Proposed Virginia Administrative Code section 22 VAC 40-131-170
Thank you for taking my comment. I am disturbed by the proposed language in VA Administrative Code section 22 VAC 40-131-170 that would effectively disenfranchise foster care and adoption agencies who do not wish to place children into a homosexual environment based on religious beliefs. Studies have shown time and again that a child is best suited in a stable (married) family environment with both a mother and a father. While this is not always possible, it is the goal that should be sought as it is in the best interests of the children.
We also know that there are many heterosexual married couples who want to adopt. Why would you hurt needy children by driving religious foster care and adoption agencies out of business. If an agency provides good parents for children, they should be embraced, not rejected by the state of Virginia.
The message of exclusion you will send to children with strong religious identities, as well as to potential foster and adoptive parents is unconscionable and destructive.
The state of Virginia Social Services has no right to impose this strange new morality on other people, to the detriment of the neediest children in the state.
