[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 134 (Friday, November 19, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11520-S11523]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL ADOPTION MONTH
Ms. LANDRIEU. I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed immediately
to the consideration of S. Res. 474, submitted earlier today by myself,
Senator Craig, Senator Bond, as well as Senator DeWine, Senator
Fitzgerald, Senator Levin, Senators Santorum and Stabenow--those last
names be added as cosponsors to the resolution.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk
will report the resolution by title.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 474) to express support for the goals
of National Adoption Month by promoting national awareness of
adoption, celebrating children and families involved in
adoption, and encouraging Americans to secure safety,
permanency, and well-being for all children.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution.
Ms. LANDRIEU. I yield to my friend who cosponsored this resolution
for his remarks prior to mine.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho is recognized.
Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, let me thank the Senator from Louisiana for
her leadership on this issue and on the introduction of this resolution
to recognize what we believe to be a very important month and a very
important day for America, for America's children, and especially for
the foster care children of America.
[[Page S11521]]
Tomorrow, November 20, is National Adoption Day. This month is
National Adoption Month. Over the years, as we have worked to bring
this to the attention of the American people and to people who would
like to form families through adoption, we find this tremendously
important. More than 3,100 adoptions of children from foster care will
be finalized as a result of National Adoption Day. Of those who are in
foster care, some 129,000 children wait for adoption. Senator Landrieu
and I, over the last good number of years, have worked almost nonstop
on this issue, not just for the foster care children of our country but
for all children of our country who are seeking a permanent, loving,
safe environment.
As a result of that effort, she and I and others on the House side
took the old congressional coalition on adoption and created the
Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute. That institute is now
one of the sponsors of National Adoption Month and National Adoption
Day.
These efforts on the part of all of us, we hope, continue to build
the kind of understanding and knowledge that is growing across
America--that you can form a family through adoption. Adoption is a
phenomenally viable option for couples who may not be able to have
children naturally or who wish to expand their families, simply because
they care so much about the future of children and who know that
children who grow up in a safe, loving environment are going to be
young people who become productive in our society instead of frustrated
and oftentimes misguided in their adult efforts.
What I would like to do now is read the resolution and the
President's Proclamation on National Adoption Month, because I think it
speaks to the kind of cooperative effort that the Congress, that Mary
and I and a good many others in this Senate and the Congressional
Coalition on Adoption Institute have, with a lot of other alliances but
very importantly with the President and the executive branch of
Government.
This is the 2004 Presidential Proclamation on National Adoption
Month, by the President of the United States:
By deciding to share their hearts and home with a child,
adoptive parents demonstrate great compassion and receive
many blessings in return. During National Adoption Month, we
recognize the generosity of adoptive and foster families who
are providing hope and love, and we encourage the adoption of
children of all ages.
In 2002, I signed the Promoting Safe and Stable Families
legislation that supports families and promotes adoption, and
last December I signed the Adoption Promotion Act of 2003 to
increase incentives to adopt older children. We have raised
the adoption tax credit to $10,000 per child and created the
AdoptUSKids website that has joined thousands of children
with adoptive parents. We are working hard to place more
children from foster care to permanent homes. This year, on
November 20, communities from all 50 States and the District
of Columbia will celebrate National Adoption Day by
finalizing the adoption of thousands of children by loving
families. And each one of those families will be enriched by
the addition of new members. By bringing care and hope into
other lives, individuals can fill their own lives with
greater purpose.
Now, therefore, I, George W. Bush, President of the United
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by
the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby
proclaim November 2004 as National Adoption Month. I call on
all Americans to observe this month with appropriate programs
and activities to honor adoptive families and to participate
in efforts to find permanent homes for waiting children.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fourth
day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand four,
and of the Independence of the United States of America the
two hundred and twenty-ninth.
George W. Bush.
That is what our President has said. He and this administration, as
have others, have worked very cooperatively with Senator Landrieu and
me. Much of what we talk about and much of what the President talked
about were activities and efforts initiated right in the Senate--the
child tax credit and other efforts to facilitate and make easier for
Americans the ability to adopt children and bring them into their homes
to create that loving environment that we talk about, that we know is
so critically necessary in the lives of young people as they grow up.
So I am tremendously proud to join with my colleague, Mary Landrieu
of Louisiana, as we work cooperatively together in the passage of this
resolution and as we continue to work to foster the Congressional
Coalition on Adoption Institute, to grow it.
Let me close by asking all Senators to become an active member with
us in the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, to participate
in its activities and its purpose as we work to facilitate adoptions
both here in this country and around the world.
I thank my colleague from Louisiana, and I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I am pleased and proud to join my
colleague from Idaho. I have the opportunity this morning before this
body to thank him for his extraordinary leadership on this issue and
his tireless efforts. Despite all of the responsibilities he has as a
leader of the majority party and all of the other issues that he leads,
he always finds time for this issue. It is not an issue that has a lot
of paid lobbyists associated with it because this is a coalition that
is actually advocating on behalf of orphans. His leadership is
particularly noted, and we are grateful for all the work that our
Senators do for children, not only in our country but around the world.
While we do celebrate this month and recognize this month of November
and mark this time noting our great progress and success, let me begin
by saying, unfortunately, the number of orphans in the world is on the
rise. Some experts predict an unprecedented number of orphans in the
world--really in numbers not ever known by the world before. We have
had world wars in the past that have caused the number of orphans to
expand greatly, but in the midst of this century and this time not only
do we have war and famine, but we have something the world has never
seen before, and that is the epidemic of AIDS that is an orphan factory
in Africa and India.
We come to the floor today to celebrate what successes we have
achieved in the United States, and we will talk about those successes
in a moment. The challenge is great. I look forward to working with
Senator Craig and all Members of the Senate as we try to form a
leadership team for the world to address this unprecedented number of
orphans.
If I could just say one more word about AIDS, sometimes children are
orphaned because a parent dies of heart disease or cancer, but those
diseases usually just affect one parent, not two. Because of the
nature of AIDS and the way this disease is transmitted, it actually
works at killing parents in usually a quick amount of time, leaving
children in the international community not single orphans but double
orphans. So that is quite a challenge to the world.
Let me switch to a happy note. In America last year 120,000 children
found loving and permanent homes, and approximately 12,000 of those
children came from other countries to the United States to loving homes
in all parts of our country; small towns in Idaho, very small towns in
Louisiana, as well as to our larger metropolitan areas. And they were
welcomed, of course, with happiness and celebration and have become
parts of families. I am proud to say that over 100,000 children were
adopted, children from the United States to American families right
here at home out of foster care and, of course, infant adoptions as
well. That was terrific.
Two million children live in adoptive homes today in our country.
More extraordinary and more jolting and impressive is the fact that 6
out of every 10 Americans have been personally touched by adoption;
either they themselves were adopted or they have adopted into their
family or grandparents have received from their biological family
adoptive grandchildren. The stories are endless and wonderful. We need
to make sure this Government of ours is doing everything it can to
connect children who need families because governments do a great job
at many things, but raising children is not one of them. Children need
to be raised by parents, preferably two parents, but at least one
loving adult that can raise that child to be a contributing member of
our society.
Our future truly depends on it. We can have all the great tax
policies in the world, great health policies, great education policies,
but it is parent to child, that carries future values from
[[Page S11522]]
one generation to the next. So making these connections is not only a
feel-good thing to do, it is a necessary thing to do for the
continuation of our great Nation and the world community and family.
Let me share briefly about some of the children waiting in my State.
There are 500,000 children in foster care in the United States today.
That is tragic. It is tragic and good and I will explain. It is tragic
because children have been separated from their parents. Sometimes we
could have done a better job of preventing that had we given more drug
counseling on substance abuse or stronger educational benefits or job
opportunities to those parents. On the positive side, sometimes
children have to be separated from their families because, if not, they
may literally die at the hands of parents who are not in their right
mind and spirit. These children can sometimes be in danger.
While we try to protect, promote and develop a better system, the
fact is, 500,000 children are in foster care, anywhere from the age of
1 month up to 21 years old.
These are pictures of some of the children in my State. There are
many more. Some are young teens, children who are perfectly healthy,
sibling groups. Cynthia is a beautiful child. She was born with
cerebral palsy and needs special care and attention. This is a story of
one child who gives everyone great inspiration. Children like this with
the right love and attention can grow up to be Presidents, mayors of
great cities, professors at our great universities. They just need
love, attention, and care. That is what National Adoption Month is all
about.
Let me in my brief time share a story about an extraordinary young
woman who came out of an orphanage. I will tell the story and then show
the picture because you will not believe it when I show the picture. I
want to tell a story that Senator Craig and I know about that has
touched our hearts that we want to share with you today.
A young girl, about 9 years ago, was left in an orphanage in Russia.
We do not know too much about the circumstances, but what we know is
she was severely disabled when she was born. She had spina bifida. She
had a hole in her spine. In some places in the world, children born
with disabilities are basically just left to die--even with
disabilities that we have come to know in America can be fixed and
corrected with good health care. But there are truly dying rooms around
the world where infants and young children are born and left to die.
They are not fed, they are not taken care of because there is no
medicine, no doctors, and nobody can do anything, so they make a tough
judgment: to feed the healthy children and leave the sick children to
die.
This little girl was left in a dying room. But she would not die,
basically. After 6 years of living, with very little support, a woman
we know well showed up in one of our adoption agencies and was trying
to find children in this orphanage to be adopted. She came across this
child who was on the floor because she could not walk. She had no
wheelchair but she crawled up and touched her jacket. She looked down
at this child's eyes and saw something that obviously no one else had
seen and decided to adopt this child. The orphanage kept saying: We
don't want you to have this child; we want you to have a ``good''
child.
She kept saying: This is the child I want. I want this child with a
hole in her back, the strong and beautiful little girl.
The long and short of the story is, this woman scoops this child up,
brings the child to America, adopts this child as her daughter, and her
name is Tatiana McFadden.
I want to show a picture of Tatiana, but no one is going to believe
the end of this story. Tatiana represented the United States of America
in the Para-Olympics in Greece this year and won the silver medal for
our country, for America.
This is a picture of Tatiana, who is now 16 or 17 years old, one of
the strongest, most courageous, bravest human beings I have ever met.
She proudly carried the American flag over that finish line and won the
silver medal in the Para-Olympics.
Senator Craig, my good friend from Idaho, and I hoped she would be
our special guest at Angels in Adoption, but she was actually winning
the medal as our event was taking place.
In honor of Tatiana McFadden, I wanted to speak for her and for the
children she represents in America and around the world. This is
Tatiana, receiving on our behalf, for the United States of America, the
silver medal. She represents everything that Senator Craig and I want
to share today about National Adoption Month.
There are many orphans waiting. They are not damaged goods. These are
children who, through no fault of their own, have been separated from
their parents for a variety of different reasons. They need and want
families. They have a lot to offer not only to themselves but to their
countries and their families.
We hope in November, as we gather around our Thanksgiving table, and
as our Nation gathers and spends time on its knees thanking God for our
many blessings which we have, remembering our blessings from the early
founding of this country. As we gather around our tables and hold the
hands of our children, let's think about the children who do not have
parents and what we can do.
Every Senator can most certainly do something. Many Senators and
House Members are doing a great deal.
My colleagues have been very gracious with this time, but I close by
saying that tomorrow, on Saturday, many of our colleagues, House and
Senate Members, will be participating at their courthouses all over
America. We are happy to say that we will have 4,000 children adopted
tomorrow, on National Adoption Day, an effort started by one judge,
Judge Nash in Los Angeles, CA, who started this to call attention to
children like Tatiana. All they need is someone to pick them up, hold
them, love them. Basically the spirit that God has put in them will do
the rest. That is what this month is about.
I thank my colleague for offering this resolution. I thank the
Senators in the midst of their busy work schedule for pushing this
resolution through. I thank the President for his great support and
acknowledge President Clinton and First Lady Clinton's effort, now
Senator Clinton, and President Bush and Mrs. Bush, for their good
leadership on this issue--not just in America, as my colleague knows,
but as President Bush advocates these policies around the world.
Ms. LANDRIEU. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed
to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider by laid upon
the table, and any statements related thereto be printed in the Record
without intervening action or debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Dole). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
The resolution (S. Res. 474) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to.
The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:
S. Res. 474
Whereas there are approximately 532,000 children in the
foster care system in the United States, approximately
129,000 of whom are waiting to be adopted;
Whereas the average length of time a child in foster care
remains in foster care is almost 3 years;
Whereas for many foster children, the wait for a loving
family in which they are nurtured, comforted, and protected
is endless;
Whereas every year 25,000 children ``age out'' of foster
care by reaching adulthood without being placed in a
permanent home;
Whereas, since 1987, the number of annual adoptions has
ranged from 118,000 to 127,000;
Whereas approximately 2,100,000 children in the United
States live with adoptive parents;
Whereas approximately 6 of every 10 Americans have been
touched personally by adoption in that they, a family member,
or a close friend was adopted, has adopted a child, or has
placed a child for adoption;
Whereas every day loving and nurturing families are formed
when committed and dedicated individuals make an important
difference in the life of a child through adoption;
Whereas, on November 20, 2004, communities from all 50
States and the District of Columbia will celebrate National
Adoption Day by finalizing the adoption of thousands of
children by loving families; and
Whereas on November 4, 2004, the President proclaimed
November 2004 as National Adoption Month: Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved, That the Senate recognizes November 2004 as
National Adoption Month.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.
[[Page S11523]]
Mr. BOND. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in
morning business for up to 5 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. FEINGOLD. Reserving the right to object.
Mr. BOND. I thank the President.
Mr. FEINGOLD. Madam President, reserving the right to object, I will
not object to these remarks, but subsequent to that we will begin the
postcloture discussion of the issue before the Senate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. BOND. Madam President, I commend my colleagues from Louisiana and
Idaho. It was a very touching story of the Senator from Louisiana which
highlights the importance of adoption month. This is a wonderful effort
that my two colleagues have launched. We are pleased to support them
and the President's efforts and all those wonderful people who take
adopted children into their home.
(The remarks of Mr. Bond pertaining to the introduction of
S. 3009 are located in today's Record under ``Statements on
Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
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