New rules make no sense

The state of Virginia has passed new requirements for families wishing to adopt which will go into effect on May 1st.  We received our list of new requirements to assure that our home meets these  new standards.  Some of them I understand, but many seem a little unnecessary.  My favorite new rule is their standards for the temperature of the house. According to the new regulations, our home must always be between 65 and 80 degrees.  I thought that the government wanted us to be more energy efficient???  We live in Virginia, not San Diego.  It gets cold in the winter and hot in the summer time and somehow people have survived for hundreds of years in this environment without their homes being in this temperature range.  We don't want our children to freeze or have heat stroke while sleeping at night, but these rules go way beyond that.

Many of the other rules pertain to how much space a child is required to have.  Each child must have their own closet space, personal bedding, a room where a child under age 7 is not allowed on the top bunk, and over age 2 is not allowed to share space with a child of the opposite sex.  I guess we are in violation because we allow our 5 year old to sleep on the top bunk and at times all of the siblings sleep together in the same room.  There are many other things that we have to change or purchase including a fire ladder and a lock box for all of our medication.

I know that these rules are trying to protect children but it all seems a bit extreme.  Especially when I think about the situation that most of these children are presently living in right now.  I think it would be better for a five year old little girl to sleep on the top of a bunk bed, while her 3 year old brother sleeps below, in a house that is 64 degrees, than to go to sleep in a small room with 20 other children and no mama to sing her a lullaby.  But that's just my opinion.