HB 1210: Courts; protections for children who adopt an identity that differs from their sex; provide

This bill adds new sections to Georgia's dependency, child abuse, social services, and state government laws. It defines 'sex' as a person's biological sex (female or male based on reproductive capacity) and defines 'affirming' a child's sex as using the child's legal name and pronouns matching that sex, declining medical interventions that alter secondary sex characteristics, and steering counseling away from supporting a different gender identity. The bill states that a parent's actions affirming a child's sex can never be treated as abuse, neglect, or a reason to remove a child from a parent's custody or find a case dependent. Courts could not require parents to consent to treatments that alter a child's body to match a different gender identity. Foster and adoptive placement providers could refuse, on religious or sincerely held belief grounds, to deny a child's biological sex, and state agencies must place children in state custody based solely on the child's sex. State employees and contractors would be barred from encouraging a child to adopt a different gender identity or from hiding such a request from parents, and the state could not contract with or run training programs that characterize sex-affirming parenting as abuse or that promote gender transition.

• Creates a new Code section (15-11-114) stating a parent's actions affirming a child's biological sex can never count as abuse, neglect, or grounds for custody loss or a dependency finding.
• Creates a new Code section (19-15-8) defining 'sex' and 'affirming' and barring state employees, social workers, and courts from treating sex-affirming parenting as abuse or a basis for removing a child.
• Bars courts from ordering a parent to consent to or facilitate hormonal, chemical, or surgical treatments that alter a child's appearance to match a different gender identity.
• Lets foster and adoptive parents, kinship caregivers, and other child welfare contractors refuse on religious or sincerely held belief grounds to deny a child's biological sex, without losing a placement or certification.
• Requires the Department of Human Services and Department of Juvenile Justice to certify annually that they have no policy forcing providers to act against those beliefs.
• Requires the state, when placing a child in its custody, to base placement decisions solely on the child's biological sex, and bars state employees or contractors from encouraging a child to adopt a different gender identity or hiding such a request from parents.

Parents and legal guardians involved in custody or dependency cases, children in the foster care and juvenile justice systems, foster and adoptive parents and kinship caregivers, social workers, guardians ad litem and court personnel, state employees and contractors, and organizations that provide training or services to the state's child welfare system.

The bill would change how courts and child welfare agencies handle cases involving a child's gender identity, shielding parents who decline to support a child's gender transition from abuse findings while restricting state employees, placements, and training programs from supporting that transition, affecting families, foster children, and caseworkers statewide.

• Section 1 adds O.C.G.A. § 15-11-114, protecting a parent's right to affirm a child's sex in custody and dependency proceedings from being treated as abuse or grounds for losing custody.
• Section 2 adds O.C.G.A. § 19-15-8, defining 'sex' by biological reproductive capacity and 'affirming' to include using birth-consistent names, pronouns, and declining transition-related medical or counseling services.
• Section 2 bars affirming a child's sex from being used to start or continue a child protective services investigation or to prevent a child's return to a parent's custody.
• Section 2(c) prohibits courts from requiring a parent to consent to social, hormonal, chemical, or surgical interventions that align a child's appearance with a different gender identity.
• Section 3 adds O.C.G.A. § 49-1-9, letting foster, adoptive, and kinship providers decline to deny a child's sex based on religious or sincerely held beliefs without losing placements, and requires annual agency certification of this policy.
• Section 4 adds O.C.G.A. § 49-5-8.2, requiring the Department of Human Services to base child placement decisions solely on the child's biological sex.
• Section 5 adds O.C.G.A. § 50-1-15, barring state employees and contractors from encouraging a child to adopt a different gender identity, concealing such requests from parents, or running trainings that treat sex-affirming parenting as abuse or promote gender transition.
• Section 6 includes a severability clause so remaining provisions stay in effect if any part is struck down by a court.

1. 2026-02-09House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-02-06House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-02-05House Hopper (House)

• Noelle Kahaian (R, HD-081)Primary sponsor
• Charlice Byrd (R, HD-020)
• Emory Dunahoo (R, HD-031)
• Dale Washburn (R, HD-144)
• Josh Bonner (R, HD-073)

• child custody law
• foster care
• gender identity policy
• parental rights
• child welfare