Members of the Board of Social Services,

I am requesting and urging the board to reject any regulation that discriminates against faith -based child placement agencies. Currently under federal and state law, faith-based agencies have a right to make decisions congruent with their values, including their values about marriage and family life. Forcing agencies and individuals, whether the mother giving her child up for adoption or prospective adoptive parents,  to choose between an agency that represents their values or an agency with the proposed discriminatory regulation, is a violation of religious freedom of the greatest magnitude. There are plenty of agencies that are willing to allow homosexual parents to adopt a child. Why should a personal decision to live and adopt in the homosexual lifestyle be forced upon agencies representing the decison and values of heterosexual parents of faith? The end result of this discrimination would be more children in orphanages and the foster-care system, both of which are already overloaded with children and a lack of social workers! Please seriously consider rejecting any regulation to discriminate against faith based child placement agencies.

Sincerely,

Karen Lahr