[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 131 (Friday, October 1, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11784-S11786]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            ADOPTING A CHILD

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I rise this afternoon to speak on a 
subject that is very important to many Members of this body. In fact, 
Senator DeWine from Ohio has been one of the leading advocates for 
adoption. Before he leaves the floor, I wanted to acknowledge that. He, 
along with many Members, including the occupant of the Chair, Senator 
Voinovich, have been very active in the promotion of laws and policies 
that would help us to reach our goal of finding a loving and nurturing 
home for every child in this world that needs one. Many of us believe 
that it is a fundamental right to grow up in a home with a family, as 
opposed to in a hospital, or some type of institution.
  I rise to bring the body up to date on some of the things that we 
have accomplished and that we should be proud of, as well as some of 
the challenges that are still before us as a Congress. In the short 
time ahead, I am hopeful the appropriate committees will have hearings 
on relevant legislation in order to move the adoption debate along 
quickly. There are literally millions of children and families 
depending on us to act.
  First, let me congratulate Senators Chafee and Rockefeller for 
leading the successful effort last year to pass the Adoption and Safe 
Families Act. Last week, President Clinton and Mrs. Clinton hosted the 
first awards ceremony associated with the passage of that Act. The 
great news is that we have taken a mighty and important step forward 
because since the passage of the Act 36,000 American children have been 
placed in foster care while 15,000 foreign children have found 
permanent homes--all with wonderful families throughout America. 
Moreover, at least 35 States were acknowledged for their outstanding 
work in this area at the White House ceremony last week.
  In some States, the increases have been 20 percent over last year's 
numbers, while others have seen 50- to 70-percent increases over the 
previous year. This has occurred because the law we passed gave the 
necessary tools to parents, social workers, community activists, and to 
local elected officials so that the dream of a family became a reality 
for these 36,000 children.
  The problem is we still have over 500,000 children waiting for a 
family to call their own. Through this bill, many of the children in 
foster care, who range from all ages, races, medical conditions, and 
backgrounds, will be able to one day return to their biological 
families. However, despite our best efforts, unfortunate circumstances 
exist which prevent some of these children from returning home. 
Consequently these children must be moved to a permanent place. The 
Adoption and Safe Families Act will provide the tools for us to help 
these children in terms of guidelines and the necessary resources.
  Again I want to thank all the members, particularly Senators 
Rockefeller and Chafee, for their leadership in making this law 
possible. It is working and we just need to continue our 
efforts because many children are still waiting for a home to call 
their own.

  That leads me to the next three points.
  We have accomplished some wonderful things. But in this Congress 
during the next few weeks, some important tasks still remain to be 
finished. If we fail, there will be several million children left 
waiting.
  Next week, under the leadership of the distinguished Senator from 
North Carolina, Senator Helms, we will be having our first hearing on 
the Hague Treaty, the International Convention for Adoption. The 
purpose of the hearing will be to consider the Intercountry Adoption 
Act, legislation which seeks to implement the objectives of this 
Treaty. I am an original cosponsor of this measure, along with Senator 
Helms, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the 
Ranking Member, Senator Biden from Delaware.
  This Treaty is very important because, as we endeavor to ensure that 
every child in America who needs a home will have one, it is also 
important for us to realize that there are millions of children around 
the world--in South America, in Africa, in Latin America, in Eastern 
and Western Europe, and Asia--who are growing up in horrible 
conditions. Some of them are

[[Page S11785]]

in institutions with unspeakable conditions and there are others who 
are actually living in the streets.
  With all of our global successes, it is appalling and unacceptable 
that these conditions exist anywhere in the world. We can do something 
about it.
  Today, the Internet will allow us to do more than we ever dreamed 
possible--connecting families with children, allowing agencies to work 
more closely together, and, most importantly, allowing for improved 
communications between governments. The language barriers are coming 
down as technology opens up greater opportunities.
  But none of this can work without a body of international law that 
gives us the rules and regulations for how this is going to take place. 
We must eliminate the corruption, the outrageous trafficking of 
children, and the extraordinary fees that are sometimes being paid 
illegally. So if we are to have protection for children, protection for 
families, and protection for the legal framework, this Treaty is 
absolutely essential.
  I urge my colleagues to pay special attention next week during this 
hearing, and I urge them to learn more about this issue, because there 
is something we all can do; that is, to move this piece of legislation 
forward with the few minor differences that exist between both sides of 
the aisle, approve the treaty, and then implement it.
  If my colleagues are like me--and I think many of them are--when we 
get a few minutes to watch television we can view programs such as Save 
the Children where there are thousands of children who are in need. I 
sit there and think about what I could do as one individual sponsoring 
one child. It does not seem to be enough. But in many instances 
reaching out to sponsor that one child is quite enough. Millions of 
Americans have the opportunity to do the same.
  I am looking forward to the Senate Foreign Service Committee's 
hearing on adoption next week. I am confident that we can solve the 
differences that may exist among the interested parties who are working 
to move this important legislation forward.
  In addition to the implementation of this international Treaty, we 
are faced here in the United States with some additional challenges in 
our adoption laws. One of the things we failed to accomplish, which 
perhaps may have been an oversight when we passed the Family and 
Medical Leave Act, was a requirement that employers offer adoptive 
families the same benefits as birth families.
  I believe the Family and Medical Leave Act made progress toward equal 
treatment for adoptive families, but discrepancies remain for adoptive 
families who seek the same employee benefits as birth families. This 
law enables both adoptive and birth families to take up to twelve weeks 
of unpaid, job protected leave. Some employers, however, permit 
employees to use sick leave or provide paid leave for birth parents, 
but do not provide these same benefits for adoptive families.

  As an adoptive parent, I can certainly attest to the fact that 
whether the child is biological or comes as a gift through adoption, 
the stress on the families are very much the same. This is why the 
expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act is so important. It must 
include the thousands of families in our country who adopt either 
domestically or internationally every year. This inclusion will allow 
Congress to say that building a family through adoption is a blessing 
for children and parents. This is one important goal I hope we can 
achieve this Congress.
  In addition, I hope we can extend the adoption tax credit we passed 
several years ago, which is now $5,000 based on actual expenses, and 
double it, making it $10,000. This will make it real and workable, 
especially for those families who adopt special needs children.
  Currently, this tax credit is working but it can be improved for 
those parents who adopt special needs children--older children, 
handicapped children, children with special emotional challenges, 
sibling groups, or international adoption. Unless you can demonstrate 
all expenses in connection with the adoption you are unable to avail 
yourself of the tax credit.
  In many ways, when you take a special needs child, there are no 
expenses associated with the adoption itself because the agencies of 
course want to place these children. I believe it would be in the best 
money this Congress could spend to provide tax credits, tax credits to 
families who adopt hard-to-place children and sibling groups, and 
others with difficulties.
  The Government should state that if you will take a child into your 
home and call it your own, we will give you a $10,000 tax credit. A 
family who would adopt two children would get a $20,000 Federal tax 
credit. It is my hope that they would not have to pay Federal taxes for 
many years because these families are doing something great for their 
community and country.
  Mr. President, in closing, let me show you a picture of a beautiful 
little girl as an example of what I have been talking about. This child 
is coming from China. Her mother, Cheryl Varnado, wrote me a letter 
about little Anna Grace Cai Yong Lin.
  Her letter reads: Senator, would you fly an American flag over the 
Capitol today so that I can give it to our little girl in remembrance 
of her first day in the United States?
  I commend the Government of China for the wonderful work they are 
doing to provide homes for millions of Chinese children. Today they are 
doing a much better job in this area. The challenges faced by this 
country are great. There are over one million children without families 
who will grow up in institutional care unless someone brings them into 
their home and provides them with the love of a family.
  We are happy for Anna and her new family. The flag flying over the 
Capitol today will remind us of her arrival to the United States and 
the thousands of other children that have come from all over the world 
to find homes in America.
  In conclusion, a wonderful couple that won an award was honored on 
the front steps of the Capitol earlier today for adopting not one, not 
two, but 30 children of all ages, races, physical handicaps, and 
challenges. They received the Norman Vincent Peale Award for 
outstanding service to our country. I commend Penny and Chuck Hauer.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have an article printed in 
the Record about this couple.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       Some things are in short supply around Penny and Chuck 
     Hauer's house: Toilet paper. Money. Bathroom space.
       But not love.
       It radiates in the heart-melting smiles of Carissa, brain-
     damaged as an infant, who is 17 and occupies a wheel-chair.
       It's reflected in the sparkling eyes of Calli, who is 11 
     and has Down Syndrome and a huge crush on skater Scott 
     Hamilton.
       It zaps you like electricity in the gnarled handshake of 
     Clifton, who is 21 and has cerebral palsy and a fondness for 
     country music.
       In all, over 20-some years, the Hauers have adopted 35 
     physically and/or mentally disabled children of all races--
     black, white, Korean, Hispanic. Nine have died. Others have 
     grown up and moved out on their own.
       All were among those hardest to find homes for, the ones 
     nobody else wanted.
       ``The world says these kids should be in a group home, or 
     in a hospital or an institution,'' says Penny Hauer. ``That's 
     not our philosophy.''
       Sharing an eight-bedroom, three-bath home are 21 adopted 
     siblings, ages 8 to 32, plus two of the Hauers' five 
     offspring and a 7-year-old grandson.
       ``It was a four-bedroom house but we've made some 
     revisions,'' Penny Hauer says. ``The living room is a 
     bedroom. The dining room is a bedroom.
       ``Bath time can be a problem. If you want a bath every 
     night, fine--get in line.''
       In a family tradition, the children all have names with C--
     Catey, Cotey, Courtney, Curtis, Colin . . . and on it goes.
       Much has changed in the year since a newspaper story 
     introduced readers to this remarkable family and their battle 
     with the Social Security system.
       They've been on national TV. They've gotten back in touch 
     with a lost son. They've made lots of new friends.
       And they have resolved the bureaucrats' mess that 
     threatened the $7,000 monthly Supplemental Security Income 
     funding the family depends upon.
       The Hauers moved here from Montana in July 1997 because the 
     kids were being ridiculed and mistreated in the school system 
     there, the parents said. The sale of their Montana home fell 
     through, leaving them stretched beyond thin, paying two 
     mortgages.
       In August 1997, filing routine renewal forms at San Diego's 
     Social Security office, the couple dutifully reported their 
     deeds on two homes. They were notified three months

[[Page S11786]]

     later that their assets exceeded government allowances for 
     Supplemental Security Income.
       With help from an attorney and Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-E1 
     Cajon, the Hauers kept the checks coming while they appealed. 
     Finally, in April, they solved the problem by selling the 
     $600,000 Montana home to a Vista couple for $225,000.
       Still, making ends meet is a struggle. The payment on the 
     East County home is $3,000 a month, groceries $2,000. The 
     family goes through three loaves of bread a day, two gallons 
     of milk and two boxes of cereal.
       Other changes have occurred. The Hauers have re-established 
     contact with an adult son who was living on the streets in 
     San Diego a year ago. They say he's in an apartment now, 
     doing fine.
       Chuck Hauer, 61, quit his part-time job because of high 
     blood pressure. He gets a small pension from General Tire and 
     Rubber in Akron, Ohio, where he worked until 1982 as a 
     quality-control inspector.
       Penny, who discloses her age to no one, has resumed 
     volunteer work she gave up nine years ago when the family 
     moved from Ohio to Montana. From her bedroom, she makes calls 
     for a Toledo agency, Adopt America Network, trying to match 
     disabled children with families who will take them.
       In three-ring binders, she has thumbnail descriptions of 
     hundreds of kids and potential adoptive families in the 
     agency's nationwide system. She gets new ones in every 
     Monday's mail--two to five families, 10 to 20 children.
       ``In Los Angeles County (alone), each caseworker has 100 
     kids. They don't have time to make the matches,'' she said. 
     ``Somebody's got to do it.''
       Although there are never enough families, Penny Hauer is 
     determined to make a difference. She tells excitedly of 
     hooking up an Ohio couple just last week with three siblings, 
     ages 2 to 4, in Escondido.
       ``I'm always looking,'' she said. ``I want these kids to 
     have a home.''
       The Hauers' own story dates to the mid-'70s, when they took 
     in Charity April, a tot with cerebral palsy. The couple, then 
     with four biological kids of their own, fell in love with the 
     foster child and realized there were many more like her in 
     need.
       ``We just decided to start adopting--not to adopt 35, but 
     that's just what's transpired over the years,'' Penny Hauer 
     said. ``One takes all your undivided attention. When you have 
     a group of children, they interact with each other.
       Everyone has chores: Charity, 24, changes diapers for seven 
     incontinent siblings. Cristy, 21, helps cook. Chet, 18, takes 
     out the trash.
       And the family may be growing. The Hauers have applied to 
     adopt four more disabled orphans.
       ``I think when they carry me out of the house and I'm gone 
     and dead, there's going to be somebody wrapped in my arms, 
     because that's just the way I am,'' Penny Hauer said.
       Today, the Hauers will squeeze some extra seats up to their 
     30-foot table--actually four oak tables stuck end to end.
       After offering to provide Thanksgiving dinner to any armed 
     forces member with no place to go, they learned Tuesday that 
     they'll be joined by a mother and three young children whose 
     Navy husband and father is away.
       ``It's all about sharing,'' said Penny Hauer. ``I hope they 
     like my cooking.''
       Foothills Republican Women's Club President Dawn Sebaugh, 
     whose group adopted the Hauers last Christmas, has become a 
     year-round helper and friend.
       ``It's just amazing,'' she said. ``You wonder how someone 
     could take care of, love and treat these children so well.''
       Sebaugh said her group will be helping the family over the 
     holidays again this year.
       ``We will make sure Santa's there for Christmas,'' she 
     said. ``I know they could use a couple of extra bedrooms. I 
     don't know if we can do anything (about that), but we're 
     going to try.''
       Someone else who has fallen for the Hauers is Robert Stein 
     of New York. An HBO producer of in-house promotional videos, 
     he saw Penny Hauer's brief appearance on the ``Rosie 
     O'Donnell'' show in February and was deeply moved.
       Since then, Stein has spent several days with the family 
     over repeated visits, filming a documentary at his own 
     expense that he intends to pitch to his cable network.
       ``I was truly impressed witnessing these kids. They really 
     do have a strong sense of love for each other,'' he said.
       Stein said the Hauers' story could open more eyes and 
     hearts to the disabled.
       ``People see disabled or handicapped kids or adults in the 
     street, and a lot of times people look down . . . or write 
     them off as people they can't connect with,'' he said. 
     ``These people have been very selfless as far as welcoming 
     kids who may not have had a family life.
       ``They've really nurtured kids who may have been forgotten 
     in the system, and they've really blossomed.''

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Obviously, there are many great things we can do in 
this Congress to promote adoption. Many of them have already been 
accomplished. However, there is much more that should be done, 
beginning with acknowledging the great work of everyone who has worked 
on this issue in America and around the world. Finally, I am delighted 
that we are taking the necessary time today to bring this important 
issue to the attention of all of our colleagues.
  I yield back the remainder of our time and I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hagel). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative assistant proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I understand we are in morning business 
with a 10-minute restriction on length of comments.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.
  Mr. GRAHAM. I ask unanimous consent to be able to speak for 20 
minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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