Dear Board of Social Services,

I am a resident of and voter in the Commonwealth of Virginia.  I believe that all prospective adoptive parents, regardless of gender, age, religion, political beliefs, sexual orientation, disability or family status, should be considered suitable forever families for Virginia's children needing a home.  Please return anti-discrimination provisions to the new rules.  A forever family that fails to meet that  list of requirements would still give the loving stability that these children need, far better than a temporary foster arrangement or an institution.  These children start life with the odds stacked against them, we need to do what is best for them, not what is currently politically fashionable.

I have a personal interest in this as well.  I have wanted to have a family since middle school, but I have not as yet found the right person.  I am therefore single, and might therefore be struck from your rolls of eligible adoptive parents without anti-discrimination provisions.  I have been contemplating the possibility of adopting as a way to have a family.  It seems straight forward:  I have love and stability and resources to share with a child who needs all of those for a solid foundation in life.  Why not adopt a child, instead of going without or going to great lengths to have my own baby?  It seems so obvious, except if you leave open the possibility of discriminatory practices, in which case I might have to leave the Commonwealth to find a child who needs me.  Doesn't that seem like a waste?

Thank you for your consideration.