A rash rush on adoption rules

The process by which new state regulations are adopted is typically not very remarkable. But when the Board of Social Services voted on new adoption rules this week, the process was so brutalized that it has become the story.

Faced only with a political storm, board members consulted attorneys behind closed doors without anyone threatening litigation.

Most of the controversy has centered on one sentence that prohibited the 81 private and nonprofit adoption organizations in Virginia from discriminating based on race, color, gender, national origin, age, religion, political beliefs, sexual orientation, disability or family status when making child placements.

A handful of conservative and religious groups objected, saying they should have the freedom to approve adoptions only for heterosexuals and for individuals of specific faiths.

The issue became politicized when a state delegate claimed - falsely - that the regulation would permit joint adoptions by gay couples, an outcome prohibited by state law and the constitution.

Even so, media attention generated more than 1,000 public comments on the state's website.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli joined the fray, ruling that the board lacked the power to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The proposed regulations were abruptly revised by social services staff to cover only discrimination because of race, color or national origin.

A vote on the new regulations was added to the agenda with only a few days' notice, even though the board has 180 days to act on the proposal.

The chairwoman and vice chairwoman objected to the hasty consideration of last-minute changes to the guidelines, but they were overruled.

"This is the regulatory process in action," said Social Services Commissioner Martin Brown.

Actually, it's not.

It's standard practice to give members of governing boards time to absorb the substance of anything they are asked to vote on, particularly when they are wrestling with 300 pages of new and complicated regulations that affect thousands of children.

By ramming the regulations through, the administration of Gov. Bob McDonnell is undermining public faith in how state government conducts itself in a political crisis.

Dr. Bela Sood, chairwoman of the board and medical director of the Virginia Treatment Center for Children at Virginia Commonwealth University, urged the board to take more time to review the latest changes.

"It has not gone according to what I'm used to in the sense of having the knowledge I need to make an educated guess," she said.

Vice chairwoman Trudy Brisendine also pleaded for a one-month extension, noting that staff with the attorney general's office and social services had refused to answer questions about the regulations until the day of the meeting.

"Unfortunately, I'm in a position of being forced to vote on this before I'm ready," she said.

The regulations will go to the governor for his approval.

Given McDonnell's rush to get the rules adopted, and his reluctance to dispute misinformation campaigns by conservative groups, there's little chance the issue will receive the careful attention it failed to get from the social services board.

Brisendine said Wednesday that all she wanted was "the actual truth."

Apparently, there's no time for that when the regulatory process is in action.