[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 18]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 24430]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            RECOGNIZING NOVEMBER AS NATIONAL ADOPTION MONTH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 20, 2008

  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam speaker, National Adoption Month is a 
time when Americans can come together to celebrate families grown by 
adoption. Individuals and families choose adoption for many reasons. 
Common to all adoptive families is that they offer loving, permanent 
homes to children without such a blessing. Multiple States, 
neighborhoods, and agencies across the United States hold events during 
this month to encourage families to give children the gift of family 
through adoption.
  There are many types of adoption. In 2007, approximately 51,000 
children were adopted from the U.S. foster care system and 20,000 
children were adopted internationally. Tens of thousands of children 
also are adopted within the United States each year. I recognize the 
joy and love that each of these families offers its adoptive children. 
I know that Raschke family from Oak Park, IL, exemplifies the happiness 
and rewards of being an adoptive family. Joe and Cathleen Raschke 
welcomed Nicholas Dan Raschke to their family in August 2006. Nicholas 
was adopted from the Vinh Long Orphanage in Vinh Long, Vietnam. As a 
young Chicagoan, Nicholas loves the Cubs, cold weather, and good food.
  We have done great work here in Congress to promote adoption. We 
recently passed Public Law 110-351, the Fostering Connections to 
Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008. This new law is designed 
to help place children in permanent, caring families through 
reunification, adoption, and guardianship. In addition to reauthorizing 
the Adoption and Safe Families Act, the new law supports subsidized 
guardianship, a policy approach that provides Federal support to 
kinship caregivers who provide their young relatives permanent, loving 
homes. I am pleased that we are taking steps to improve the lives of 
America's youth that are filled with desperate need.
  So, during the 2008 National Adoption Month, I tip my hat to those 
who have opened their families via adoption, providing the care and 
love needed to grow our youngest citizens into tomorrow's leaders.

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