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WASHINGTON, D.C.—The United States Supreme Court agreed Monday, June 29, to hear a constitutional challenge to Washington state law Senate Bill 5599 (SB-5599), that allows licensed youth shelters and host homes to notify state child welfare authorities instead of parents when runaway minors seek gender-affirming care or reproductive health services.

“Big case. Our team at  America First Legal is excited to work with Schaerr Jaffe LLP to vindicate the rights of our clients,” wrote Gene Hamilton, President of America First Legal.

Democratic state Senator Marko Liias (D-Edmonds) sponsored the measure, with co-sponsors including Sens. Claire Wilson, Manka Dhingra, Liz Lovelett, Joe Nguyen and current Congresswoman Emily Randall. The Democratic-controlled Legislature passed it along largely party-line votes and Gov. Jay Inslee signed it into law on May 9, 2023— the bill took effect July 23, 2023.

“Every child – including our trans youth – deserves to be safe at home. In a perfect world, that is the case, but unfortunately, that is not the reality,” Senator Liias said in a statement on the bill’s signing. “This legislation affirms our commitment to ensuring children have a safe and stable place to go when they are not welcome at home…. Washington has long been a place where members of the LGBTQ+ community are welcome and embraced. As other states across the country introduce and pass legislation to take their rights away, we here in Washington are sending a clear signal: we hear you, we see you and we love you.” 

The bill amended Washington’s Family Reconciliation Act and statutes governing runaway and homeless youth by adding an explicit “compelling reason” exception for shelters to withhold parental notification when a minor is seeking or receiving “protected health care services” other than the current suspicion of abuse or neglect.

Those “protected health care services” are defined to include gender-affirming treatment (social, psychological, behavioral, medical, or surgical interventions supporting a person’s gender identity, such as evaluation for gender dysphoria or hormone therapy) and lawful reproductive health care. The shelter must still contact the state Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF). The law does not authorize shelters to provide gender-affirming surgery or other medical procedures without parental consent, nor does it alter general parental consent requirements for minors’ medical care.

Supporters of the bill, according to testimony argued the importance of health care especially to trans youth, and that because “not every family is ready to provide support to trans youth” and if “that youth is seeking protected health services, they should be able to safely access that care in supportive environments like shelters and host homes.”

“LGBTQIA+ youth are overrepresented among the homeless, due to families kicking them out or a person seeking services from another state,” the staff summary of public testimony on the bill says.

Critics, including Republican lawmakers, argued it undermines fundamental parental rights by enabling the state to shield children’s whereabouts from parents for extended periods while they pursue gender-related care.

“There is no mention about parents or parental involvement but rather an emotional response to helping children,” the staff summary of public testimony on the bill says. “Minors cannot consent to these kinds of medical procedures. The bill doesn’t say how long youth can be away from home, this should be considered child abuse…. This bill legalizes the kidnapping of children, allows for the harboring of minors, and segregates us from the union. Children should not be housed in mixed sex situations.”

Sen. John Braun R-Centralia wrote prior to the bill’s passage that SB-5599 harms families by driving a “wedge” between vulnerable adolescents and their parents at a time when teens lack the maturity for such life-altering decisions.

“Children between the ages of 13 and 18 can already access these same health- and mental-health services under Washington law, without their parents’ permission,” wrote Senator Braun. “The only thing SB 5599 would do is cause harm by driving a wedge between vulnerable kids and their parents, at a time when a teen lacks the perception and judgment to make critical life-altering decisions.”

The lawsuit, International Partners for Ethical Care, Inc. v. Ferguson, was brought in August 2023 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The plaintiffs include the national nonprofit International Partners for Ethical Care, Advocates Protecting Children, and five sets of parents whose children have exhibited signs of gender dysphoria or previously run away. Represented in part by America First Legal, the plaintiffs contend the law violates parents’ substantive and procedural due process rights under the 14th Amendment by interfering with their fundamental liberty interest in the care, custody, and control of their children, including medical and upbringing decisions.

In May 2024, the district court dismissed the case with prejudice, ruling the plaintiffs lacked Article III standing because they had not shown a concrete, particularized, and imminent injury traceable to the law. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in May 2025 and unanimously affirmed the dismissal on July 25, 2025, agreeing that plaintiffs failed to demonstrate current or clearly impending injury sufficient for standing.

Plaintiffs petitioned the Supreme Court to review the case which it granted certiorari to consider whether parents have standing to challenge state laws or policies that allegedly displace their decision-making role regarding their children’s gender-related care and create impediments to parental rights.

The case will be argued during the Court’s October term, with a decision expected by summer 2027.

Author: Mario Lotmore