Dear members of the Virginia Board of Social Services,

Please reject the proposed regulation that would discriminate against faith-based adoption agencies by requiring them to place children in homes of homosexuals.  If these regulations are adopted, faith-based adoption agencies would either have to place children with homosexuals or shut down, as occurred with Catholic Charities in Massachusetts. Shutting down would reduce the number of adoption agencies in Virginia and would thus reduce the number of adoptions.  Our goal in Virginia should be  to find loving homes for children needing to be adopted, not to reduce their chances of adoption.

In the 1990s my wife and I served as foster parents for Bethany Christian Services for five years and kept  ten babies during that period.  We acted as a way station until the period of approximately thirty days (as I recollect) had passed when the birth mother could change her mind about the adoption.  It was a joy to us to be able to do this.  So we are very familiar with the process of adoption from a personal perspective.  Many birth mothers want their child placed in a Christian home and not with homosexuals.  So this proposed regulation would  limit adoption from this perspective as well.

Although I do not favor adoption of children by homosexuals, In Virginia homosexuals can already adopt children.  So this proposed regulation would not limit homosexuals' ability to adopt.

Sincerely,

Ronald M. Reese

11424 Vale Road

Oakton, VA 22124