[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12549]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               SAFE AND TIMELY PLACEMENT OF CHILDREN ACT

 Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I am delighted that the Safe 
and Timely Placement of Children Act was passed during the wrap-up 
session on Friday, June 23, 2006. I have worked with Senators DeWine 
and Domenici on this issue for several years to help foster children to 
be placed with adoptive parents or family across State lines.
  Currently it can take twice or three times as long for a child to be 
placed in a home, if that home happens to be in another State. This is 
sad, and it needs to be fixed.
  The House bill, identical to our Senate legislation, will help fix 
this process and help these children. It provides a mix of incentives 
and timeframes for States to achieve the safe and timely placement of 
children between States.
  This legislation was part of the WE CARE Kids Act, and it should help 
to deliver on the promises made in the Adoption and Safe Families Act 
of 1997 which stated that geographic barriers should not delay or deny 
adoptions. When a child leaves foster care and goes out of State, half 
of the time the child is being adopted and gaining a permanent home. In 
about 20 percent of the cases, a child is being placed with a relative. 
These are good, permanent options for children, and it should not take 
twice as long to achieve such a placement.
  In my view, this complements and builds upon actions by many States 
to update the 1960 Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children. 
The purpose of this legislation is to add specific timeframes and to 
provide Federal incentives to achieve the goal set in 1997 of reducing 
and eliminating geographic barriers.
  As technology has vastly improved and more families seek to open 
their hearts and homes to children in foster care, we need improved 
regulations and policies to serve such families. This legislation is 
part of the DeWine-Rockefeller bill, called the We Care Kids Act. 
Thanks to the leadership of Chairman Grassley, the major provisions of 
We Care Kids Act were included in the reconciliation package to invest 
in court training and data to help judges have insight and the 
information needed to care for the vulnerable children in foster care. 
But action could not be taken to improve interstate case planning 
within the reconciliation bill. In 2004, similar legislation passed the 
House of Representatives, and now it will finally become law.

                          ____________________