Pro-life Americans often get criticized for focusing too much on babies in the womb and not enough on those who’ve been born. Yet countless evangelical Christians devote their lives to foster care, adoption and similar services for vulnerable children. As born-again Christians, we have been adopted by Christ and have a special obligation to those who need a mother and father.

But those who want to live out these convictions frequently find themselves stopped by the government. Last week the Trump administration took a major step toward addressing the problem.

In the closing days of the Obama administration, the federal government handed down a regulation that effectively barred from federal child-welfare programs organizations that believe marriage is between a man and woman. This affected many Roman Catholic and evangelical Protestant organizations. This misguided policy was rushed into effect right before President Trump’s inauguration.

While the Obama administration made the issue national, it’s happening locally too. In March 2018, Philadelphia declared an urgent need for hundreds of new foster families. Then the city government barred Catholic Social Services from placing children in homes because of the Catholic Church’s teaching about marriage. City hall’s use of children as leverage to force a religious institution to change its beliefs was appalling.

Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel cited the Obama-era rule when attempting to cancel a state-approved foster-care and adoption-services contract with St. Vincent Catholic Charities. Thankfully, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction so the group can continue serving children as the case continues. This year the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a waiver to Miracle Hill Ministries, one of the leading adoption and foster-care providers in South Carolina. This Christian ministry provides placements for 15% of the children in the state’s foster care system. The waiver was a welcome recognition of the important work Christian agencies do, but still they’re only a brief respite.