[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 164 (Wednesday, November 12, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14859-S14860]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            ADOPTION INCENTIVES REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2003

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Finance 
Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 3182 and the 
Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 3182) to reauthorize the adoption incentive 
     payments program under part E of title IV of the Social 
     Security Act, and for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, today, the Senate is taking 
bipartisan action to pass the Adoption Promotion Act of 2003, which 
will extend and improve the adoption bonuses created as part of the 
1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act. For many years, the Senate has 
taken a bipartisan approach to adoption and child welfare policy. I am 
very proud to be one of the lead advocates for this legislation that 
rewards states which promote adoption and invest in child welfare.
  Throughout this year, a bipartisan group, led by Finance Chairman 
Grassley met to forge consensus on extending the adoption incentives, 
and doing more to focus attention on the needs of older children. 
President Bush highlighted the need to do more to promote adoptions for 
children nine years old or older, and Congress agreed. The list of 
cosponsors, including Senators Landrieu, Bunning, Craig, Baucus, 
DeWine, Levin, Inhofe, Nelson, Lincoln, Clinton, and Jeffords, 
demonstrates the broad coalition that can be achieved when we take a 
bipartisan approach.
  As I noted, our legislation builds on the foundation set with the 
1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act. Since its passage, adoptions from 
foster care have nearly doubled nationwide and over 900 West Virginia 
children have a permanent home. By extending and expanding this law, we 
hope to continue to promote permanent homes, and place a new focus on 
older children.
  Despite our success in recent years, across this nation 126,000 
children are waiting to be adopted. Children over the age of 9 
represent almost half of the children awaiting adoption yet these 
children spend the most time in the system and have a difficult time 
finding permanent homes. The Adoption Promotion Act of 2003 will 
especially help these children by offering incentives to states that 
successfully place older children in adoptive homes.
  This bill rewards states for moving children into permanent homes 
from the foster care system and further rewards states for moving 
special needs, and older children from foster care to permanent 
placements. This bill is particularly important for my state. In West 
Virginia, over 70 percent of the children in foster care are over age 
9. This act will help older children find much needed, permanent homes.
  This legislation is a positive way we can strengthen our child 
welfare system, but we also know that more must be done to help 
vulnerable children. The bipartisan spirit that helped ensure this 
legislation passage is the same spirit needed to deal with the rest of 
the child welfare system as we continue to push the basic goal of a 
child's health and safety being paramount, and every child finding a 
permanent home.
  Mr. NELSON of Nebraska. Mr. President, I rise today in support of 
H.R. 3182, legislation to reauthorize the adoption incentive program. I 
would like to thank Senator Grassley for his leadership on this issue. 
He has been a friend to American families for his entire tenure in this 
body and his work has made it even easier for more families to come 
together through adoption.
  As an adoptive parent myself, I know firsthand how adoption can 
complete a family and how it can give new beginnings to both adoptive 
parents and children. And as a member of the Adoption Caucus, I have 
worked to make it easier for other families to experience the joy my 
family did through adoption.
  This legislation will help that process by removing financial 
obstacles to adopting a child. As anyone who has been through an 
adoption knows, it can often by a very long, expensive process and for 
some families; the costs are so high as to be prohibitive. This 
legislation will help ensure that a family is not prevented from 
adopting a child simply because of the high costs involved.
  The Adoption Incentives Program has already had been a tremendous 
success. Now this reauthorized and amended version of the program can 
help even more children and families for years to come. I stand 
wholeheartedly behind the goals of this bill and I look forward to 
working with Senator Grassley on this issue again in the future.


                     abused and neglected children

  Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, first I want to thank Senator Grassley 
for the leadership that he has shown in addressing the needs of abused 
and neglected children. Together with Senator Landrieu and Senator 
Bunning, Senator Grassley has worked tirelessly and I know that this 
work comes from the heart. It is not an issue that gets in the 
headlines unless something goes wrong. It's an issue that one champions 
only because he or she cares. I also want to acknowledge the 
longstanding commitment of my friend Senator Rockefeller who is well 
known as the greatest ally of needy children in this esteemed body.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. I too want to thank Senator Landrieu, and I would like 
to recognize Senator Bunning's efforts on this legislation.
  Today we are passing the Adoption Incentives Reauthorization Act of 
2003. It is particularly appropriate that we are doing so during 
National Adoption Month. Since the original Adoption Incentives Act was 
passed in 1997, the number of adoptions has doubled in 33 states. I am 
proud of this achievement and pleased that we are today continuing the 
authorization of this effective program.
  Mrs. CLINTON. I too am pleased to reach this milestone. When my 
husband and I worked to establish the program in 1997, we hoped that 
this program would become half the success that it has. My husband set 
a goal of

[[Page S14860]]

doubling the number of children adopted out of foster care and last 
month we finally achieved that goal. In New York City, the number of 
children in foster care has plummeted by more than half since 1997 due 
in large part to the increased focus on helping available children for 
adoption.
  Nevertheless we still have a long way to go. Over 580,000 children 
remain in foster care, 126,000 of them are ready and waiting to be 
adopted into a loving home. That is why this legislation is so 
important. And not only does it continue the incentives for States to 
help children with special needs be adopted out of foster care, it adds 
a new incentive to focus on older children--those over 9--whose chances 
of being adopted grow slimmer by the year. These vulnerable children 
face the greatest danger of aging out of foster care, a transition that 
is associated with lower educational outcomes, higher rates of teen 
pregnancy, higher rates of poverty, lower rates of employment, and many 
other negative factors.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. I am pleased that this bill focuses on older children, 
thanks to the leadership of President Bush, and I hope when we revisit 
this legislation during the next reauthorization we will have seen the 
same remarkable results that we have seen over the past 5 years.
  Mrs. CLINTON. Of course, as the number of children in foster care 
declines, as it has in New York City, it becomes increasingly difficult 
for states to qualify for adoption incentive awards. In order to 
receive such a bonus, states must exceed the highest number of 
adoptions they have achieved since the base year. Some have suggested 
that an alternative, and potentially more accurate, method for 
determining bonuses would be to look at the percentage of children in 
foster care who are adopted as opposed to the raw number.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. I am aware that that method has been put on the table. 
However by adjusting the base year to 2002 and adding a new category of 
older children, we made it much easier for states to qualify for an 
adoption incentive bonus. Throughout the course of this reauthorization 
we talked to child welfare advocates and listened to their concerns 
about the way the incentives are awarded. The method we arrived at was 
reached through consensus and we have received very strong bi-partisan, 
bi-cameral support for the bill before us today. In fact, the House has 
already passed this legislation without opposition. By passing the same 
language here in the Senate, we are ensuring that President Bush will 
sign this important legislation into law sooner rather than later.
  Mrs. CLINTON. I very much appreciate all the time that has gone into 
this act. And I am pleased that we are going to work together to have 
the General Accounting Office look into what is the best way to 
structure the adoption incentives formula so that when we consider this 
legislation in the future we will have thoroughly explored other 
methods for calculating bonuses.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. I am also looking forward to a through study of this 
issue that can inform the next reauthorization.
  Mrs. CLINTON. Now, there have been some news reports lately that have 
argued that the Adoption Incentives Program has put children in 
dangerous situations by creating a strong financial incentive to place 
children for adoption out of foster care without regard to their safety 
or well-being.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. I have seen those reports and I disagree with their 
premise. The primary goal of the Adoption and Safe Families Act is to 
make the safety and well-being of children paramount in child welfare 
decisions. In addition, in order to receive funds under the Promoting 
Safe and Stable Families Program, states must develop a plan to assure 
safety and permanency for children who enter the state's foster care 
system.
  Adoption assistance is minimal especially when you think about the 
cost of raising a child. Families who adopt are highly unlikely to 
adopt children for the financial benefit. Nationally payments made on 
behalf of an eight-year-old average only $14 per day. This is a 
fraction of what the Department of Agriculture suggests is needed to 
raise a child.
  Mrs. CLINTON. I absolutely agree. And I would build on your remarks 
by adding that if States are not making the safety and well-being of 
the child paramount they are endangering their Title-IV-E funds, which 
is a much larger pot of money than the small amount they receive as a 
bonus under the Adoption Incentives Program. However, I would also add 
that it becomes increasingly difficult to guarantee the safety of each 
child under the care of the State when caseworkers are responsible for 
excessive caseloads and do not have the training to effectively serve 
the children in the child welfare system.
  I would also add that I believe the next important step we need to 
take to make all adoptions out of foster care successful is to dedicate 
more resources to post-adoption services, including respite care, 
mental healthcare, and educational services.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. I agree that we have to focus on the full range of 
adoption services. We have not improved the lives of abused and 
neglected children if they are adopted only to be returned to foster 
care because the families that adopted them didn't have the support 
they needed to care for them. This is not good for these kids.
  Mrs. CLINTON. One way that we might consider to help States provide 
the full range of adoption services is to tap into the pot of unspent 
funds in the Adoption Incentives Program. Last year $45 million was 
appropriated for the purpose of awarding bonuses, but only $18 million 
was actually awarded. I believe these funds have been retained by HHS 
for the purpose of awarding future bonuses, but with the great need for 
child welfare funds, I believe these funds would be better spent this 
year on post-adoption services or in bonuses for States that have 
increased the percentage of children adopted out of foster care.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. I agree that funds appropriated for the Adoption 
Incentives Program should be spent on child welfare. While we may 
disagree about how exactly those funds should be spent, we are in 
agreement that they should be used to improve the lives of abused and 
neglected children. I know that there is interest among members of the 
Finance Committee to see that these unspent funds are used to improve 
the lives of children and I hope we can all work together to address 
this in the future.
  Mrs. CLINTON. I thank Senator Grassley for his leadership and his 
commitment to America's most vulnerable children. I look forward to 
working with him in the future.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the 
table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 3182) was read for the third time and passed.

                          ____________________