[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 23, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6556-S6557]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ROCKEFELLER:
  S. 1462. A bill to amend part E of title IV of the Social Security 
Act to promote the adoption of children with special needs; to the 
Committee on Finance.
  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the 
Adoption Equality Act of 2007. This legislation is an issue of 
fairness. It clearly states that every special needs child who needs 
adoption assistance in order to gain a safe, permanent home deserves 
it.
  Throughout my career in the Senate, I have sought to strengthen and 
improve policies for the most vulnerable children, children who are at-
risk of abuse and neglect in their own homes. While foster care is able 
to provide for the basic needs of these children, we must ultimately be 
able to provide them with a safe permanent home.
  Congress demonstrated their dedication to this when they passed the 
1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act, which led to the number of 
nationwide adoptions nearly doubling. But even with

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these significant gains we cannot forget over 100,000 children in 
foster care are waiting for adoption. In West Virginia, there are 94 
children waiting for adoption. For some of these children, described as 
having ``special needs,'' placement in a safe permanent home is 
especially difficult. Special needs children face increased obstacles 
in adoption due to factors such as their age, disability, or status as 
part of a group of siblings needing to be placed together.
  In an effort to offer additional support to those in foster care who 
have the most difficulty finding a safe and permanent home, adoption 
subsidies are provided to encourage the adoption of ``special needs'' 
children. These subsidy payments provide essential income support to 
help families finance the daily basic costs of raising these children, 
as well as support for special services like therapy, tutoring, or 
special equipment for disabled children.
  Yet, the current law does not make these Federal subsidies available 
to all families adopting ``special needs'' children. Under this law, 
only a fraction of the children waiting to be adopted would qualify for 
support. Federal subsidies are only given to families who adopt special 
needs children whose biological family would have qualified for welfare 
benefits. This is, simply, wrong. A child's eligibility for these 
important benefits should not be dependent on the income of his or her 
biological parents, these are the parents whose legal rights to the 
child have been terminated, the parents who have abused or neglected 
the child.
  It is time to create a Federal policy that levels the playing field 
and gives all children with special needs an equal and fair chance at 
being adopted. The Adoption Equality Act of 2007 will do this by 
removing the requirement that an income eligibility determination be 
made in regard to the child's biological parents, thereby making all 
children who meet the definition of ``special needs'' eligible for 
Federal adoption subsidies. The bill would also give States an 
incentive to make additional improvements to their welfare systems by 
requiring that States reinvest the moneys they save as a result of this 
bill back into their State child abuse and neglect programs.
  The lack of modest financial resources to support these adoptions is 
often the only barrier that stands between an abused child and a safe, 
loving home. This bill is a wise investment if we want to truly help 
our most vulnerable children find a permanent home.
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