SCOTUS to hear parental notification case testing state law

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to review a case against Washington state laws that parents say could result in children receiving gender-altering treatments without notification to the parents. The case will weigh whether a coalition of Washington state parents and two children’s rights organizations has standing to challenge the state law. The groups contend that the law strips parents of their rights to direct their children’s care and upbringing. Washington state officials argued in court records that the parents raised questions of hypothetical harm. Officials add that the laws don’t allow state departments to withhold information from parents.

A Supreme Court decision in the case could affect policies that secretly transition a child’s gender at more than 1,200 school districts across the country, according to America First Legal.

How did the case get here? In 2023, Washington state passed several amendments to the law that shifted the responsibility to the state’s child welfare agency to notify parents about runaway youth at licensed homeless shelters. The parents alleged that the shift funnels minors into so-called gender affirming care without parental notice or consent, according to America First Legal. A child questioning his gender could run away to state-licensed shelters and be referred to gender-altering treatment without the parents’ knowledge, the parents have contended. These state laws could incentivize children with gender dysphoria to run away, America First Legal said. Multiple legal organizations, parental rights advocates, and a coalition of 15 states have filed briefs in support of the parents.

The state called the claims a theoretical chain of events. In 2025, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Washington state and dismissed the parents’ injuries, writing that they were self-imposed.

Dig deeper: Read Christina Grube’s report on an appeals court that blocked a California law from hiding children’s gender transitions from parents.