Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the adoption agency regulation revisions currently being considered.

Clearly, politics and prejudice have no place in regulations governing adoption.  The goal must always be to provide children with loving homes that will allow them to thrive:

• All children deserve a loving, forever family. Currently, there are more than 1,000 children waiting to be adopted in Virginia.
  
• Decisions about prospective parents should be based on the best interest of the child, not on discriminatory factors unrelated to good parenting (gender, age, religion, political beliefs, sexual orientation, disability, family status).
• When agencies act in the stead of the state, they should be bound by principals of non-discrimination even if they are private agencies.

Sincerely,

Mark Knight

Arlington, VA