[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 16409-16411]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        NATIONAL ADOPTION MONTH

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, I rise today to speak about the 
significance of the month of November, which just began. About 10 years 
ago, Members of Congress decided to designate

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November as ``National Adoption Month.'' I think it was probably 
because November is sort of the beginning of the holiday season, with 
Thanksgiving and then Christmas to follow in December. So it is a time 
when Americans from all parts of our country take stock, slow down, and 
think about how important family is. We saw that a little bit last 
night with Halloween and all the children and their parents trick-or-
treating throughout our Nation. Then, as Thanksgiving approaches, it 
becomes even more significant as families from all different walks of 
life gather around tables.
  Some tables are very plentiful and others are rather sparse based on 
the economic strength of the family. Nonetheless, many families gather 
for these holidays.
  It reminds us that there are over 500,000 children in our country 
today who are without family. They have been separated from their 
families, sometimes for good cause, but it is all tragic. Children have 
to be separated from families that abuse or grossly neglect them, and 
they have to be placed temporarily until we, as government officials 
and nonprofit organizations, can do a better job of either 
strengthening and reuniting those children with their families and 
trying to heal the families or trying to promote another family for 
that child or that sibling group.
  We do much in Congress both collectively as well as individually in 
our own way to try to bring attention to the fact that there are 
orphans in America. Of the 500,000 children in foster care, about 
100,000 have had parental rights terminated because the State has 
decided that reunification is not possible because children would be 
harmed irreparably by going back to that family. So we work to try to 
find another family, a better family to raise children.
  Governments do a lot of things well, but one that governments don't 
do well is raise children. Moms and dads and parents and families and 
responsible adults do that, not government. So these children, then, 
are in the temporary care of the government, but it is our hope they 
can be placed as soon as possible into the loving arms of families.
  I have met hundreds of families who have adopted, including my own. 
It is a blessing to my husband and to me. I have just recently met a 
family from Minnesota. The parents already have several biological 
children. When they found out about the death of a woman and her 
husband in the Philippines that resulted in nine children of that 
family being orphaned, they stepped up and adopted all nine of those 
children from the Philippines. Because of the good work of Senator 
Klobuchar and others, they were able to bring that whole sibling group 
to the United States.
  I could go on and on and tell my colleagues the most remarkable 
stories. As Members travel around the Capitol complex this month, they 
will be very happy to see, in the Rotunda of the Russell Senate Office 
Building, a very special exhibit. It is the National Heart Gallery 
Exhibit.
  About some 10 years ago, or maybe even less, some great nonprofits 
got together and said: What can we do to help show Americans that these 
are beautiful children with lots of potential just waiting for a chance 
for a family to call their own? As a result, photographers donated 
their time to take beautiful portraits of these children so they don't 
look like just mug shots but beautiful portraits of these children, and 
some of them are going to be on display. This is an opportunity for us 
to become more familiar with how many different kinds of children are 
available for adoption. I say that as sensitively as I can.
  These are children who are waiting for a family. They would love to 
be adopted. They want to have a family forever. A person doesn't just 
need a family until they are 18; a person needs a family forever. A 
young lady would like a father to walk her down the aisle when she is 
married or she would like her mother to show up at the baptism of her 
child. A person would like a place to go home to even in their forties 
and fifties for Thanksgiving. So we don't think anyone is too old to be 
adopted, and everyone needs a family. So we will see pictures of these 
children.
  Let me make a couple of other points about this national exhibit. It 
has traveled around to many cities. Perhaps it has been to the 
Presiding Officer's State of New Hampshire, I don't know. We would be 
happy to have it in Louisiana. But it is in the Nation's Capital for 
this 10th anniversary.
  These numbers do sound staggering: 500,000 in foster care and 100,000 
waiting to be adopted. Let me put it in this perspective. There are 
over 100 million children in the United States--one-third of our 
population--between the ages of roughly zero and 13. So 100,000 is a 
relatively small number. There are roughly 300,000 churches in America. 
So if just one family within three churches--just one family among 
three churches--decided to step up and say they will take a child into 
their home, we would have no more orphans in the United States, which 
is our goal. Our goal is for every child in the United States and in 
the world, if they are separated from their birth family, to find 
within a short period of time a home to call their own, preferably with 
a relative in kinship care but, if not, somewhere in the community.
  I don't think this is a difficult or an impossible task. It seems 
overwhelming, but when we think of the assets of the world and we 
juxtapose the assets and strengths of the world against this particular 
problem, it is most certainly doable. If we can go to the Moon, if we 
can explore science and space, we most certainly can put our good minds 
and senses together to figure out a way that governments can work 
better with nonprofits to make this happen.
  I wish to conclude by recognizing what I believe is one of the 
extraordinary organizations in the world doing this work, and that is 
the Dave Thomas Foundation. Many people may remember Dave Thomas as the 
founder of Wendy's, but I remember Dave Thomas as a child who came out 
of the foster care system--or a man who came out of the foster care 
system; I did not know him as a child. But I can remember him--he has 
passed, of course--coming to Congress advocating on behalf of foster 
care children, of which he was one.
  Now, he beat the odds. Not only did he go on to be successful and go 
on to create one of the most successful businesses in America today and 
perhaps even in the world, but as he has passed, his foundation carries 
on that work. They have just released a wonderful report which will 
come more into focus in the coming weeks.
  The bottom line is that through the work of this foundation, they 
have come up with new strategies--not complicated, quite simple, child-
focused, recruitment strategies that each and every one of our States 
can employ or deploy and use without a lot more expense to see 
significant increases in the number of older children--particularly 
children with mental challenges and emotional challenges--adopted. In 
fact, they have increased, according to the study.
  Research shows that children in foster care served by Wendy's 
Wonderful Kids are 1.7 times more likely and children with mental 
disorders are 3 times more likely to be adopted using these different 
strategies.
  So, in conclusion, this is National Adoption Month. We have the Heart 
Gallery in the Capitol and in Washington with pictures of some of the 
most extraordinary children. Their families may be broken, their 
families may be dysfunctional, but it doesn't mean they are. It means 
they are full of potential, ready for a family to call them their own, 
and to step up and to live up to their potential. There are many 
organizations, from this nonprofit to Wendy's Wonderful Kids, the Dave 
Thomas Foundation, and hundreds of others working to solve this 
problem.
  So I thank my colleagues. Many have been very active this last year 
in this regard. I wanted to honor the Heart Gallery and the great work 
of the organizations that have put that together.

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It has made a meaningful difference, making these children, through 
these beautiful photographs, very real to all of us so we know they are 
not just statistics but they are children with heartbeats and dreams 
and hopes and aspirations, and they would make wonderful additions to 
many of our families.
  Thank you, Madam President. I yield the floor, and I suggest the 
absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Merkley). The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. I ask unanimous consent to speak for such time as I may 
consume, but it will probably be in the neighborhood of 20 or 25 
minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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