[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 117 (Tuesday, September 19, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H6692-H6694]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1715
    RECOGNIZING AND SUPPORTING THE SUCCESS OF THE ADOPTION AND SAFE 
                          FAMILIES ACT OF 1997

  Mr. CAMP of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
agree to the resolution (H. Res. 959) recognizing and supporting the 
success of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 in increasing 
adoption and the efforts the Act has spurred including National 
Adoption Day and National Adoption Month, and encouraging adoption 
throughout the year.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                              H. Res. 959

       Whereas since the passage of the Adoption and Safe Families 
     Act of 1997, the number of children adopted from foster care 
     has increased significantly, with approximately 51,000 
     children adopted from foster care in fiscal year 2004 alone;
       Whereas despite this remarkable progress, approximately 
     118,000 children in the United States foster care system are 
     waiting to be adopted, and 49 percent of these children are 
     at least nine years old;
       Whereas adoptive families make an important difference in 
     the lives of the children they adopt by providing a stable, 
     nurturing environment for those children;
       Whereas National Adoption Day is a collective national 
     effort to find permanent, loving families for children in 
     foster care;
       Whereas both National Adoption Day and National Adoption 
     Month are in November;
       Whereas the Department of Health and Human Services 
     launched a series of public service announcements promoting 
     the adoption of children eight and older in 2002;
       Whereas more than 6,000 children have been placed into 
     adoptive homes since the Department of Health and Human 
     Services launched www.adoptuskids.org, a national photo 
     listing service for children awaiting adoption across the 
     United States;
       Whereas judges, attorneys, adoption professionals, child 
     welfare agencies, and child advocates in 45 States and the 
     District of Columbia participated in 227 events in 
     conjunction with National Adoption Day in 2005; and
       Whereas these events finalized the adoptions of more than 
     3,300 children from foster care: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved,  That the House of Representatives--
       (1) recognizes and supports the success of the Adoption and 
     Safe Families Act of 1997 and of the efforts it has spurred;
       (2) recognizes and supports the goals and ideals of 
     National Adoption Day and National Adoption Month; and
       (3) encourages adoption throughout the year.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Camp) and the gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. Pomeroy) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan.
  Mr. CAMP of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.

[[Page H6693]]

  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 959, a resolution that 
recognizes the successes of the landmark Adoption and Safe Families Act 
and honors National Adoption Day and Month. I was proud to introduce 
this resolution and the Adoption and Safe Families Act, which we honor 
today.
  The work of Congress over the past decade has led to dramatic 
improvements for children in the foster care system. In fact, since 
1997, the number of children adopted from foster care has increased 
significantly, from 28,000 in 1998 to 51,000 in 2004.
  I have been pleased to work with my colleagues to refocus Federal 
child welfare programs, to ensure the best interests of children are 
first. The way to make that happen is to place children in safe, 
permanent loving homes. That is why National Adoption Day and Month are 
so important.
  This year, National Adoption Day will take place on November 18, 
2006, and is designed for communities around the country to highlight 
adoptions. Last year, over 227 events were held in 45 States, which 
finalized the adoption of 3,300 children.
  I have been honored to participate in these events the past several 
years. To be part of such a special occasion reinforces the need for 
further efforts to move children into adoptive homes. I would like to 
applaud the Department of Health and Human Services for their efforts 
in this cause. In 2002, HHS launched a series of public service 
announcements promoting the adoption of children eight and older and 
activated the Web site www.adoptUSkids.com. This Web site has helped 
move 6,000 children into adoptive homes.
  The consideration of this resolution today is timely. Tomorrow, the 
Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute will be holding its 
annual Angels in Adoption awards ceremony. This event also seeks to 
highlight those who have opened their hearts and their homes.
  The couple I nominated this year, Pam and Randy Streu of Midland, 
Michigan, have three biological children, and have opened their hearts 
and their home to seven adopted children and almost 50 adoptive foster 
children placements. They deserve special recognition, not just for the 
number of children they have helped, but for helping those children 
that needed the most love. When others may have said the challenge was 
too great, Pam and Randy stepped in, recognizing that each life was 
worth fighting for and that it was about hope and love.
  I first got involved by helping families with their adoption 
proceedings in private practice as a court-appointed lawyer. Since that 
time, I felt that the government should do more to encourage adoption 
and help those in the foster care system. That is why it is so 
important to recognize families who make extraordinary efforts to 
welcome children into their family.
  I thank my colleagues who have helped me move this resolution 
forward, including Mr. Herger, chairman of the Ways and Means Human 
Resources Subcommittee; Mr. McDermott, the ranking member of the 
subcommittee; and Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite and Mr. Oberstar, co-chairs of 
the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute. I look forward to 
further working with my colleagues to promote adoption.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. POMEROY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to speak in behalf of H. Res. 959. As 
was described by Congressman Camp, the bill recognizes National 
Adoption Month and National Adoption Day. It commemorates the success 
of the Adoption and Safe Families Act and encourages adoption.
  As Congressman Camp noted, it is particularly timely that the House 
take action on this resolution today, the week we have heroes from 
around the country into Washington celebrating the Angels in Adoption 
gala in recognition of their extraordinary commitment to the adopted 
children that have been brought into their families.
  I want to tell about the North Dakota family of Pat and Michelle 
Beyer. They are in town this week. They have quite a story, like each 
and every family being honored at the Angels in Adoption gala.
  Pat is a North Dakota National Guardsman. He is on leave from his 
service in Iraq. At home, Michelle is raising two naturally born 
children, three adopted children, each of whom have some special needs, 
and this wonderful loving couple is now proceeding with the adoption of 
yet another child with special needs.
  Mr. Speaker, your heart goes out to people like this. They really 
reflect, I believe, the very best of goodwill and compassion in our 
country. I am so proud of them.
  Even as I speak about what they have done to make their home 
available to children and what we recognize with adopted families 
everywhere in terms of the homes they create for children, the 
fundamental and profound truth of adoption, in my view, is that the 
parents benefit far more than they possibly could contribute to the 
children. I know a little bit about what I am talking about on this 
score. These are my children, Kathryn and Scott, adopted from Korea, 
the best thing that ever happened to me. So I care just enormously 
about this resolution.
  I also want to for a moment congratulate my colleague Dave Camp for 
his role in the passage of what has been a very important piece of 
legislation to encourage and move adoption forward.
  I remember very well 10 years ago with C-SPAN on in my office hearing 
floor debate about a proposal that was precisely something that had 
been worrying me for months, because I had been told in North Dakota by 
judges that things were out of whack, that in this business of 
evaluating children in foster care, the best interests of the child 
were being hopelessly confused and sometimes placed secondary to the 
goal of family reunification of completely dysfunctional families.
  Now, maybe Congress had a role in its earlier legislation in giving 
some confusion out there to the social services system, but there was 
one thing we knew, and we knew very clearly, to a person, Republican 
and Democrat, and I also commend Barbara Kennelly, the lead cosponsor 
on the legislation, and that was put the best interests of the children 
first, foremost, exclusively, only. We wanted nothing more than to 
advance the interests of the children.
  The legislation straightened that out, and made no bones about it, 
and then placed substantial expectations on the system with defined 
time limits about children who had been just kicked down the road 
without end in interim foster care arrangements. We wanted them moved 
out of those arrangements and into permanent adoptive status, to the 
extent we possibly could.
  You know, there are a lot of things we do here, and we sure mean the 
best as we do them, and we don't always know how they work. Well, the 
jury is in on this one, and this act has worked, I think perhaps even 
better than I had hoped it might.
  The number of children annually adopted out of the foster care system 
has nearly doubled, from 27,000 in 1996 to 52,000 in 2004. The North 
Dakota situation I had been worrying about, we have gone from 41 
adopted in 1996 to 128 in 2004. We tripled.
  So, again, David Camp, as I told you that day in debate, you have got 
a real fine piece of work here, and I again commend you for the 
leadership you have played in such an important bill.
  Another aspect of this bill, in addition to the time expectation put 
forward by Congress, we actually put some money on the table as 
positive incentives for States that really took the charge to move 
children into permanent adoptive homes. We have paid out more than $200 
million to States since that legislation. I think it has without 
question proven to be an extremely effective and cost-effective use of 
taxpayer dollars. It is also a reminder and something I think we need 
to keep in mind as we look at what else we can do that the carrot needs 
to go along with the stick.
  Another positive bill we passed in advancing legislation is moving 
the tax credit for adoption expenses into law and then increasing it so 
it more appropriately reflects expenses incurred by a family in seeking 
to adopt.
  I have gotten to experience the miracle of adoption in my life, but I 
don't think that in any way you have to have some kind of financial 
status to experience this miracle. We want everybody

[[Page H6694]]

to be able to experience this miracle, if they want to open their homes 
and raise children in an adoptive family. So increasing this tax credit 
from $5,000 to $10,000 is important. My Ways and Means colleague, Nancy 
Johnson, has played an important role on that one.
  Now, for all the platitudes, and they were especially in 
commemorating the successes important to make, I know David doesn't 
feel like we have arrived and gotten the job done. I don't either. We 
have more to do. There are 118,000 foster children today waiting to be 
adopted. To find a loving home for every waiting child, we should focus 
more attention on recruiting adoptive parents and on providing post-
adoption services to help families with ongoing medical, counseling and 
referral needs.
  In the passage of this resolution, I hope there is a bit of this vote 
that represents a recommittal to continuing to explore whatever we can 
do to unite families, parents who want to provide a loving home to 
innocent, precious children that so richly deserve it.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CAMP of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North 
Dakota for his comments, a distinguished member of the Ways and Means 
Committee.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. 
Ginny Brown-Waite).
  Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in 
support of this resolution. The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 
has proven itself instrumental in increasing adoption in every month of 
the year. The legislation made it easier to adopt children across State 
lines, and it also provided some financial incentives to States to 
improve their foster care systems.
  Prior to adoption of the bill, the number of children in foster care 
and the length of time that they spent in foster care was rapidly 
increasing. In just two decades prior to the mid-1990s, the number of 
children in the foster care system more than doubled. The crisis was 
threatening to overwhelm various State social services departments. 
More importantly, it was brutally unfair to hundreds and thousands of 
children.
  However, since passage of the bill in 1997, the number of children 
adopted out of foster care has actually increased by some 65 percent. 
In 1996, only 31,000 children were adopted. By 2004, that number rose 
to 51,000. It is a start. We certainly need to have more adoptive 
families out there.
  Moreover, not only are more children being adopted, but they are also 
spending less time in the foster care system. However, this Congress 
must not forget that hundreds of thousands of children still remain in 
the foster care system and more still remains to be done. This year 
alone, those older foster care children, some 19,000, will age out of 
the foster care system. Additionally, one in five children will still 
languish in foster care for more than 5 years.

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