The best interests of the child should be the sole factor in deciding whether a child should be placed with a prospective foster care or adoptive parents or parents. State-licences child placing agencies should not be allowed to discriminate against children or prospective parents based on race, national origin, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, political beliefs, sexual orientation, disability and family status. The State Board of Social Services should restore to the final rules the protections against such discrimination included in the proposed rules. I am recent graduate of The University of Richmond, I was raised in a loving home by my mother and a father whom celebrated their 29th wedding anniversary this past may, my twenty-six year old sister graduated from both Georgetown University and Villanova Law, and my thirty-nine year old brother works for an insurance company. There is nothing in these credentials suggesting anyone in my immediate family would not be well equipped  to raise a child. That said, both my brother and I have same-gender partners. I am personally appalled that comments such as this even need to be written, and being that I know how it feels to run into the obstacle of not physically being able to create a child with my girlfriend I know there are countless LGBT couples that would be eager to foster children for that sole purpose and value such a responsibility.