Davis Wright Tremaine Fall 2026 Research Clinic (Phase 2)
Project Overview:
During Phase 1 of this project, Lawyers for Good Government’s Gender Justice & Health Equity (GJHE) Team partnered with Davis Wright Tremaine on a research clinic aimed at mapping the explicit statutory, regulatory, and administrative landscape regarding transgender parents, parents of transgender children, and transgender youth in foster care across the U.S.
L4GG’s Policy Resource Hub for Transgender Rights is a cornerstone of our transgender rights work, and ensuring that the Hub accurately reflects how these laws are actually interpreted, challenged, and applied is critical. In Phase 2 of this project, we are asking for help researching the key case law, judicial interpretations, and active litigation surrounding these issues. We recognize that in many states without explicit statutory text, family courts and appellate judges review standard, baseline child neglect or custody statutes in individual cases involving transgender youth or parents, and that courts across the country are actively hearing constitutional and civil rights challenges to pro- or anti- transgender state laws. Phase 2 focuses on capturing these judicial developments, constitutional challenges, and case precedents.
ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION:
L4GG is a community of 125,000 lawyers, law students, and activists fighting to ensure equal rights, equal opportunities and equal justice under the law. We coordinate large scale pro bono programs and engage in advocacy and policy work, seeking not only to establish and enforce equality under the law, but to also create the social and economic conditions that lead to true equity.
INSTRUCTIONS AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS FOR PARTICIPATING ATTORNEYS
Attend the Training.
Training will be held on November 12th at 2 pm ET. The clinic will begin with a training by L4GG’s attorneys on the context and importance of the research, as well as the research questions and methods.
Review the Research Questions
Review each of the research questions and decide on the order of your research prior to beginning.
Conduct Your Research
Brainstorm terms before you begin your search. Most topics can be described in numerous ways, and not all jurisdictions will use the same terminology. Develop a list of relevant terms up front and continue to refine it as you continue your research.
Keyword recommendations include: “transgender;” “gender identity;” “gender expression;” “gender-affirming care;” “transition;” “gender dysphoria;” “puberty blockers;” “cross-sex hormones;” “medical neglect;” “child abuse;” “neglect;” “Child Protective Services;” “CPS;” “child in need of care;” “child removal;” “parental fitness;” “best interests of the child;” “custody;” “foster care;” “foster parent;” “out-of-home placement;” “group home;” “child welfare agency;” “Department of Children and Family Services;” “Department of Human Services;” “placement guidelines;” “religious exemption;” and “religious freedom.”
Note: Keywords used together may prompt the most responsive answers, such as: “[State]” + “gender-affriming care” + “child abuse” + “Child Protective Services” or “[State]” + “foster care” + “gender identity” + “placement”
Verify subsequent history and appellate status and double check legislation is presently in effect. Be careful when analyzing trial court decisions or legal challenges to ensure they are currently good law. When using search engines or legal summaries, check for subsequent history, appellate reversals, or emergency stays. Always cross-check the official dockets, slip opinions, or verified case history on Westlaw, Lexis, or public judicial portals to confirm whether a court’s injunction or ruling is still active and binding.
Compile Your Research
We recommend that during the legal research process, you gather your findings in a Word or Google document prior to completing the online form.
Citations
Whenever discussing any laws, regulations, or cases in your responses, please provide both the Bluebook citation and link to the citation in Justia. We ask that any citations to statute are linked to Justia - if you find the citation or case in Westlaw or Lexis, please then search for it in Justia to provide a publicly available link. This allows us to easily add the research to public facing materials for our community.
Copy with Hyperlink
Whenever possible, please copy a link directly to the relevant section of the code you’re citing. You can do this by right clicking on text in the relevant public web page and selecting the option to “copy link to highlight,” so whoever clicks said link is brought to the exact text you highlighted, helping readers navigate text-heavy documents.
Submit Your Research.
Once you have completed your research, please copy and paste your team’s findings into the corresponding fields using this online form. Only one form should be submitted for each state.
We ask that you submit your research in the form of an annotated outline that indicates the significance of the case, the parties, the procedural posture, and the outcome.
Please check your answers for accuracy before pressing “Submit.”
Please make sure to submit by Wednesday, November 25.
Repeat Steps #2-7 for Each State Assigned to You
Questions?
Substantive Questions: amorrison@lawyersforgoodgovernment.org, bria@lawyersforgoodgovernment.org
Pro Bono Questions: lauren@lawyersforgoodgovernment.org
RESOURCES
Your Westlaw, Lexis, Bloomberg, or Fastcase Account: We request that you begin all primary research in whichever subscription legal research tool you have access to and then utilize additional research tools to ensure that you are viewing the most updated version of the law.h. Note: We understand every firm has a different policy on AI use. If your subscription includes an AI tool or you utilize AI in your research, please independently verify any information provided by it.
Justia: This is a publicly available resource for the state codes of each jurisdiction. If you need to cite a historical version of a state statute, please provide a Justia hyperlink citation to the most recent version of the statute or the relevant historical version of the statute as appropriate. Note: Justia does not include Westlaw or Lexis keycite or red flags. If you need to cite a historical or current version of a state statute, please provide a Justia hyperlink citation to the most recent version of the statute as appropriate.
Family Equality publishes the LGBTQ+ Foster Care Laws by State Guide, which provides state-by-state overviews of foster care non-discrimination standards and child welfare rules. Note: research may be outdated and should be cross-checked.
The Movement Advancement Project (MAP) maintains Equality Maps that track state child welfare nondiscrimination laws Note: research may be outdated and should be cross-checked.
The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) maintains a youth care policy tracker, which tracks state legislative medical bans, provider penalties, insurance restrictions, and court injunctions. Note: research may be outdated and should be cross-checked.
Phase 1 Research (focused on state statutes, regulations, and policies)
RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
(PLEASE REMEMBER TO INCLUDE CITATIONS AND LINKS WHEN AVAILABLE FOR EACH OF YOUR ANSWERS)
For your assigned state, please answer the following questions:
[1] Does the state have any case law in its state courts or related federal courts addressing whether a parent’s transgender status, support or affirmation of a transgender child, or decision to obtain, facilitate, or consent to gender-affirming care for a transgender child (or opposition to it) may constitute child abuse, neglect, or other grounds for a Child Protective Services (CPS) investigation or removal? Note: Only report authorities that specifically and explicitly reference transgender/gender non-conforming identity, gender expression, or gender-affirming healthcare, please do not summarize case law interpreting your state’s baseline statutory definition of child abuse, neglect, medical neglect, or parental fitness.
[1a] If so, please identify the authority and summarize the relevant case law, as described in research instruction 7.
[1b] Please provide a bluebook citation and public link to the relevant authority.
[2] Does the state have any case law in its state courts or related federal courts addressing whether a parent’s transgender status, support or affirmation of a transgender child, or decision to obtain, facilitate, or consent to gender-affirming care for a transgender child (or opposition to it) may be considered in determining custody, parenting time, visitation, parental fitness, or the best interests of the child? Note: Only report authorities that specifically and explicitly reference transgender/gender non-conforming identity, gender expression, or gender-affirming healthcare.
[2a] If so, please identify the authority and summarize the relevant case law, as described in research instruction 7.
[2b] Please provide a bluebook citation and public link to the relevant authority.
[3] Does the state have any case law in its state courts or related federal courts addressing the rights, treatment, placement, or care of transgender children and youth in foster care or other out-of-home care?
[3a] If so, please identify the authority and summarize the relevant case law, as described in research
instruction 7.
[3b] Please provide a bluebook citation and public link to the relevant authority.
Once you have completed your research, please submit your responses (with citations/links) using this online form. Thank you for contributing to this important project.