[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 156 (Saturday, November 8, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12198-S12202]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     ADOPTION PROMOTION ACT OF 1997

  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now 
proceed to the consideration of calendar No. 66, H.R. 867.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 867) to promote the adoption of children in 
     foster care.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the immediate 
consideration of the bill?
  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.


                           Amendment No. 1614

              (Purpose: To provide a complete substitute)

  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I have a substitute amendment at the desk, 
and I ask for its consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the amendment.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Idaho [Mr. Craig] proposes an amendment 
     numbered 1614.

  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that further 
reading of the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The text of the amendment is printed in today's Record under 
``Amendments Submitted.'')
  Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, today, it is my pleasure to support and urge 
passage of the Promotion of Adoption, Safety, and Support for Abused 
and Neglected Children Act or the PASS Act for short. This legislation 
contains the right combination of reforms to dramatically change the 
child welfare system for the better.
  The foster care system reflects a part of modern society which 
prompts us to ask many questions of ourselves and each other. It is a 
mirror which can be troubling to look into.
  Today, we join the tens of thousands of loving foster care and 
adoptive families and dedicated professionals who are daily witnesses 
of the successes and failures in a system through which millions of 
people pass each year. Each report to a child protective service agency 
involves a victim and a perpetrator--in most cases, a child and his or 
her parent. A case may take a single day or many years to close.
  Many of these cases are complex and that the length of time in foster 
care has an effect on the child. Between 1985 and 1995, the number of 
children in foster care increased from 276,000 to 494,000, an increase 
of nearly 80 percent.
  Much of this increase is due to the hurricane-force waves of drug 
abuse which continue to unleash their destructive powers on communities 
and families. Those who believe for even a foolish moment that drug use 
is a victimless crime are proven wrong by the recent trends in the 
child welfare system. One need only to look inside the hospital crib of 
an abandoned crack baby to understand the truth.
  The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 100,000 
children currently in foster care cannot return home without 
jeopardizing their health, safety, and development.
  There is great concern that more children are staying in foster care 
for longer periods of time. The very laws which are intended to protect 
children may in practice work against their best interests.
  The child welfare system itself is complex and is composed of many 
parts and programs. Although the Federal Government has assumed a 
greater share of the cost of these programs in recent years, State and 
local governments still provide the majority of the resources for the 
child welfare system.
  In fiscal year 1997, the Federal Government contributed approximately 
$5 billion to the child welfare system.
  Of this amount, 85 percent was spent through title IV-E programs.
  CBO estimates that under current law, outlays for foster care and 
adoption assistance will increase by more than 50 percent from $3.9 
billion in fiscal year 1997 to $5.9 billion in 2002.
  Federal funds are used to subsidize about half of the children in 
foster care and about two-thirds of the children receiving adoption 
assistance payments.
  The Promotion of Adoption, Safety, and Support for Abused and 
Neglected Children Act includes much needed reform to the child welfare 
system.

[[Page S12199]]

  The PASS Act provides that in determining ``reasonable efforts,'' the 
child's health and safety shall be the paramount concern.
  It clarifies circumstances, including murder, voluntary manslaughter, 
and felony assault under which ``reasonable efforts'' to reunite 
families are not required.
  It requires the States to initiate or join proceedings to terminate 
parental rights if a child has been in foster care for 12 of the most 
recent 18 months.
  The PASS Act strengthens the ``permanency plan'' for children in 
foster care.
  It requires criminal background checks for prospective foster care 
and adoptive parents and any other adults residing in the household and 
employees of foster care institutions. The amendment specifies 
circumstances when approval shall not be granted.
  The PASS Act provides adoption incentive payments to the States to 
increase the number of children which may total $6,000 per child.
  It expands the number of child welfare demonstration projects.
  The amendment also reauthorizes and expands the Family Preservation 
and Support Services program and includes reforms to this program.
  It renames the program to the Promoting Adoptive, Safe, and Stable 
Families program.
  Funding is increased by $50 million.
  The amendment adds adoption promotion and time-limited family 
reunification services to the program.
  It removes geographic barriers to adoption.
  The PASS Act requires States to provide for health insurance coverage 
for adopted children with special needs.
  It continues eligibility for adoption assistance payments for 
children whose initial adoption has been disrupted.
  It provides for an annual report on the State performance in 
protecting children.
  The PASS Act requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to 
recommend to Congress a new incentive system based on State performance 
within 6 months.
  The PASS Act once again calls upon our State partners to address the 
problems of a system in much need of reform. This will be the first 
significant reform of the child welfare system since 1980.
  We have enacted sweeping welfare reform and Medicaid reform 
legislation.
  We have created a new partnership with the States through the State 
Children's Health Insurance Program. The PASS Act calls upon the States 
to channel their efforts to the child welfare system with the same 
commitment, creativity, and innovation which led to last year's 
historic welfare reform legislation.
  Last year we worked to free millions of families from the trap of 
welfare dependency. Let us now work together to ensure that no children 
will be left without the opportunity to be a part of a loving, safe, 
and stable family.
  There are a number of Senators who deserve our special thanks and 
recognition for their tireless efforts to bring this bipartisan bill to 
the floor today.
  Without naming them all, let me just thank them and congratulate them 
for a job well done.
  Mr. President, I urge the adoption of the amendment.
  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, at least half a million American 
children are living in this country's foster care system--a system that 
was never designed and never intended to provide a permanent home for 
children who have been abused and neglected by their parents. 
Tragically, many of these children could be adopted, but are forced to 
wait to become a part of a new family because the current child welfare 
system has become tired and broken. Most vulnerable among this already 
fragile population are those children with special needs--children who, 
without help and strong governmental support, will never have the 
opportunity to become a part of an adoptive family.
  Acknowledging our collective obligation to let no child fall through 
the cracks of the system--especially those facing severe emotional, 
physical, and other circumstantial limitations--I am pleased to have 
the opportunity to lend my vote and full support to the Promotion of 
Adoption Safety and Support for Abused and Neglected Children [PASS] 
Act. This legislation, the produce of a series of hard-fought and 
sometimes painful compromises, represents a positive first step in a 
long journey of essential work to be done on behalf of abused and 
neglected children.
  While many of us properly acknowledge that the journey is by no means 
over, we would not have been able to come this far had it not been for 
the unflagging leadership of my good friends and colleagues Senators 
John Chafee and Larry Craig. They are the reason that this unique 
bipartisan coalition has been able to bring this bill forward. I would 
also like to express my special thanks to the other hard-working 
members of the Senate adoption working group who have made this first 
step possible: Senators Jeffords, DeWine, Coats, Bond, Landrieu, Levin, 
Moynihan, Kerrey, and Dorgan. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the 
work of Senator Roth who has made it possible for this legislation to 
be fairly considered here today.
  The PASS Act will fundamentally and positively shift the focus of the 
current foster care system by insisting, for the first time in Federal 
law, that a child's health and safety and the opportunity to find a 
loving, permanent home, should be the paramount considerations when a 
State child welfare agency makes any decision regarding the well-being 
of an abused and neglected child. The main objective of this bill is to 
move abused and neglected kids into adoptive or other permanent homes 
and to do so more quickly and more safely than ever before.
  While PASS appropriately preserves current Federal requirements to 
reunify families when that is best for the child and family, it does 
not require the States to use ``reasonable efforts'' to reunify 
families that have been irreparably broken by abandonment, torture, 
physical abuse, murder, manslaughter, and sexual assault. Thanks to 
Chairman Roth, the legislation includes a new fast track provision for 
such children in cases of severe abuse. Under the new provision, when 
reasonable efforts are not appropriate, a permanency planning hearing 
would be held within 30 days. In practice, this change could yield 
tremendous results. For example, in the case of an abandoned infant 
where reasonable efforts are waived, a permanency hearing would be 
scheduled within the month, and that child could be moved swiftly into 
a safe and permanent home. To provide balance, the PASS Act requires 
that the States use the same ``reasonable efforts'' to move children 
towards adoption or another permanent placement consistent with a well-
thought out and well-monitored plan.
  In addition, PASS encourages adoptions by rewarding States that 
increase adoptions with bonuses for foster care and special needs 
children who are placed in adoptive homes. Most significantly, the 
legislation takes the essential first step of ensuring ongoing health 
coverage for all special needs children who are adopted. Without this 
essential health coverage, many families who want to adopt children 
with a range of physical and mental health issues would be unable to do 
so. I am happy to see that medical coverage, which has always been a 
vital cornerstone of any program that substantively helps children, is 
also a key component of this bipartisan package.
  Ensuring safety for abused and neglected children is another 
significant goal of this legislation. PASS seeks to accomplish this 
goal by ensuring that the ``safety of the child'' is considered at 
every stage of the child's case plan and review process. Moreover, the 
bill requires criminal background checks for all potential foster and 
adoptive parents and other adults living in the same household.
  PASS also cuts by one-third the time a child must wait to be legally 
available for adoption into a permanent home by requiring States to 
file a petition for termination of parental rights for a child who has 
been waiting too long in a foster care placement. At the same time that 
it speeds adoptions where appropriate, it also gives States the 
discretion to choose not to initiate legal proceedings when a child is 
safely placed with a relative, where necessary services have not been 
provided to the family, or where the State documents a compelling 
reason not go forward.
  At the same time that this bill imposes tough but effective measures 
to decrease a child's unnecessary wait in

[[Page S12200]]

foster care, PASS continues investments in strengthening families at 
the community level by reauthorizing the 1993 budget provision for 
family preservation and family support for 3 years, with an extra $60 
million in funding. This is an innovative prevention program, and this 
bill's new language encourages States to ensure that adoptive families 
are also served by the program. As part of a balanced bipartisan 
package, these programs will support a range of fundamental State 
services to help parents, children, adoptive families and to improve 
the court system. This legislation also takes care to assure that 
children who have gone through adoptions that have been disrupted or 
whose adoptive parents die will remain eligible for Federal support.
  PASS provides a strong foundation for the work that is yet to be done 
on behalf of abused and neglected children. Years ago, as chairman of 
the National Commission on Children, I was proud to issue a bold, 
bipartisan report called Beyond Rhetoric. This report included bold 
recommendations to reform our current, inadequate system to help abused 
and neglected children. I am committed to the agenda laid out in this 
plan and will keep working until we achieve all of its goals for 
children and families.
  The PASS Act is a bold step forward. It has been extremely rewarding 
to forge such a strong bipartisan consensus to promote adoption and to 
take key steps in helping every child find a safe, stable, and 
permanent home.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I am gratified that Congress is today 
passing legislation to promote the adoption of children in foster care. 
This legislation is not perfect, but it does clarify that it is in the 
best interest of every child--regardless of his or her age, race or 
special need--to be raised by a family who will provide a safe, 
permanent, and nurturing home.
  Congress should be unmistakably clear in expressing this judgment: 
Foster care children should not be returned to unfit, abusive parents; 
and the barriers that currently prevent the adoption of foster care 
children must be lifted. Believe me, Mr. President, there is no 
shortage of prospective parents. The National Council for Adoption 
estimates that 2 million couples are waiting to adopt a child. 
Nonetheless, each year 15,000 children reach adulthood and leave the 
foster care system without ever becoming part of a permanent home.
  Because the current Federal law requires States to make reasonable 
efforts to reunite children with their biological parents, children 
have tragically been returned to their abusive and sometimes murderous 
parents.
  Under this adoption-foster care bill, States are not required to make 
reasonable efforts to reunite children with parents who have murdered 
another child; committed a felony assault that results in serious 
bodily injury to a child; or who pose a serious risk to a child's life.
  Foster care children who can never return safely home should not be 
left to linger in the foster care system--which, after all, is supposed 
to be temporary. Instead, these children should be placed up for 
adoption, and the parental rights of abusive parents should be 
terminated so adoption can take place.
  Let me be clear, parents who use reasonable discipline in rearing 
their children are not the parents who should have their rights 
terminated. This legislation includes language to ensure that 
reasonable discipline--such as reasonable spanking--is not 
misinterpreted as an act of abuse. Therefore, no State agency or court 
shall disrupt a home where parents use reasonable discipline.
  What we are talking about, Mr. President, are children who have been 
taken out of their homes because they've been truly abused and 
neglected. But because of current Federal law, these children are not 
being placed up for adoption--but are growing up in foster care. The 
numbers speak for themselves. There are more than half a million 
children currently living in foster care--an alarmingly high number 
which illustrates how the foster care system is in disarray.
  Is it not the responsibility of our civilized society to ensure the 
safety and well-being of these vulnerable children by promoting 
adoption? And shouldn't we provide couples willing to love and care for 
these children the opportunity to do so? I believe the answer is 
clearly yes.


                            Crisis Nurseries

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, the reauthorization of the Family 
Preservation and Support Act is important to families who are at risk 
or in crisis. One notable service now specifically mentioned in the act 
is the care provided by a crisis nursery. Crisis nurseries provide 
respite and therapeutic services for families with young children to 
assist parents in attaining self-sufficiency. One crisis nursery in 
particular, the relief nursery of Eugene, OR, is a model child abuse 
and prevention program. After involvement with the relief nursery, 
fewer than 9 percent of the 373 children served reported abuse, 
neglect, or domestic violence to the State child protection office. 
Moreover, 82 percent of children served by the relief nursery were 
living safely with their parents at the end of the year, averting 
foster care or other out-of-home placement. The relief nursery has 
accomplished these results through dedication to comprehensive family 
services emphasizing programs that strengthen the parent-child 
relationship. Does the Senator agree that crisis nurseries can play an 
important role in saving families?
  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Yes. Crisis nurseries help reduce child abuse 
incidents and, ultimately, reduce the necessity for foster care 
placements. Crisis nurseries can save a family.
  Mr. WYDEN. I think the relief nursery is a needed member of the 
community, providing invaluable services to children who need them 
most. Crisis nurseries work because they provide intensive, 
personalized, and long-term services to families with children in the 
most vulnerable age groups. I thank the Senator for recognizing the 
work of nurseries, such as the relief nursery, in your bill.
  Ms. MOSELEY-BRAUN. Mr. President, I support the Promotion of 
Adoption, Safety and Support for Abused and Neglected Children [PASS] 
Act, as a commonsense approach to child welfare. Under the PASS Act, a 
State, for the first time, must make a child's health and safety the 
paramount consideration when making any decision regarding a foster 
care or adoption placement.
  It seems inconceivable that this is not currently the guiding 
principle behind every State's child welfare policy. The evolution of 
the child welfare system, however, has left a patchwork of goals and 
rules that can jeopardize a child's well being.
  The PASS Act will, for the first time, guarantee that every adopted 
child with special needs will receive needed health care coverage from 
the State. Previously, a child's eligibility for health care was tied 
to the ability of the birth parents to pay, even though the birth 
parents had given up all legal and economic ties to the child. There 
was no consideration given to the ability of the adoptive, permanent 
parents to afford health care for the child.
  Another example of the PASS Act's commonsense approach is the 
requirement that States provide for criminal records and child abuse 
registry checks of any prospective foster or adoptive parents, 
noncustodial adults living in a foster or adoptive home, and employees 
of child care institutions. Choosing a safe and supportive home for a 
child is not a simple task, but ensuring that the child is not placed 
with someone convicted of a serious crime or child abuse must be a 
basic requirement. This is not required under current law.
  There are a number of other important provisions in this bill, 
including the reauthorization of the family preservation and family 
support program to strengthen families, and a system of rewards for 
States that increase adoption placements. Taken as a whole, this bill 
is an important step forward in our efforts to improve child health and 
safety.
  The sponsors of this bill have worked diligently to forge bipartisan 
compromise on this legislation. I commend them for their efforts and 
their success.
  As with all compromise legislation, there are provisions in the PASS 
Act with which I do not necessarily agree. I am concerned that 
insufficient efforts will be made to keep sound families together, that 
the allowance of child welfare waivers will lead to inadequate Federal 
oversight of child welfare in

[[Page S12201]]

the States, and that funding must be increased in order to achieve a 
permanent solution to the problems plaguing our child welfare system.
  While it is politically popular to withdraw Federal support and 
oversight for programs and turn power over to the States, I firmly 
believe that we cannot abandon our Federal role in providing for the 
welfare of the Nation's children. Whether we are talking about 
providing access to early childhood education, repairing the Nation's 
crumbling schools, or guaranteeing the health and safety of children in 
our foster care and adoption system, the Federal Government must 
continue to assist and oversee State efforts.
  In the end, no child's welfare should be dependent on the generosity 
or failure of the foster care and adoption program in the State in 
which he or she was born. Commonsense requires that we continue to 
marshal the Nation's resources to provide for the next generation of 
Americans.
  The PASS Act is an opportunity for Congress to assist States in 
providing for those of America's children in need of foster care or 
adoption. By ensuring that the health and safety of the child are 
paramount, this legislation puts us on the track to making the foster 
care and adoption system work for the children it is meant to serve. I 
thank my colleagues for their efforts and for their commitment to 
common sense, and urge the Senate to approve the PASS Act.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I rise today to express my support for the 
establishment of a national voluntary mutual reunion registry contained 
in section 205 of the Promotion of Adoption, Safety, and Support for 
Abused and Neglected Children [PASS] Act. This provision would permit 
the Secretary of Health and Human Services, at no net expense to the 
Federal Government, to facilitate the voluntary, mutually requested 
reunions of biological relatives who have been separated by adoption.
  This registry is intended to help reunite the hundreds of thousands 
of adult adoptees, birth parents and siblings who are searching for 
each other. Currently, the search can be very costly, cumbersome, and 
futile. The national registry would help many individuals who were 
separated by adoption and are now searching for each other.
  Some concerns have been raised that this provision would infringe an 
individual's privacy, and that a national voluntary registry could 
result in the inappropriate disclosure of private, sensitive 
information. This is completely inaccurate. I and the other sponsors of 
this provision, along with the Finance Committee have worked tirelessly 
to ensure that all the necessary safeguards have been included in this 
provision to ensure that an individual's personal privacy is not 
violated in any manner.
  Under the guidelines for the national voluntary registry established 
in this bill, one party could not search out another individual unless 
both parties were searching for one another. All parties involved would 
have to, on their own accord, voluntarily decide to search for each 
other and participate in the registry. This provision specifically 
requires that the registry only contain information necessary to 
facilitate a match, that the confidentiality of all consenting 
participants be protected and that no information be disclosed without 
prior, written consent from the individual.
  Section 205 specifically requires that any computerized system 
created to implement this registry must not intrude on any existing 
data systems at the Department of Health and Human Services and must 
utilize appropriate methods to protect the privacy of information 
contained in the registry. In addition, it establishes criminal and 
financial penalties for potential abusers of the national registry.
  Finally, the measure specifically states that this registry does not 
preempt any State laws relating to adoption and the confidentiality of 
adoption records.
  Mr. President, this provision is not a mandate, has absolutely no 
cost to the Federal Government or taxpayers, and is completely 
voluntarily. This important provision will help thousands of Americans 
who want to learn about themselves and their biological history.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, in significant ways, the promotion of 
adoption, safety, and support for abused and neglected children 
represents an important step forward in Federal policy for child 
welfare. It parallels Oregon's best interest of the child bill in its 
recognition of the crucial importance of timely achievement of 
permanent family placements for children who must be temporarily placed 
in foster care. Further, it clarifies that a child's health and safety 
are paramount concerns in considerations of reasonable efforts for 
family preservation. The PASS Act also broadens support for adoptive 
placement, increases post-adoption assistance for families, and 
emphasises the link between the child's welfare and parent's well-
being. Moreover, the bill's intense interest in kinship care is both 
wise and timely. I am particularly concerned about this complex issue 
and I have devoted a lot of attention to it over the past several 
years.
  Kinship care, the full-time care and protection of children by a 
relative, is in many cultures, a time honored tradition. Throughout 
history relatives have come forward to care for and raise children when 
the parents were unable to do so themselves. Recently, the decision 
over whether relatives may best provide for children has increasingly 
involved child welfare agencies. Yet, Mr. President, our country does 
not have a national policy to deal with relative care arrangements. In 
light of this fact, the PASS Act makes significant strides toward 
recognizing relative care arrangements for what they are--legitimate, 
appropriate placements--for a family. There is a precedent for this 
recognition; last year I fought for language in the welfare reform bill 
requiring that kinship care be considered first for children needing 
placement.
  I am pleased that many of the provisions I included in my kinship 
care bill, S. 822, were incorporated in the PASS Act. One such 
provision allows kinship providers an opportunity to be heard during 
abuse and neglect proceedings. I have heard from grandparents in Oregon 
who tell me that they can add additional information that may be 
helpful to the court's determination of the child's future living 
arrangements, but often are not aware of their grandchild's placement 
in foster care or where they are in the system. It is important that 
relative caregivers are notified when there are administrative 
proceedings on a child's status.
  The inclusion of a kinship care advisory panel instructed to make 
recommendations about kinship care policies is also included in this 
bill. Thankfully, relative caregivers and former foster children in 
relative care arrangements will now be able to sit on a panel and 
examine what is needed to improve these arrangements for all involved. 
The panel's findings must be submitted in a comprehensive report to the 
Department of Health and Human Services. The report will examine who 
kinship caregivers are, what services are provided to them and many 
other factors that will help us develop a national policy on this 
growing child welfare issue.
  Another critical provision in the bill deals with standby 
guardianship. Many relative caregivers are caring for families 
devastated by HIV/AIDS. In adoption or guardianship proceedings today, 
dying parents are asked to give up their custodial rights over their 
children in order to ensure a permanent, stable placement for their 
child. Under this bill, any parent who is chronically ill or near death 
may designate a standby guardian without being forced to surrender 
their parental rights. PASS encourages States who have not already 
passed standby guardianship laws to do so. As we seek to adequately 
support relative care providers caring for children, we must first ask 
educated questions and receive thorough answers. Ultimately, the PASS 
Act has made a good-faith effort to recognize and study the issue of 
kinship care. This is a good first step for children and families.
  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the substitute 
amendment be agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment (No. 1614) was agreed to.
  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
considered read a third time and

[[Page S12202]]

passed, as amended, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, 
and that any statements relating to the bill appear at the appropriate 
place in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 867), as amended, was read a third time and passed.
  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, the Senate, by this action, has just passed 
a major reform in the foster care of this country, an issue that 
bipartisan Senators have gathered on over the last several months to 
resolve. Senator Roth, of the Finance Committee, in the last several 
weeks, working with Senator Rockefeller, Senator Chafee, myself, 
Senator Coats, and Senator DeWine have taken on an effort to reform 
foster care in this country by the proposal of this legislation that we 
have now gained the concurrence of the Senate on.
  It is without question, in my opinion, a landmark piece of 
legislation because what it does, for the first time, is use foster 
care the way we intended it originally to be used. It ensures the 
safety for abused and neglected children. It promotes adoption. It 
accelerates permanent placement. It offers to children of this country 
in need an opportunity for a loving and permanent home. And it 
increases the accountability of reform.
  I am extremely pleased that at this late hour we could finally bring 
about a conclusion to this effort.

                          ____________________