ACLU of Virginia had supported stricter non-discrimination rules.
Richmond, VA– The Virginia Board of Social Services has approved, on a vote of 5-1, regulations that allow private state licensed adoption and foster care agencies, many of which are faith-based, to discriminate against potential parents on the basis of sexual orientation, religion, age, gender, disability, political beliefs and family status.
“We are disappointed that the Board chose to allow adoption and foster care agencies to discriminate against people who do not subscribe or conform to their particular religious beliefs,” said ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Kent Willis. “In doing so, the Board has deprived children who need loving homes of access to the widest range of potential parents. In the end, it’s not only constitutional rights that are shortchanged, but these vulnerable children as well.”
In August, the ACLU of Virginia, Equality Virginia and at least 25 other individuals and groups sent letters to the Board of Social Services objecting to a last minute decision to drop proposed non-discrimination rules. The Board subsequently extended the public comment period another 30 days.
The ACLU of Virginia in October submitted comments to the Board stating that private adoption agencies, including faith-based groups, should not be allowed to discriminate when they perform governmental functions such as certifying adoptive parents or placing children with foster parents.
In the comments, ACLU of Virginia Legal Director Rebecca Glenberg wrote:
The ACLU is sensitive to the important constitutional right of religious liberty and strongly advocates for the right of each person to practice his or her religion consistent with the demands of his or her own conscience. However, when a private organization, even a private religiously-affiliated organization, performs a quintessentially governmental function -- such as certifying adoptive parents or placing children in foster care -- it should do so in a non-discriminatory fashion. Having chosen to act in the state’s capacity, these agencies must be held to the same standard as if the state had itself performed the contracted activities.
The initial decision to scrap the non-discrimination rules had come after the Commissioner for the Department of Social Services, apparently acting under a request from Governor Bob McDonnell, placed the recommendation before the Board. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli also weighed in, telling the Board that it lacked the authority to ban religious groups from discriminating.
In addition to opposition from the Governor and the Attorney General, the Board of Social Services also received heavy lobbying against the non-discrimination proposal from some faith-based groups, which argued that they should be able to screen prospective parents based on their religious or moral beliefs.
The new rules take effect May 1, 2012.
The ACLU's comments, authored by Legal Director Rebecca K. Glenberg, may be found online at http://acluva.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20111013CommentsonAdoptionRegs.pdf. The August letter asking for the delay of the regulations is at: http://acluva.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/20110517ACLUAdoptionRegLtr.pdf.
Contact: Kent Willis, Executive Director, 804-644-8022
