Texas Federal Judge to Block HHS Foster Rule Friday, Faith Agencies Say

The Ruling Expected Friday

A federal judge in Fort Worth plans to issue a preliminary injunction on May 8, 2026, blocking the Department of Health and Human Services from enforcing a new rule that would require faith-based foster care and adoption agencies to place children with same-sex couples as a condition of receiving federal grants, according to two attorneys familiar with the case. The ruling, which is expected to be filed by 10 a.m. Central Time at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth division, would halt the rule for at least 120 days while the court weighs a full trial on the merits, the attorneys said.

The case, Catholic Charities of Fort Worth v. Department of Health and Human Services, was filed on April 17, 2026, by three Texas-based religious agencies that together receive roughly $4.2 million annually in federal foster care grants. The plaintiffs argue that the HHS rule, published in the Federal Register on April 3, 2026, violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment by conditioning federal funding on compliance with placement standards that conflict with their religious beliefs about marriage and family, according to the complaint and two congressional aides briefed on the litigation.

A religious-liberty lawyer involved in the case said the judge signaled the likely outcome during a hearing on May 1, 2026, in which attorneys for HHS struggled to explain how the agency could apply the rule narrowly without sweeping in hundreds of faith-based providers nationwide. The lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the ruling is not yet public, said the court indicated it would find the plaintiffs likely to succeed on the merits and that the agencies would suffer irreparable harm absent an injunction.

Two pastors familiar with the case said their congregations were briefed on the expected ruling during a private conference call on May 6, 2026, organized by the plaintiffs' legal team. The pastors, whose churches partner with Catholic Charities on foster parent recruitment, said they were told to prepare for the ruling Friday morning and to expect HHS to respond quickly.

Background of the Dispute

The HHS rule at issue updated the agency's foster care and adoption standards to require all grant recipients to certify that they will place children without regard to the sexual orientation or gender identity of prospective parents. The rule applied to providers receiving funds through the Title IV-E foster care program and related adoption assistance grants, which totaled approximately $7.8 billion nationwide in fiscal year 2025, according to HHS budget documents cited in the complaint.

Religious agencies contended the rule effectively forced them to choose between their beliefs and their participation in the federal foster care system. Catholic Charities of Fort Worth, one of the plaintiffs, has operated foster care programs in Texas for more than seventy years and currently serves roughly 340 children through federally funded contracts, according to a church administrator familiar with the agency's operations. The administrator, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said the agency would have to close its foster care program rather than comply.

The second plaintiff, Baptist Family Services of Dallas, operates programs in eleven North Texas counties and receives about $1.9 million in federal grants each year, according to its most recent audited financial statement. The third plaintiff, a nonprofit affiliated with the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, runs adoption and foster care services in Houston and San Antonio and receives approximately $980,000 in federal support annually, the complaint states.

The lawsuit names HHS, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Administration for Children and Families as defendants. Federal attorneys argued during the May 1 hearing that the rule was necessary to prevent discrimination against LGBTQ prospective parents and that agencies could continue to operate without federal funds if they chose not to comply, according to a court observer present for the arguments.

The plaintiffs countered that the rule was a departure from prior HHS policy, which allowed religious agencies to refer same-sex couples to other providers while continuing to serve children consistent with their faith. That policy was memorialized in a 2020 HHS waiver process and was rescinded by the April 3 rule, according to the complaint and a former HHS official familiar with the earlier policy.

What Happens Next

The preliminary injunction, if issued as expected, would apply only to the three plaintiff agencies and would not immediately block enforcement of the HHS rule nationwide. However, attorneys familiar with the case said the ruling could serve as a template for similar lawsuits pending in federal courts in Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, where Catholic Charities affiliates and other faith-based providers have filed parallel challenges in the past two weeks.

The Justice Department is expected to file an emergency appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit within hours of the ruling, according to one of the attorneys. The Fifth Circuit, which has previously ruled in favor of religious agencies in similar cases, could either deny the request or schedule expedited briefing for late May. HHS could also choose to revise the rule through the formal notice-and-comment process, though agency officials have given no public indication of such a move.

Congressional Republicans, who control both the House and Senate, have separately drafted legislation to block the rule under the Congressional Review Act. Two congressional aides briefed on the plan said the office of the Senate majority leader is weighing whether to bring the measure to the floor before the Memorial Day recess, which begins May 22, 2026. The aides said a vote would require unified Republican support and at least a handful of Democrats from states with large faith-based provider networks.

For the plaintiff agencies, the immediate stakes are operational rather than political. Catholic Charities of Fort Worth is scheduled to renew its state contract with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services on June 1, 2026, and the church administrator said the agency needed certainty about federal funding before signing the renewal. Baptist Family Services has a foster parent recruitment event planned for May 16 at First Baptist Dallas, and the administrator said the injunction would allow that event to proceed without disruption.

Watch for the ruling to drop at the Fort Worth courthouse on Friday morning, followed by a possible statement from HHS and an appeal filing by Monday, May 11, 2026.