[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 64 (Wednesday, April 29, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H4959-H4960]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PROTECTING INCENTIVES FOR THE ADOPTION OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS 
                              ACT OF 2009

  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
Senate bill (S. 735) to ensure States receive adoption incentive 
payments for fiscal year 2008 in accordance with the Fostering 
Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008.
  The Clerk read the title of the Senate bill.
  The text of the Senate bill is as follows:

                                 S. 735

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Incentives for 
     the Adoption of Children with Special Needs Act of 2009''.

     SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF RESTRICTION ON PAYMENTS FOR FISCAL 
                   YEAR 2008.

       Effective as if included in the enactment of the Omnibus 
     Appropriations Act, 2009 (Public Law 111-8), title II of 
     division F of such Act is amended under the heading 
     ``children and families services programs'' under the heading 
     ``Administration for Children and Families'', by striking 
     ``That without regard to the fiscal year limitations set 
     forth in section 473A of the Social Security Act, from the 
     amounts appropriated herein, the Secretary shall pay adoption 
     incentives for fiscal year 2008 in the same manner as such 
     incentives were awarded in fiscal year 2008 for the previous 
     fiscal year: Provided further,''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. McDermott) and the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Linder) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Washington.


                             General Leave

  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
exclude extraneous material on this bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Washington?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, last fall, Congress passed bipartisan legislation that 
provided broad improvements to our Nation's child welfare system. The 
legislation, the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing 
Adoptions Act, won unanimous approval in both the House and Senate last 
fall and was signed into law a short time later.
  The landmark legislation represented the most significant reform in 
the child welfare system in over a decade.
  Among the provisions of the Fostering Connections to Success and 
Increasing Adoptions Act was the reauthorization and improvement of the 
Adoption Incentives Program. To encourage and reward States for 
increasing the number of children who are able to leave the public 
foster care system for a safe, permanent and loving adopted home, 
Congress established the Adoption Incentives Program in 1997 as part of 
the Adoption and Safe Families Act. The Adoption Incentives Program 
provides States with financial incentives for increasing, above a 
certain specific baseline, the number of adoptive families for children 
in foster care, particularly for those with disabilities or with other 
special needs or for older youth.
  The bill under consideration, the Protecting Incentives for the 
Adoption of Children with Special Needs Act of 2009, will ensure that 
the improvements made to the Adoption Incentives Program last fall are 
implemented as Congress intended.
  The bipartisan bill eliminates a restriction that was inadvertently 
placed in the Adoption Incentives Program by the Omnibus Appropriations 
Act of 2009. The Omnibus Appropriations Act included a provision that 
required the Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, to pay 
adoption incentive payments awarded for fiscal year 2008 in the same 
manner as they were awarded in the previous years. The provision was 
prior to the changes being made to the program of the Fostering 
Connections for Success and Increasing Adoptions Act.
  The bill before us simply eliminates the provision included in the 
Omnibus Appropriations Act, thereby allowing HHS to base upcoming award 
payments on the new criteria established by last fall's bipartisan 
child welfare legislation. Removing the inadvertent provision will 
ensure that the newly reauthorized and improved Adoption Incentives 
Program is operated as intended by Congress.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LINDER. I thank the gentleman from Washington for bringing this 
bill to the floor.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Protecting Incentives for the 
Adoption of Children with Special Needs Act of 2009. This bipartisan 
legislation makes an important technical fix to ensure that Congress' 
intent is carried out and that States have improved financial 
incentives to help more children in foster care find permanent, loving 
adoptive homes.
  This legislation continues a long tradition of bipartisan activity by 
the Ways and Means Committee, a tradition designed to promote the 
adoption of children from foster care. In 1997, the committee played a 
key role in crafting the landmark Adoption and Safe Families Act; in 
2003 the Adoption Promotion Act; and last fall the Fostering 
Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008. These laws 
streamline the adoption process. They encourage more efforts to quickly 
move children from foster care into permanent, loving homes, and they 
helped achieve the dramatic increases in the number of children 
successfully adopted from foster care in the past decade. In each case, 
the legislation was designed to benefit children who face some of the 
most daunting personal challenges in our country--those who have spent 
years, sometimes practically all of their lives, in the foster care 
system.
  The legislation before us today would ensure the goals of last year's 
bipartisan Fostering Connections law are realized. That legislation 
encouraged increased adoptions from foster care by revising the 
Adoption Incentives Program and by extending its authorization through 
fiscal year 2013.
  Among other improvements, the Fostering Connections law gave States 
more generous Federal funds if they helped more families adopt children 
now languishing for years in foster care, especially older and disabled 
children.
  Unfortunately, the fiscal year 2009 omnibus appropriations bill, 
which passed through the House with limited consideration, included an 
error that effectively overrides some of the improvements in last 
year's Fostering Connections law. In short, the omnibus bill 
incorrectly stipulated that adoption incentive funds should be provided 
under the old, less generous rules Congress wanted to replace instead 
of the new, more generous rules included in the Fostering Connections 
law.
  This legislation makes a simple repair of ensuring that congressional 
intent is followed so that States have the full intended incentives to 
promote the adoption of older and disabled children in foster care, 
among others. According to the Congressional Budget Office, this 
technical fix has no cost.
  I would like to thank my colleagues, Representatives Camp and 
Rangel--ranking member and chairman of the House Committee on Ways and 
Means respectively--for introducing legislation to correct this error 
in the House. Their bill, H.R. 1840, is identical to the

[[Page H4960]]

legislation before us, S. 735, which Senators Baucus and Grassley 
introduced in the Senate and worked to pass earlier this month.
  I encourage all Members to support this important legislation so it 
can be signed into law as quickly as possible.

                                                   April 15, 2009.
     Hon. Charles Rangel, Chairman,
     Hon. Dave Camp, Ranking Member,
     Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Representatives Rangel and Camp: On behalf of the 
     American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) and its 
     affiliate the National Association of Public Child Welfare 
     Administrators (NAPCWA), we applaud and support your efforts 
     to fix the incentive program for states that increase their 
     numbers of adoptions from foster care and support H.R. 1840.
       As you know, the adoption incentive program, originally 
     part of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-
     89), was reauthorized in the previous Congress through the 
     Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act 
     of 2008 (P.L. 110-351). States perform well when provided 
     with incentives. Between 1998 and 2006, states received 
     approximately $211 million in incentive bonuses for 
     increasing the number of children adopted from foster care. 
     During the same time period, nearly half a million children 
     were adopted from state custody. Today, the waiting child 
     population tends to have higher special needs and may pose 
     challenges for caseworkers to find families willing to adopt 
     them.
       The reauthorizing language reset the base number of 
     adoptions a state needs to finalize to earn an incentive 
     bonus to FY 2007. For each child adopted above that baseline, 
     a state will continue to receive $4,000. Recognizing that 
     older children and children with special needs may be more 
     difficult to place in adoptive homes, Congress improved the 
     bonus awards. The incentive amount for adopted children nine 
     or older increased from $4,000 to $8,000 and adopted special 
     needs children increased from $2,000 to $4,000. For the first 
     time, Congress also added an increased rate of adoptions 
     bonus for states. To earn this bonus, states must achieve a 
     ``foster care adoption rate'' that exceeds its previous 
     ``highest ever foster child adoption rate'' back to 2002 
     adoption numbers. Moreover, states now have 24 months to 
     spend incentive funds on any Title IV-E and IV-B programs.
       These were significant improvements to the program that 
     would help many children languishing in foster care find 
     permanent loving homes with adoptive families. However, due 
     to an oversight, the recent Omnibus 2009 Appropriations Act 
     (P.L. 111-8) changed the adoption incentive program back to 
     pre-Fostering Connections. Prior to the reset of the 
     baseline, many states were unable to reach continued higher 
     goals of finalized adoptions and the numbers of children 
     waiting to be adopted were starting to decline in many 
     states.
       On behalf of those that work so diligently to find homes 
     for waiting children, we thank you for fixing this oversight. 
     You are true champions for our nation's most vulnerable 
     children.
           Sincerely,
                                                   Jerry Friedman,
     Executive Director.
                                  ____



                                              American Humane,

                                   Alexandria, VA, April 27, 2009.
     Re HR 1840--Protecting Incentives for the Adoption of 
         Children with Special Needs Act of 2009.

     Hon. Charles Rangel, Chairman,
     Hon. Dave Camp, Ranking Member,
     Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Representatives Rangel and Camp: American Humane 
     supports HR 1840, the Protecting Incentives for the Adoption 
     of Children with Special Needs Act of 2009, which would 
     ensure that States receive adoption incentive payments for 
     fiscal year 2008 in accordance with the Fostering Connections 
     to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-
     351).
       American Humane is a national, nonpartisan membership 
     organization that was founded in 1877 to protect the welfare 
     of children and animals. Our support for the Protecting 
     Incentives for the Adoption of Children with Special Needs 
     Act reflects an over 100-year history of progressively 
     advocating at the federal, state and local levels for laws 
     that protect children and animals from abuse and neglect.
       The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing 
     Adoptions Act of 2008 reset the base number of adoptions a 
     state needs to finalize to earn an incentive bonus to FY 
     2007. Recognizing that older children and children with 
     special needs may be more difficult to place in adoptive 
     homes, Congress improved the bonus awards. Congress also 
     added an increased rate of adoptions bonus for states. To 
     earn this bonus, states must achieve a ``foster care adoption 
     rate'' that exceeds its previous ``highest ever foster child 
     adoption rate'' back to 2002 adoption numbers.
       However, due to an oversight, the recent Omnibus 2009 
     Appropriations Act (P.L. 111-8) changed the adoption 
     incentive program back to pre-Fostering Connections. HR 1840 
     will restore the reset of the baseline to help give more 
     children permanent homes.
       Thank you for your leadership on such an important issue. 
     We look forward to continuing to work with you. Please do not 
     hesitate to contact Patty Chavez, Legislative Analyst, if we 
     can be of further. assistance.
           Sincerely,
     Allie Phillips,
       Director of Public Policy.
     Patty Chavez,
       Legislative Analyst.

  Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to support S. 735, the 
``Protecting Incentives for the Adoption of Children with Special Needs 
Act of 2009.''
  Throughout my time in Congress, I have built on the lessons I learned 
working as an attorney helping families with their adoption 
proceedings. As a Member of the Committee on Ways and Means, I have 
been privileged to continue working on these issues, helping parents 
adopt children and form loving families. I am still impressed with the 
number of individuals, organizations, and legislators interested in the 
well-being and development of children and in encouraging more families 
to take in and adopt children in foster care.
  Congress has made important strides improving the adoption process, 
by enacting my legislation, the Adoption and Safe Families Act, in 
1997, followed by the Adoption Promotion Act in 2003. Additionally, 
just last fall I was pleased to support the Fostering Connections to 
Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008, which was enacted with 
bipartisan and bicameral support. The legislation further encouraged 
adoptions from foster care by revising the Adoption Incentives program 
and extending its authorization through fiscal year 2013. Among other 
improvements, this law gave States more generous Federal incentive 
funds if they succeed in helping more families adopt children now 
languishing for years in foster care--especially older and disabled 
children.
  Unfortunately, the fiscal year 2009 Omnibus Appropriations bill (P.L. 
111-8), which passed through the House with limited consideration, 
included a flawed provision that effectively overrides the improvements 
to the Adoption Incentive program made in last year's Fostering 
Connections law.
  In short, the Omnibus bill incorrectly stipulated that Adoption 
Incentive funds should be provided under the ``old'', less generous 
rules Congress wanted to replace, instead of the ``new'', more generous 
rules included in the Fostering Connections law. That means States 
would have less incentive to pursue the adoption of older and disabled 
children in foster care, among others, because they would receive less 
Federal funds if they are successful in achieving those goals.
  We can't know for sure which States would lose if this fix is not 
made, because we don't yet know which States will successfully improve 
their performance in increasing adoptions in the wake of the Fostering 
Connections law. But we do know that America's most vulnerable young 
people stand to lose if, as a result of this error, they spend more 
time in foster care instead of with loving adoptive families. We can't 
and shouldn't let that happen.
  That is why I and my colleague Charlie Rangel, the Chairman of the 
House Committee on Ways and Means, introduced legislation to correct 
this error. Our bill (H.R. 1840) is identical to the legislation (S. 
735) the Senate passed on April 2 and that is being considered by the 
House today.
  I encourage all Members to support this important legislation so it 
can be signed into law as quickly as possible.
  Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Cuellar). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill, S. 735.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the Senate bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________