We strongly object to 22 VAC 40-131-170(B)! 

Firstly, as overwhelming research has demonstrated, children are far better off growing up with a mother and a father. Having a male and a female role model is so important to a child’s development that statistics about families without a father or a mother show drastically higher rates of depression, drug and alcohol activity, and behavioral problems in children. As valiant as a single parent’s efforts to raise a child alone are, the child loses so much by not having a mother and a father to show them how to be a man and how to be a woman. Men and women are equal but we are not the same! Our complimentarily is an essential element for having a strong, loving family with a good environment for a child. Children need to be shown first hand what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman so that they can build their own healthy relationships. The legislation proposed takes into account the adults’ desire to adopt more than the child’s well being. This is completely backwards and an alarming position for our law makers to take. There are many criteria for adoptive parents to fulfill and adoption agencies must do their best to decide whether the home is a safe, nurturing, beneficial, and permanent place for a child. How can this essential framework for the family be disregarded?

In addition, demanding that religious organizations defy their moral beliefs is unconstitutional and completely contrary to religious freedom. How much good can be done by getting people to disregard their values? Do you really want people that are willing to ignore their consciences deciding our children’s futures? Forcing faith-based organizations to close their doors is an infringement on our religious freedom. Private and faith-based agencies play a vital role in the fabric of our Commonwealth, and their right to carry out their mission in the services they provide must be respected and preserved.

For the reasons discussed above, we urge DSS to reject the proposed language of 22VAC40-131-170(B).