I am writing about the importance of having no discrimination in the adoption and foster care procedures and policies in Virginia.  The only criteria that should be used should be the welfare of the child and whether or not a placement is in their best interest.

I am an adoptee and grew up with parents who were older than those of my friends and schoolmates.  We had a mixed religion family in days when that was unusual and often frowned upon.  We did not have much money and my mother worked part-time, my father full-time and I was a latchkey kid.  None of these things interfered with my happy life growing up in a loving home.  I can't imagine what it would have been like if I had not been adopted because of the age of my parents, their religious choices or their economic situation.  It is terrible to think that I may not have had a home and the wonderful parents I did have.

Give potential adoptees and foster children the chance to find loving parents regardless of age, race, thnicity, sexual or religious preference or any other kind of biased discrimination.  Every child deserves a home.