[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.
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