[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 191 (Monday, November 9, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6615-S6616]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        NATIONAL ADOPTION MONTH

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, November is National Adoption Month.
  Each November, families across the country finalize adoptions and 
celebrate the creation of new families and connections. On National 
Adoption Day, which is celebrated on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, 
a special effort is made to finalize as many pending adoptions as 
possible. Last year, over 4,000 adoptions were finalized on that day. 
While I am sure that this day will look a little different this year 
due to the coronavirus, I am confident that family courts and child 
welfare agencies will still make it a special day for many, many 
families--happy families--because they will be able to bring new ones 
into their families.
  The pandemic has created significant challenges for the children and 
families in our child welfare system. With travel restrictions and 
limits on visitors in hospitals, adoptive parents are meeting their 
children for the first time ever over video chat instead of in person. 
Kids in foster care are having to wait longer for placements, and 
foster parents are facing the added stress of school closures. Court 
proceedings are taking place over Zoom. Despite the challenges, both 
new challenges and old challenges that can accompany adoption, parents 
in Iowa and across the country are still making the choice to open 
their hearts and homes to children in need.
  Congress has worked in the past to reduce barriers that would-be 
adoptive parents face. I will continue my efforts of making sure 
adoption remains an option for children in foster care who can't be 
reunited with their families, women who are facing unexpected 
pregnancies, and all parents who are willing and able to provide safe 
and loving homes for kids in need. There were over 100,000 children in 
the foster care system who were waiting for adoption in 2019. That 
100,000 was approximately one-fourth of the number of kids in foster 
care. Congress must work in a bipartisan way, as it has for many years, 
to make sure adoption can become a reality, not just a dream, for all 
of these kids. We must also make sure that child welfare agencies have 
the tools and flexibilities they need to serve the families in their 
communities.
  For years in the Senate, I have worked to elevate the voices of youth 
in the foster care system. These young people are their own best 
advocates, and they can tell you that the thing they want the most is a 
caring and loving family and a permanent home. What would you expect 
from any of these young people who are moved from home to home maybe 
two or three times in a given year?
  As I continue to work in Congress toward the goal of helping all 
children find their forever families, I will always keep the best 
interests of children at the forefront.

[[Page S6616]]

  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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