A man armed with a knife was shot and killed by police in Springfield, Massachusetts, Saturday evening.

Springfield police and the Hampden District Attorney’s Office are investigating the police shooting that occurred after officers responded to a 911 call around 4:40 p.m. for a man exhibiting psychiatric behavior while carrying a knife in the 1100 block of Worcester Street in Indian Orchard.

Due to circumstances that remain under investigation, police say one officer fired their service pistol, striking the armed man. Medical aid was rendered on scene immediately, according to the police department, but the man died from his injuries on scene.

The Hampden District Attorney’s Office will determine the propriety of the shooting and whether or not the use of force was justified.

Police haven’t identified the officer who fired their weapon, or released the name of the man who died.

The investigation remains ongoing at this time, and police say additional information will be released when the it has concluded.

Massachusetts will no longer require prospective foster parents to affirm the sexual orientation and gender identity of the children they foster, following legal challenges and criticism from religious groups.

The change comes after the conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a federal lawsuit in September on behalf of two Massachusetts families, who claimed the requirement conflicted with their religious beliefs, according to a Fox News report. One couple had its foster care license revoked, while the other was threatened with revocation.

That same month, federal regulators with the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) sent a letter to Massachusetts criticizing the mandate as discriminatory and a violation of the First Amendment. The agency said it would open an investigation into the matter.

On Dec. 12, the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) updated its regulations, replacing language that required foster parents to affirm a child’s “sexual orientation and gender identity” with a requirement that they support a child’s “individual identity and needs.”

The shift comes amid a broader national debate, as states grapple with whether foster parents should be required to support children’s gender identity even when it conflicts with their personal or religious beliefs.

In a statement to GBH News, DCF Commissioner Staverne Miller said the agency’s top priority is ensuring children in foster care are placed in safe and supportive homes.

“We are also committed to ensuring that no one is prevented from applying or reapplying to be a foster parent because of their religious beliefs,” Miller said.

ADF lauded the change in a statement released Wednesday. 

“Massachusetts has told us that this new regulation will no longer exclude Christian and other religious families from foster care because of their commonly held beliefs that boys are boys and girls are girls,” said ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse. 

“Our clients—loving, caring foster families who have welcomed vulnerable children into their homes—as well as many other families affected by this policy, are eager to reapply for their licenses,” Widmalm-Delphonse continued. “This amendment is a step in the right direction and we commend Massachusetts officials for changing course. But this case will not end until we are positive that Massachusetts is committed to respecting religious persons and ideological diversity among foster parents.”

Massachusetts will no longer require prospective foster parents to affirm gender ideology in order to qualify for fostering children, with the move coming after a federal lawsuit from a religious-liberty group. 

Alliance Defending Freedom said Dec. 17 that the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families “will no longer exclude Christian and other religious families from foster care” because of their “commonly held beliefs that boys are boys and girls are girls.”

The legal group announced in September that it had filed a lawsuit in U.S. district court over the state policy, which required prospective parents to agree to affirm a child’s “sexual orientation and gender identity” before being permitted to foster. 

Attorney Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse said at the time that the state’s foster system was “in crisis” with more than 1,400 children awaiting placement in foster homes. 

Yet the state was “putting its ideological agenda ahead of the needs of these suffering kids,” Widmalm-Delphonse said.

The suit had been filed on behalf of two Massachusetts families who had been licensed to serve as foster parents in the state. They had provided homes for nearly three dozen foster children between them and were “in good standing” at the time of the policy change. 

Yet the state policy required them to “promise to use a child’s chosen pronouns, verbally affirm a child’s gender identity contrary to biological sex, and even encourage a child to medically transition, forcing these families to speak against their core religious beliefs,” the lawsuit said. 

With its policy change, Massachusetts will instead require foster parents to affirm a child’s “individual identity and needs,” with the LGBT-related language having been removed from the state code. 

The amended language comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month that aims to improve the nation’s foster care system by modernizing the current child welfare system, developing partnerships with private sector organizations, and prioritizing the participation of those with sincerely held religious beliefs. 

Families previously excluded by the state rule are “eager to reapply for their licenses,” Widmalm-Delphonse said on Dec. 17.

The lawyer commended Massachusetts for taking a “step in the right direction,” though he said the legal group will continue its efforts until it is “positive that Massachusetts is committed to respecting religious persons and ideological diversity among foster parents.”

Other authorities have made efforts in recent years to exclude parents from state child care programs on the basis of gender ideology.

In July a federal appeals court ruled in a 2-1 decision that Oregon likely violated a Christian mother’s First Amendment rights by demanding that she embrace gender ideology and homosexuality in order to adopt children.

In April, meanwhile, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed legislation that would have prohibited the government from requiring parents to affirm support for gender ideology and homosexuality if they want to qualify to adopt or foster children.

In contrast, Arkansas in April enacted a law to prevent adoptive agencies and foster care providers from discriminating against potential parents on account of their religious beliefs. 

The Arkansas law specifically prohibits the government from discriminating against parents over their refusal to accept “any government policy regarding sexual orientation or gender identity that conflicts with the person’s sincerely held religious beliefs.”