Child welfare group opposes adoption legislation

RICHMOND

In a letter to members of the Virginia Senate, a national child welfare organization has urged lawmakers to reject legislation that would allow private child placement agencies to deny adoption or foster care to prospective parents for religious or moral reasons.

"Under this law, agencies -- whether religiously affiliated or not -- could turn away qualified families for countless reasons that have no relevance to the needs of children or the family's ability to provide a safe, loving, and permanent placement," Christine James-Brown, president of the Child Welfare League of America, wrote in a Feb. 7 missive to lawmakers.

Those comments are directed at so-called conscience clause legislation, which would free private agencies, including faith-based groups, to deny a child placement if doing so is at odds with their beliefs. It also would prohibit the state from rejecting or revoking an agency's license on those grounds.

Bills to codify those protections are moving through the legislature this winter after the state Board of Social Services last December adopted licensing regulations for such agencies without expanded discrimination prohibitions.

Much of the debate over those regulations centered on whether prospective gay parents could be turned away by private placement agencies.

Critics, including Democrats and gay-rights advocates, say the legislation sanctions discrimination by groups that get public money to place children on behalf of the state.

But its supporters say the measures are necessary to protect religious freedoms and keep faith-based agencies operating.

Virginia has about 4,400 Virginia children in foster care. About 1,300 of them have a goal of adoption.

"These children have been through so much already," James-Brown wrote in the letter. "It is cruel to deny them a secure home with a qualified family that happens to differ from the religious or moral beliefs held by a particular agency. Virginia's children deserve better."

Her letter came as the Republican-controlled Senate rejected several amendments proposed by Democrats to soften pending conscience clause legislation offered by Sen. Jeff McWaters, R-Virginia Beach.

A copy of the letter was released Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia.