Virginia’s Board of Social Services on Wednesday approved final regulations on adoption that, starting in the spring, will effectively allow state-licensed private agencies to deny the adoption of a child by same-sex couples.
The regulations also will allow the adoption agencies to deny services to prospective parents on the basis of age, gender, disability, religion, political belief and family status.
The regulations, however, will prohibit discrimination based on race, color or national origin.
Let’s be absolutely clear what this means. This means that a loving and generous potential parent could be denied the ability to adopt because they are gay. Or because they are Jewish. Or because they are a woman. Or because they are divorced. Or because they are in a wheelchair. Moreover, these new rules run headlong into voter opinion and scientific research. Fifty-five percent of Virginia adults believe it should be legal for gay parents to adopt, and there is no scientific basis whatsoever for the claim that heterosexuals are superior parents.
Meanwhile, nearly six thousand Virginia children live in foster homes. All of them would have a better, more stable childhood — not to mention one that would better prepare them to succeed in adulthood — if they were placed in a permanent home with a loving, stable and financially secure family. It is baffling why a state would deny these children a fair shot at life just because the family that wants to adopt them doesn’t look like some narrow-minded notion of what a family should look like.
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