[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 156 (Saturday, November 8, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12210-S12213]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  PROMOTION OF ADOPTION, SAFETY, AND SUPPORT FOR ABUSED AND NEGLECTED 
                              CHILDREN ACT

  Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I would like to express my strong support 
for legislation we considered this evening, the Promotion of Adoption, 
Safety, and Support for Abused and Neglected Children, the so-called 
PASS Act. This bill, which I introduced along with Senators Craig, 
Rockefeller, DeWine, Coats, Jeffords, and others, will make some 
critical changes to the child welfare system, changes which will vastly 
improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of children currently in 
foster care and waiting for adoptive homes.
  We have been working on this legislation for the past year, and I am 
very pleased we were able to work out a proposal that everyone could 
support. The primary goal of this so-called PASS Act is to ensure that 
abused and neglected children are in safe, permanent settings. About a 
half a million children who have been abused or neglected currently 
live outside their homes, either in foster care or with relatives. In 
Rhode Island, there are nearly 1,500 children who have been removed 
from their homes and are in foster care. Many of these children will be 
able to return to their parents, but others will not.
  Under the current system, children remain in foster care an average 
of 3 years. Mr. President, I call to your attention and that of 
everyone who may be interested in this subject, a child in foster care 
on the average remains there 3 years before any decision is

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made about that child's future. And in some cases the wait is even 
longer. It is time we put a stop to this, and our bill does that.
  The PASS Act directs States to shorten this time, all the while 
ensuring that the child's health and safety are guaranteed. Our bill 
removes unnecessary geographic barriers to adoption, and requires 
criminal record checks for all prospective foster and adoptive parents, 
and other adults living in the household. It allows children to be 
freed for adoption more quickly in extreme cases, such as when the 
parents have murdered another child, and requires States to document 
efforts to move children into safe adoptive homes.
  The PASS Act also contains some important provisions that will go a 
long way toward helping to find homes for so-called special needs 
children. Lack of medical coverage is a huge barrier to families who 
want to adopt special needs children. Many of these children have 
significant physical and mental health problems due to years of abuse, 
neglect, or foster care. Parents who adopt these children are taking 
huge financial risks. If these children are not guaranteed health 
insurance, there will be great reluctance in many cases for the 
prospective parents to adopt these children. Our bill ensures that 
special needs children who are going to be adopted will have medical 
coverage. We also ensure that children whose adopted parents die, or 
whose adoptions are disrupted in some fashion, will continue to receive 
Federal subsidies when they are adopted by new parents.
  Finally, our bill reauthorizes and provides a modest increase for the 
Family Preservation and Support Program, which is a worthwhile program 
that prevents children from having to be removed from their homes.
  This is a good bill. The sponsors have worked long and hard to come 
up with this compromise. We have talked with the House about the minor 
differences between our bills and it appears we will be able to quickly 
conference and pass this bill, hopefully before the Senate goes out 
this year.
  In closing, let me thank and congratulate the Members of the PASS 
coalition who worked so tirelessly on the measure. Senators Craig, 
Rockefeller, DeWine, Coats, Jeffords, and others have made enormous 
contributions toward this initiative. This would not have happened 
without their dedication to the children who we are trying to move from 
foster care into adoptive homes.
  I also thank Chairman Roth of the Finance Committee for helping us to 
move quickly.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I also want to congratulate this body 
for the passage of the adoption bill. It is a good step forward. I hope 
when we work out the differences between the House and Senate, they can 
be worked out amicably. I hope there is not a watering down of the 
Senate provisions.
  I would also like to have legislation passed yet this year. If it 
can't be worked out that way, obviously it is going to have to be put 
off until next year until it can be conferenced, but I hope we can work 
out these differences yet this year.
  A pioneer in the adoption field wrote ``when a child of the streets 
stands before you in rags, with tear-stained face, you cannot easily 
forget him, and yet you are perplexed what to do. The human soul is 
difficult to interfere with. You hesitate how far you should go.''
  Congress has been considering adoption and foster care reform this 
year that has caused all of us involved to ask, how far should we go?'' 
But after extensive research into the failure of the foster care 
system, I ask how far can we go?
  Confronting the issues for children in foster care is uncomfortable--
almost painful. But the foster care system is in crisis and children 
are suffering. We are compelled to confront these problems.
  Foster care is a complicated entitlement program. Meaningful reform 
can only happen when Congress recognizes the seriousness of the problem 
and begins taking the measured steps toward reform.
  While the issues are complex, so are the solutions.
  Today we are getting what we pay for, long-term foster care. Twenty-
one States are under consent decrees because they failed to take proper 
care of their children who had been abused or neglected by their 
parents.
  Set up to serve as a temporary, emergency situation for children, the 
foster care system is now a lifestyle for many kids.
  The Federal Government continues to pour billions of dollars into a 
system that lacks genuine accountability.
  Instead of encouraging States to increase adoptions, the current 
system rewards long-term foster care arrangements.
  Jennifer Toth described in her book ``Orphans of the Living,'' 
children are ``consigned to the substitute child care system, a 
chaotic, prison-like system intended to raise children whose parents 
and relatives cannot or will not care for them.''
  She also wrote, ``the children in substitute child care today have 
all suffered trauma. They are all at greater risk than the general 
child population. Yet they are given less care, when they need more 
care. Many thousands of children are lost and millions of dollars are 
wasted each year because no one--not the caseworker, not the foster 
home--takes full responsibility for them. Instead, each is passed from 
one caseload and placement to another, with too many kids and too 
little attention to go around. When these children look to adults for 
help, no one is there. Only when their situation becomes desperate, 
when they also fail, are they awarded the attention they crave.''

  One organization said that ``foster care has been a black hole for 
many of America's neediest and most neglected children.''
  ``I have a poster in my office that inspires me to work for real 
reform. The Iowa Citizen Foster Care Review Board asked children who 
were waiting to be adopted what they would like to tell us and this is 
what the children said: ``Don't leave us in foster care so long.'' ``It 
is scary to move from home to home, find us one good family where we 
can feel like a real member of the family.'' ``Check on us frequently 
while we're in foster care to ask us how we're doing and make sure we 
are safe.'' ``Tell us what's going on so we don't have to guess. Tell 
us how long it will be before we're adopted and why things seem to take 
so long.''
  Dave Thomas of Wendy's challenged me and others to make sure kids 
have a happy childhood. For those who have had a happy childhood it is 
hard to understand why. For those who did not have a happy childhood--
you know why, he said.
  Children need to know that they have a permanency--which means 
successful, healthy reunification with their birth families or 
permanency in an adoptive home.
  My wife, Barbara, and I, have been blessed as the parents of five 
children. Today, we get to watch our sons and daughters enjoy their own 
families and the happiness found through parenthood. These experiences 
have made me appreciate the importance of a family unit. A happy, 
permanent home life provides more than a safe haven for kids. It gives 
children confidence to grow into positive contributors in our society.
  In the United States, at least a half million children are not living 
in permanent homes. While waiting for adoption or a safe return to 
their natural families, many kids may live out their childhoods in the 
foster care system. Sadly, it often turns into a lonely, even futile 
transition. If the ``window of opportunity'' is missed, a child can 
leave the system a legal orphan, as an adult.
  These children leave foster care and enter onto the welfare rolls or 
into prison. Only 17 percent of those who emancipate from the system 
become completely self-supporting. Barely half finish high school, a 
little less than half are gainfully employed as adults. And, almost 60 
percent of the girls give birth within a few years of leaving the 
system.
  Since 1982, about 20,000 children a year are adopted from foster 
care. Obviously, that leaves tens of thousands of kids in limbo every 
year.
  Reform is needed to help place more children in a safe, permanent 
home. Improvements should limit the time a child legally can spend in 
foster care;

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remove financial incentives to keep kids in foster care; and, provide 
incentives for successful family reunifications or adoptions, not 
attempts.
  More needs to be done to dispel the myth that some kids are 
unadoptable. I say that no child is unadoptable, we just havent't found 
a home for them yet. And, most children want the permanency provided 
through adoption.
  I support the promotion of adoption, safety, and support for the 
Abused and Neglected Children Act, or Pass Act, because it takes the 
initial, necessary steps toward real reform.
  For the first time, in 17 years, this body has strived to address the 
pain and suffering of these children. A cornerstone is laid upon which 
future reforms can be built.
  The Pass Act will ensure health care coverage for adopted special 
needs children; break down geographic restrictions facing adoptive 
families; and, encourage creative adoptive efforts and outreach.
  Thanks to Senator DeWine's vision and efforts we have strengthened 
the reasonable efforts statute. Senator DeWine raised our awareness on 
this issue and has been a champion for these children.
  One of the problems we as legislators have experienced has been the 
inadequate statistics to understand the performance of the States. The 
data is sparse and many States can't tell us how many children they 
actually have in their care or how long they have been there. The Pass 
Act will require States to report critical statistics. No longer will 
children languish without being identified, their lives will be 
personalized to those responsible for them. We will know who they are, 
where they are, and how long they have been in the system. And, the 
status quo will not be able to hide behind the lack of information 
excuse.
  Currently, the Federal Government does not require that States 
actively seek adoptive homes for all free-to-be-adopted children, who 
often are assigned to long-term foster care. This bill, however, will 
compel States to make reasonable efforts to place a child in an 
adoptive home. Long-term foster care should never be a solution for a 
child.
  The Federal Government plays a significant role in child welfare, by 
providing funds to States and attaching conditions to these funds. The 
single largest category of Federal expenditure under the child welfare 
programs is for maintaining low-income children in foster care.
  To receive Federal funds, States must comply with requirements 
designed so that children can remain safely with their families or 
return home after they have been placed in foster care. States will be 
penalized for not complying with the Pass Act.
  In most States, children are being denied permanency because of the 
artificial barrier of geography. The Senate bill contains a provision 
that will break down the geographic barriers to adoption.
  An adoption organization in a northeastern State shared with me a 
real life example of why this provision is necessary.
  Allison, Beth, Jimmy, and Jarod are siblings, ages 6, 8, 10, and 11. 
They were freed for adoption in October 1996.
  Because the siblings had regular visits and a close relationship with 
each other, their caseworker hoped to find a family that could adopt 
all four children. Our agency was able to send the caseworker the home 
studies of four out-of-State families who were interested in, and had 
space to adopt, all four children. However, the State child welfare 
agency pressured the worker to select in-State families for the 
children.
  Over a period of 6 months, there were no appropriate in-State 
families who could adopt all four children, so it was decided to split 
the sibling group. Jimmy and Jarod were placed with one family, and a 
different family has been identified for Allison and Beth.
  It is the intent of this legislation to remove the geographic 
barriers that keep children from appropriate adoptive families.
  I recognize the Members for their efforts on this issue and 
congratulate the authors of this monumental piece of legislation.
  They understood the complexity of this issue and pushed for reform. 
It was a very unique coalition, and I was glad to be part of it.
  Under Senator Craig's leadership, a successful consensus was formed 
and bipartisan, incremental steps were taken.
  Senator Roth was also instrumental in forging an agreement with 
Members so that this bill could pass with an overwhelming majority. His 
guidance and insight were critical to the bill's success.
  Today we begin to change the culture surrounding adoption. Children 
deserve permanent homes. All children are valuable and adoptable.
  I have been impressed by the compassion of those who adopt these 
special children. They are gifted and should inspire us all.
  We know that more families are willing to adopt children, including 
those with the most challenging of circumstances.
  We have always had a class of children considered unadoptable.
  Several decades ago many said that minority children were 
unadoptable. We know now that is not true.
  Many once thought that children with AIDS were unadoptable. We know 
now that is not true.
  Adoption organizations are finding homes for children and have 
waiting lists of parents all over the country anxious to adopt children 
despite their special circumstances. One adoption agency has a waiting 
list of a hundred families, willing to adopt a child with Down's 
syndrome.
  A family in Texas adopted 8 drug-exposed siblings ranging in age from 
2 to 10.
  Susan Badeau, a witness before the Senate Finance Committee, shared 
her story about adopting 19 children out of the foster care system--
virtually rescuing them from a lifetime in foster care.
  The Pass Act will encourage permanency for the children who cannot 
return to their original homes.
  To ensure that these new adoptive families are healthy and stay 
together they will need postadoption services and respite care.
  Postadoptive services are crucial for the success of these families 
because many of these children will have long-term service needs.
  In States where postadoption services are offered, the number of 
adoptive families that disrupt is significantly lower.
  According to the Congressional Research Service the following Federal 
programs could be used to provide postadoption services to adoptive 
families. Although none of these programs is exclusively intended to 
provide such services, they are among a number of allowable activities. 
They include the following: The Adoption Opportunities Program; the 
Family Preservation Program; Child Welfare Services; Child Abuse 
Prevention and Treatment Act; Community-Based Family Resource and 
Support; Child Care and Development Block Grant; and the Social 
Services Block Grant.
  I was pleased with the provision in the Pass Act which emphasizes 
adoption promotion and support services in the Family Preservation and 
Support Service Act.
  I ask unanimous consent to print in the Record an explanation of the 
services provided under these programs.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       1. The Adoption Opportunities Program authorizes 
     appropriations for the Department of Health and Human 
     Services to conduct a number of adoption-related activities, 
     including provision of post-legal adoption services for 
     families that have adopted special needs children. These 
     services may be provided either directly or by grant or 
     contract with States, local governments, public or private 
     nonprofit licensed child welfare or adoption agencies, or 
     adoptive family groups. Services must supplement, and not 
     supplant, activities funded through other sources with the 
     same general purpose, including individual, group or family 
     counseling, case management, training, assistance to adoptive 
     parent organizations, and assistance to support groups for 
     adoptive parents, adopted children or siblings of adopted 
     children.
       2. Family Preservation Program. The Social Security Act 
     authorizes entitlement grants to States, which are used for 
     two types of services: family preservation, and community-
     based family support. ``Family preservation'' services are 
     intended for children and families (including adoptive 
     families) that are at risk or in crisis, and may include 
     respite care of children to provide temporary relief for 
     parents or other care givers,

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     and services designed to improve parenting skills in such 
     areas as child development, family budgeting, coping with 
     stress, health and nutrition.
       3. Child Welfare Services. Under subpart 1 of title IV-B, 
     the Social Security Act also authorizes appropriations for 
     grants to states for child welfare services, which are 
     defined broadly to include public social services directed 
     toward protection and promotion of the welfare of children. 
     These funds are typically used to support State children 
     protective service and child welfare systems. However, while 
     post-adoption services are not specifically identified in the 
     statute, they could be allowable activities at State option.
       4. Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. Title I of the 
     Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) authorizes 
     funds for HHS to conduct a variety of discretionary 
     activities, including grants to mutual support and self-help 
     groups for strengthening families, respite and crisis nursery 
     programs provided by community-based organizations, and 
     hospital-based information and referral services for parents 
     of children with disabilities and children who have been 
     victims of abuse or neglect.
       5. Community-Based Family Resource and Support. Title II of 
     CAPTA authorizes HHS to make grants to Stats to develop, 
     operate, and expand statewide networks of community-based 
     family resource and support programs. These programs provide 
     various forms of support for families, including respite care 
     for adoptive families.
       6. Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG). This 
     program authorizes both discretionary and mandatory funding 
     for States to help subsidize the cost of child care for low-
     income families, including both working families and families 
     receiving welfare. Adoptive families in need of child care 
     could potentially receive assistance under this program, 
     assuming they met income and other eligibility criteria.
       7. Social Services Block Grant (SSBG). Title XX of the 
     Social Security Act authorizes entitlement grants to States 
     that may be used for a wide variety of social services at the 
     states' discretion. Although services for adoptive families 
     are not specified in the law, States could opt to use SSBG 
     funds for this purpose.

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, let's build upon the cornerstone of this 
monumental bill. Congress has a chance to continue to press on for 
meaningful reform. In spite of this legislation, some children will 
still remain hostages in an inefficient system.
  Any future reforms must: First, strive to dramatically limit the time 
a child can legally spend in foster care. According to the available 
statistics, the national average length of stay in foster care is three 
years--three birthdays, three christmases, first, second and third 
grade. Second, remove financial incentives to keep children in foster 
care; and provide incentives for success not for attempts. Currently 
the system pays the same rate per child per month without limitation. 
The Federal Government is entitled to pay for performance.
  Senator Brownback plans to hold hearings next year as chairman of the 
Subcommittee on Oversight of the District of Columbia to determine what 
the Federal Government can do to address the crumbling foster care 
system in the District.
  These children are the most vulnerable of all--their little lives 
begin with abuse and neglect by their own parents and, for many, they 
experience systemic abuse by languishing in long term foster care.
  CRS stated that ``children are vulnerable and their well-being is 
affected by conditions beyond their control.'' But is not beyond our 
control.
  Those on the front lines, on whom we rely to make this policy work 
include: the court appointed special advocates, volunteers who advocate 
in the courts on the children's behalf; juvenile judges--an Illinois 
judge told me she requires each of the children's pictures to be 
attached to the front of their files so that those who come in contact 
with the case know that these are children, not a caseload number; the 
foster and adoptive parent associations; the citizen foster care review 
boards; special needs adoption organizations, Governors, the human 
services departments and social workers.
  We are all responsible for these children who depend on us. Foster 
care is a poor parent. A loving, committed family is the best gift to 
give any child. Passage of this bill is one way to encourage this.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the Senator from Alabama 
will be recognized for however much time he may consume.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Thank you, Mr. President.
  First, I would like to say how much I appreciate the excellent 
comments of the Senator from Iowa, Senator Grassley. He believes deeply 
in improving the life and health of children, as you do, Mr. President, 
and have worked toward that end.
  I salute the work that has been done. It is a major step forward in 
improving foster care and the ability to adopt children in America, 
which is something this Congress, I think, will be able to take real 
pride in.

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