[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 107 (Thursday, July 16, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7642-S7643]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. LANDRIEU (for herself and Mr. Inhofe):
  S. 1458. A bill to encourage the development and implementation of a 
comprehensive, global strategy for the preservation and reunification 
of families and the provision of permanent parental care for orphans; 
to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I rise to introduce a bill called the 
Families for Orphans Act that Senator Inhofe and I are sponsoring.
  We are very fortunate, indeed, to have a Secretary of State who is 
quite knowledgeable about this subject. The office we seek to create 
would be housed within the Department of State under the watchful eye 
of Secretary Hillary Clinton, who did so much work on this subject when 
she was a Member of the Senate and even prior to her service in the 
Senate as First Lady of both Arkansas and the United States. So I am 
particularly happy we would be recommending what is, I think, a very 
appropriate establishment of an office within the Office of the 
Secretary of State.
  This bill has been discussed for several years here. We have had 
several opportunities for debate on the floor. But a great coalition 
has come together, representing advocates for orphans around the world, 
to come together in a unified way to make a strong argument that this 
kind of office should indeed be established. There are some very 
compelling reasons why this should be.
  First of all, right now in our system, there is no coordination in 
the Office of the Secretary of State or in the Department of State for 
policies related to orphans. This is an alarming situation because the 
number of orphans is growing exponentially in the world due to an 
increase in conflicts in many parts of the world; severe droughts and 
natural disasters that are causing families to be separated, children 
from adults; and the AIDS epidemic. Some people have referred to it as 
a factory that produces orphans. And you can understand the nature of 
that disease.
  So the actions we take relative to trying to get a more coordinated 
policy are very important, and that is what this bill seeks to do.

[[Page S7643]]

  It is, I think, understood among all Members of this body--I do not 
even hear one dissenting voice--that the most appropriate place for 
children to grow up is in a family.
  We think there are over 130 million orphans in the world who have 
been deprived for whatever reason--death or war or famine or disease--
of their right to belong to a family. It is our obligation as the 
leaders of the world to try to find the best possible substitute family 
for these children.
  Children don't do a very good job of raising themselves. That is a 
virtual impossibility. Our efforts, unfortunately, dealing with 
children have been focused on their survival, on just getting medical 
care and health care and food and nutrition. I don't think we are doing 
enough as a government to focus on reuniting children with whatever 
extended family might be possible for them to be raised by, and then 
looking out somewhere beyond the extended family opportunity to 
domestic families who would take in that child and their siblings. We 
most certainly have not made the kind of effort I think is appropriate 
and is a ready source of loving arms in families in terms of the 
international community that would like to step up and adopt many 
children who are unable to find families in their own countries. That 
is basically what this office would do.
  It would coordinate efforts by the aid and development community 
that, as I said, are currently focused on nutrition, housing, 
education, and medical care, and would refocus efforts on that, plus 
reunification of families and then adoption opportunities.
  First, as I said, the U.S. programs are disconnected. Secondly, the 
United States, right now, in our opinion, does not engage in enough 
proactive diplomacy on this issue. Third, the United States should be 
able to advise and support other countries in the development of their 
own child welfare systems. We know we have made so many mistakes in the 
United States. We hate to see countries making similar mistakes. Some 
of those mistakes would be terminating parental rights, not being 
aggressive enough in seeking placement within extended families, 
separating siblings in placement, and then, the worst of all--if those 
things aren't bad enough--the worst of all, leaving children who have 
had their parental rights terminated basically stuck in limbo for 10 or 
12 or 14, and in some extreme cases, 18 years in foster care where they 
never have a permanent parent or a permanent family to call their own.
  I would remind my colleagues, because I continue to remind myself, 
that a child is never too old to need a parent. We all think of 
adoption as adopting infants or toddlers or school-aged children, but I 
would suggest to this body and to those listening that you are never 
too old to need a father or a mother. At the age of 54, I continue to 
talk to my parents regularly. They continue to give me advice and 
counsel. I have been blessed to have grandparents well into my adult 
life. The thought of a child growing up at any age--18, 20, 5, 12--
without any permanent attachment to a family is tragic. The fact is 
there are methods and resources we can bring to bear to change that 
outcome for the millions of orphans who are in the world in our own 
country and around the world. That is what this office does.
  The primary functions will be to act as a primary adviser to the 
Secretary of State and to the President to provide diplomatic 
representation, to develop an evidence-based, comprehensive global 
strategy, to support foreign governments through sound policy and 
technical assistance, to develop best practices with cultural 
sensitivity, and to support in-country family preservation, 
reunification, and permanency as primary solutions, using domestic 
adoption and international adoption as basically the last 
possibilities.
  One of the most important things in the bill is to conduct a census 
because we don't know how many orphans there are in the world and in 
what countries. Until we get a handle on the numbers, it is very hard 
to find appropriate solutions and to mobilize the world community to 
act.
  I contend there are millions and millions and millions of families 
who are able and willing and ready to take in orphans, to build their 
family through adoption, to add to the blessing of biological children, 
children who have come to their families through adoption. I have had 
personal experience myself with that issue. I am excited about the 
possibility of coordinating this effort and can think of no better 
person than Secretary Hillary Clinton to provide the leadership to 
establish this office as the Congress seeks to fund it and provide the 
resources to make it work.
  So that is a description of the Families for Orphans Act. It is a 
bipartisan bill. We are getting extremely exciting feedback from our 
colleagues in the House. Representative Diane Watson from California 
and Representative John Boozman from Arkansas have introduced an 
identical bill, so we are very encouraged by the work the House has 
done on this subject and look forward to a quick hearing and quick 
passage.
                                 ______