Super Foods, Iâm paying more all the timeâespecially when I buy beef grown by the best ranchers in the world, right here in South Dakota. They are now having to compete with imports from South America that arenât fairly labeled so that American consumers can know the difference.
The Indian motorcycles that my brother works to assemble are getting harder for Americans to buy because of tariffs that we were told would make American manufacturing stronger.
Sen. Rounds has voted in favor of the Iran war every time heâs had the opportunity. He voted for the tariffs that are hurting South Dakotaâs economy. He voted to make the biggest healthcare cuts weâve ever felt, just so that companies could get tax breaks to build data centers. Wired reports that Mike has now taken more campaign contributions from data center-tied interests than from all of South Dakota itself. Those corporate donors are literally getting our moneyâs worth.
Sen. Rounds has been in office so long that he voted for the law that made it so that grocery stores donât have to tell us which country their meat came from. Now he says he wants to bring those rules back. Weâve reached the point where career politicians have been in office so long theyâre running against the exact things they did.
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Iâm not running to be an anti-Trump Senator or a pro-Trump Senator. I have plenty of disagreements with the left. It scares the hell out of me that young people are feeling a pull towards socialism. As a former Air Force prosecutor, I think proposals to "defund the police" and "abolish prisons" are insane. As someone who spent decades working to make America more secure, I thought President Joe Bidenâs failure to keep our border secure was unacceptable and offensive.
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Iâm running to put South Dakota first, and to work with anyone, whatever their politics, when itâs in the interest of our state.
I was an ethics advisor in the Air Force. I know itâs not my job to judge people by their politics, but I do believe itâs my job to stand up against a system that isnât going to fix itself.

Se acuerdan del famoso “¿Por qué no te callas?” El rey Juan Carlos se lo gritó a Hugo Chávez en 2007 durante una Cumbre Iberoamericana. El entonces presidente de Venezuela había llamado “fascista” a José María Aznar. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, entonces jefe del Ejecutivo español, defendió a Aznar: “Se puede estar en las antípodas de una posición ideológica y no seré yo quien esté cerca de las ideas de Aznar, pero fue elegido por los españoles y exijo ese respeto”.

© Comunidad de Madrid (EFE)
Un destino turístico no se construye únicamente con paisajes, hoteles y visitantes. También necesita a las personas que lo gestionan, limpian las habitaciones y atienden los restaurantes. La falta de vivienda asequible para los trabajadores del Pirineo revela una contradicción: los lugares que generan riqueza gracias al turismo pueden acabar expulsando a quienes necesitan para seguir funcionando. No tiene sentido celebrar el éxito de una temporada si quienes la ponen en marcha deben compartir habitación o renunciar a vivir donde trabajan. Los balances analizan cuántos visitantes llegan y cuánto dinero dejan, pero hace falta preguntarse: ¿Qué condiciones de vida tienen quienes sostienen esa actividad? No se trata de enfrentar a residentes y visitantes, sino de entender que el turismo depende de las personas que lo hacen posible.

© Clara Margais (Getty Images)





Russian missiles keep falling on Ukrainian cities while Washington holds up approval of Patriot interceptor transfers to Ukraine, according to The Washington Post. A Ukrainian official told the Post that only "a couple" of interceptors remained. President Donald Trump wants this war to end, and that goal deserves support. But a deal that squeezes only Ukraine is not a peace plan, and right now Kyiv absorbs the pressure while Moscow collects the relief.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged on Oct. 20 that a batch bought for Kyiv may not have been delivered, but he rejected any political motive. "There's nothing being deliberately denied to Ukraine," he said.
So is Washington protecting scarce supplies, applying negotiating pressure or both? Americans deserve an answer, including what concessions Washington expects from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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The administration's strongest defense is scarcity, so start with the missiles. Lockheed Martin delivered 620 PAC-3 MSE interceptors in 2025 and plans to expand annual capacity to 2,000 over seven years.
The Iran war compounded the problem. A July assessment by the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated that heavy combat use had pushed American Patriot inventories below 1,000.
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A president must keep enough interceptors to protect American troops. Having worked on military strategy and security cooperation at the Pentagon, I take that obligation seriously. Ukraine's needs cannot erase our responsibilities elsewhere.
European money does not change that math. Kiel Institute data covering the first half of 2026 identify Europe as the largest military-aid donor, yet American stockpiles supplied more than 90% of the aid delivered through NATO's Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL). Europe is paying American industry to arm Ukraine, and Washington controls the tap.
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The lasting answer to scarcity is production. When U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv Oct. 9, he pressed for faster Patriot production licensing and offered joint production of interceptors. Washington should pursue it, with technology safeguards.
Still, scarcity does not explain every pending decision, and Washington owes the allies who paid for these weapons a straight explanation. Nor does it explain the broader pressure on Kyiv.
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The clearest example involves the same pipeline. Reuters reports that Washington threatened to stop the allied-funded PURL weapons pipeline to press Kyiv to halt its deep strikes on Russian energy infrastructure. That is leverage over Ukrainian military operations, not proof of a coordinated campaign to remove Zelenskyy.
The satellite dispute is murkier. Blamed for throttling Ukraine's terminals, billionaire Elon Musk posted that limits "are decided by the U.S. military and ultimately" by the president. Reuters then traced the restriction to the White House through unnamed officials. Trump denied it. "It wasn't us," he told reporters Oct. 16. Separately, Ukraine went three days without American missile warnings before Zelenskyy said Oct. 18 that intelligence sharing had resumed.
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The pressure is also personal. Trump called Oct. 10 for Ukraine to replace its president. Yet Zelenskyy sat down with American envoys in Oslo on Oct. 20. A leader who shows up for talks is not refusing diplomacy.
Now consider the other side of the ledger. Trump announced an energy ceasefire Oct. 11, although Russian agreement remained unclear. A week later, Russian strikes hit 28 substations and other energy facilities, according to the Institute for the Study of War, leaving roughly 550,000 Ukrainian households without power. Kyiv was pressed to stop hitting refineries while Moscow kept hitting the grid. Putin never confirmed the ceasefire, and his missiles show he never intended to honor it.
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Moscow, meanwhile, received relief. On Oct. 9, Treasury issued a license authorizing specified Russian diesel transactions. Reuters later reported that Washington hoped the diesel deal would soften Moscow's negotiating position.
The administration's case is domestic. Diesel hit a record $6.52 a gallon in September as the Iran war choked the Strait of Hormuz, and Trump promised relief for farmers, ranchers and truckers. But Lawfare's analysis found the agreed Russian exports would cover about 2% of American demand. The price relief is speculative. Moscow's gains are not: sanctions relief and American pressure on Kyiv to spare Russian refineries.
Offering an adversary an incentive can be sound diplomacy. The question is what the incentive buys. So far, the bombing has not stopped.
Nor has softer treatment softened the Kremlin's terms. When Zelenskyy offered a 60-day ceasefire to permit elections, the Kremlin rejected it on Oct. 12, saying it wanted an overall settlement. Moscow refused the very pause that Trump's call for new Ukrainian leadership would require.
Putin's ambitions run larger still. The New York Post reports that he wants a summit with Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to settle the war without Zelenskyy or Europe at the table, a redux of Yalta.
Putin bargains as if time is on his side. The battlefield says otherwise. Reuters reported Oct. 17 that Russian advances had slowed and many front lines remained largely static.
That gives Washington room to demand reciprocity. Wicker, the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, proposed one approach on Oct. 18: Ukrainian restraint against petroleum facilities in exchange for American targeting assistance against Russian missile launches. It deserves consideration. But Putin would still need to offer restraint of his own.
So what must Putin give up? As I argued in these pages last December, a durable agreement requires credible enforcement, and enforcement begins with concessions Moscow can be held to.
Russia must halt strikes on Ukraine's power grid and cities, the same restraint Washington demanded of Kyiv. It must accept monitored ceasefire terms, defined restrictions on military activity and consequences for violations. It must negotiate with Kyiv, not over Kyiv's head in China. And it must recognize that the size of Ukraine's army and the choice of its security partners belong to Kyiv, not the Kremlin.
For his part, Trump should preserve American reserves, expand production, insist on European performance and refuse any summit that decides Ukraine's fate without Ukraine. Diesel licenses and any further sanctions relief should depend on compliance, with automatic snap-back penalties if Moscow cheats.
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America need not send combat troops to Ukraine or finance an indefinite war to demand those safeguards.
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Trump wants the killing to stop. Whether Putin will accept enforceable limits remains unproved. The test of American diplomacy is whether Moscow earns relief through compliance and faces greater costs for renewed aggression.
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