It should be a no-brainer, but it's apparently not - children are best served when they're placed in loving homes. Those homes come in all shapes and sizes, and they absolutely include the homes of same-sex parents. Using any criteria other than the best interests of the child to place a child with foster or adoptive parents does a disservice to that child, and to all of us, for thinking that anything else is important.

State-licensed child placing agencies should not be allowed to discriminate against children or prospective parents based on race, national origin, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, political beliefs, sexual orientation, disability and family status. Further, the State Board of Social Services should restore to the final rules the protections against such discrimination included in the proposed rules.