In Virginia, Governor Wants To Block Adoptions By Gays And Lesbians

Editor’s note: This guest post is by Sean Carlson of the Family Equality Council.

 

The big scene in Washington this weekend was the much-threatened Government shut down. Billed as a showdown over budget and government spending, the political fireworks focused on social issues, with battle lines drawn over the health of women and low-income families.

Meanwhile, across the river from the high drama on Capitol Hill, a potentially game changing set of adoption regulations for the Virginia foster care system is in trouble.

In 2009, under then-Governor Tim Kaine, new regulations were proposed to prevent child welfare agencies from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. These regulations have been considered carefully for over a year by the State Board of Social Services and were close to passing when a recent period of public comment brought the issue to media attention.

Now one man, current GOP Governor Bob McDonnell, has decided to stand in the way of ending this discrimination. Governor McDonnell recently indicated that he opposes the regulations, saying, “I don’t think we ought to force Catholic Charities to make that part of their policy or other similar situated groups. Many of our adoption agencies are faith-based groups that ought to be able to establish what their own policies are.”

What the Governor either doesn’t know, or is choosing to ignore for the sake of his politics, is that Virginia’s foster care system is in dire need of adoptive families. There are currently more than 6,000 kids in the Virginia foster care system, over 1,500 of whom are ready and waiting for adoption. More than 45% of the youth in the Virgina foster care system go through three or more foster placements and currently 32% turn 18 and are forced to leave foster care without ever finding a permanent home.

Even on its own website the State of Virginia admits, “a supply of parents who are ready to adopt is a significant factor affecting adoption rates…” Given the desperate need for qualified adoptive parents in Virginia, why would the Governor possibly consider continuing to limit the number of potential homes?

The reality is that the only obligation the State, specifically Governor McDonnell and the State Board of Social Services, has is to act in the best interest of the child. Since nearly every major child welfare organization and over 30 years of scientific research overwhelmingly confirm that children raised in gay and lesbian households turn out just fine, what possible reason could the Governor have not to support these regulations?

He could do the right thing for the children in his care, but instead he is allowing politics to dictate state policy instead of the best interests of youth in foster care. That is unacceptable.

The State Board of Social Services meets on April 16. The Governor has until then to object to the proposals. We have launched an online petition to ask the Governor not to stand against the proposals and to allow all of Virginia’s children to find loving homes.

We’ve only got one week to convince Gov. McDonnell to do the right thing.

Update: Family Equality Council has just released a new video:

Sean Carlson (photo) is the New Media Associate at the Family Equality Council. Family Equality Council is America’s foremost advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender family equality. Family Equality Council represents the one million LGBT families raising two million children in the United States and is working to ensure full social and legal equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender families.