[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 147 (Tuesday, September 16, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8851-S8852]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO MARK MILLAR

 Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I congratulate Mark Millar on 
receiving the 2008 Angels in Adoption Award, a tremendous honor that 
highlights his tireless commitment to achieving permanent family 
connections for children in foster care in Maine. What a well-deserved 
accolade for such an ennobling endeavor.
  Mark Millar began his career as a protective services worker and has 
been a critical part of Casey Family Services in Portland for more than 
20 years. In that time, he and his dedicated staff have helped 
transform the lives of countless families, by promoting kinship care, 
providing counseling and other services to strengthen families 
postadoption, and helping Maine reduce the amount of time required to 
reach legal permanence when a child enters foster care.
  Undoubtedly, we as a nation can and must do more to better equip 
families who sacrifice so much to provide safe, loving homes for 
children in foster care. For many families, the decision to open their 
home to a child is easy, but it can also be emotionally trying and 
financially taxing. That's why Mark Millar's work at Casey Family 
Services is so indispensable and profoundly worthy of this distinction. 
At a time where Federal dollars for child welfare services are 
regrettably too few, Mark Millar and Casey Family Services offer 
families a support system that is dependable and viable.
  Mark Millar has also performed remarkable work in helping teens 
prepare for the challenges of adulthood, whether though his efforts 
with the First Jobs program, which provides initial and transitional 
employment opportunities at Hannaford for youth aged 15-21, or Casey's 
outdoor work-readiness and skill development program. And he has been 
selfless in his extraordinary contributions and inspiring through the 
power of his benevolent example. In short, Mark understands and lives 
out what American novelist, Herman Melville, once eloquently described 
in words . . . ``We

[[Page S8852]]

cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand 
invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run 
as causes and return to us as results.''
  Championing the cause of children and garnering tangible results that 
effect the everyday lives of many Mainers are the true measure of 
Mark's phenomenal trajectory of accomplishment in helping others. And 
so, we couldn't be more grateful to Mark for what has given and 
continues to give back to Maine, and I couldn't be more pleased about 
this tribute bestowed upon him which is a fitting recognition of all he 
has achieved on behalf of all whom he has served.

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