[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Page 22251]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 ADOPTION AND SAFE FAMILIES ACT OF 1997

  The resolution (S. Res. 547) recognizing and supporting the successes 
of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 in increasing adoption, 
observing the efforts that the act has spurred, including National 
Adoption Day and National Adoption Month, and encouraging citizens of 
the United States to consider adoption throughout the year was 
considered and agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution (S. Res. 547), with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 547

       Whereas, since the passage of the Adoption and Safe 
     Families Act of 1997 (42 U.S.C. 1305 note; Public Law 105-
     89), the number of children adopted from the foster care 
     system has increased significantly, with approximately 51,000 
     children adopted from the foster care system in fiscal year 
     2004 alone;
       Whereas, despite that remarkable progress, approximately 
     118,000 children in the foster care system of the United 
     States are waiting to be adopted, and 49 percent of those 
     children are at least 9 years old;
       Whereas adoptive families make an important difference in 
     the lives of the children they adopt by providing a stable, 
     nurturing environment for those children;
       Whereas National Adoption Day is a collective national 
     effort to find permanent, loving families for children in the 
     foster care system;
       Whereas both National Adoption Day and National Adoption 
     Month occur in November;
       Whereas, in 2002, the Department of Health and Human 
     Services launched a series of public service announcements 
     promoting the adoption of children aged 8 and older;
       Whereas more than 6,000 children have been placed into 
     adoptive homes since the Department of Health and Human 
     Services launched www.adoptuskids.org. a national photo 
     listing service for children awaiting adoption across the 
     United States;
       Whereas, in 2005, judges, attorneys, adoption 
     professionals, child welfare agencies, and child advocates in 
     45 States and the District of Columbia participated in 227 
     events in conjunction with National Adoption Day; and
       Whereas those events finalized the adoptions of more than 
     3,300 children from the foster care system: Now, therefore, 
     be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes and supports--
       (A) the success of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 
     1997 (42 U.S.C. 1305 note; Public Law 105-89) and the efforts 
     that the Act has spurred; and
       (B) the goals and ideals of National Adoption Day and 
     National Adoption Month; and
       (2) encourages the citizens of the United States to 
     consider adoption throughout the year.

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