Vermont thought it could get away with it.
A Christian couple wanted to open their home to foster children – and the state revoked their license because they wouldn't repeat the government's approved line on transgender ideology.
They fought back. And what Vermont was just forced to do will make your day.
State Punished Parents for a Facebook Post
Melinda Antonucci and Casey Mathieu didn't do anything wrong.
The couple applied for a foster care license in 2023 because they love children and wanted to help kids in need.
They told the state they were willing to foster LGBTQ-identified children.
They have three kids of their own and a track record of real, loving care.
Then Antonucci shared a link on her personal Facebook page – a petition asking the Essex Westford School District to notify parents before helping students transition their gender identity at school.
That's it.
That's what triggered the Vermont Department for Children and Families to go after them.
The Government Demanded She Say What It Wanted
A DCF employee called Antonucci and told her the Facebook post was "concerning" because all foster homes must "affirm" transgender-identifying children.
The couple was subjected to mandatory LGBTQ training covering medical procedures for transgender children.
Antonucci told them clearly: she was willing to love and care for any child, including a trans-identified child – but she would not put that child on puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones.
Vermont's response was to inform her the license was as good as gone.
When the couple refused to voluntarily surrender it, DCF issued a formal revocation – telling them in writing it couldn't proceed because of its inability to predict where any foster child might land on gender identity.
In other words: wrong opinions, no license.
Vermont Had a Pattern of Doing This
This wasn't a one-off mistake by a rogue caseworker.
Vermont's DCF had already revoked licenses from two other couples in Windham County using the same ideological screening test.
Massachusetts got caught running the same playbook – and only reversed course last December after the Trump administration sent federal regulators to investigate and threatened consequences.
Washington state did the same thing to Shane and Jennifer DeGross, a couple who fostered four little girls over nine years and lost their license renewal because they wouldn't pledge to use opposite-sex pronouns.
The pattern was everywhere: blue states demanding that Christian foster families either mouth the government's preferred ideology or get out of the system entirely.
All while those same child welfare agencies were begging for more homes.
Vermont had 123 kids sitting in residential care – half of them shipped outside the state entirely – because there weren't enough foster families.
And Vermont was turning away people like Melinda and Casey.
They Fought Back and Won
The Center for American Liberty filed suit on behalf of the couple, arguing Vermont had turned foster licensing into an ideological loyalty test.
The First Amendment argument was airtight.
The Supreme Court established in 1943 – in a case about schoolchildren forced to salute the flag – that the government cannot compel citizens to affirm beliefs they don't hold.
That principle didn't disappear because the subject became transgender ideology.
Vermont just blinked.
Under the settlement, Antonucci and Mathieu get their license back.
More importantly, Vermont agreed to statewide guidance prohibiting DCF from conditioning foster licenses on an applicant's viewpoints, religious beliefs, or compelled speech.
"Vermont tried to turn foster licensing into an ideological screening process," said Josh Dixon, Director of Litigation at the Center for American Liberty.
"This settlement is a major win for constitutional rights and for kids who need safe, loving homes," he added, noting the state must now put "the focus back where it belongs: on real-world caregiving and child safety – not political orthodoxy."
This Fight Is Far From Over
Vermont folded because a lawsuit exposed what they were doing.
But the underlying ideology driving these policies – the idea that the government can screen out parents who refuse to validate every aspect of gender transition doctrine – hasn't gone away.
Dixon noted that similar lawsuits are working through courts in multiple blue states right now, and he expects them to go the same direction.
Antonucci put it simply: "The state tried to disqualify us because of our protected beliefs and because we wouldn't say what the government wanted us to say."
She's right.
And the fact that it took a federal lawsuit to stop Vermont from running a loyalty test on would-be foster parents – while children sat waiting for homes – tells you everything about how far these radical leftists are willing to go.
Sources:
- Louis Casiano and Michael Dorgan, "Vermont couple reclaims foster care license after taking a stand on child gender transitioning," Fox News, February 20, 2026.
- "Vermont Christian parents say they were punished by foster system over transgender stance," Fox News, May 30, 2024.
- Tyler Arnold, "Foster parents sue Vermont after state revokes license for rejecting gender ideology," Catholic News Agency, June 12, 2024.
- "Massachusetts drops controversial gender ideology mandate for licensing foster care parents," Fox News, December 18, 2025.
- "Christian foster parents sue Washington over rules requiring transgender names, pronouns," Washington Times, March 25, 2024.
- "Vermont aims to create more foster homes to keep high-needs kids in state," VTDigger, May 6, 2021.
