Adoption

Every child deserves to have a safe, loving and permanent home.  I am truly humbled by the thousands of families who open their hearts and homes every year to adoptive children.  Whether it is helping new parents navigate the adoption system or assisting them with the high costs of adoption, Congress must continue to work to help children find the safety, permanence and well-being that can come through an adoption.  

I have a long background and insight into foster care and adoption issues.  As an attorney in private practice before my first election, I worked extensively with parents and children in the foster care system.  My experiences led to my introduction of what has become landmark adoption legislation, the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997.

The Adoption and Safe Families Act put the health and safety of children first and gave our nation’s foster children a fighting chance.  It streamlined the adoption process to more quickly move more children from foster care into permanent adoptive homes.  The law also offers incentives to states to increase the number of adoptions and requires them to more aggressively pursue adoption efforts when a child’s safety is in danger.  This law spurred National Adoption Day and National Adoption Month (November) while encouraging adoption throughout the year.

In 2000, I authored legislation signed into law by President Bush, the Intercountry Adoption Act, which allows the State Department to work with states and non-profit organizations to facilitate intercountry adoptions and help adoptive parents in dealing with officials in other countries.

In 2003, President Bush signed another bill of mine into law, the Adoption Promotion Act, which created new financial incentives for states that increase adoptions of older children.  Under this law, after meeting an annual target for successful adoptions states receive a $4,000 incentive payment for each older child adopted.  

 As Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which oversees welfare and other federal child protection programs, I was  pleased to help  pass H.R. 2883, the Child and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act,  through my committee and eventually the full House of Representatives on September 21, 2011.  President Obama signed it into law on September 30, 2011.  This new law helps ensure vulnerable children remain with their parents or be supported by other caring adults, provides states the opportunity to test new and better ways of serving children at risk, and establishes child welfare data standards to help states improve communication between social service programs, better serving children, families, and taxpayers.

As a member and former Chairman of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, I continue to be a leading advocate in Congress for breaking down barriers to adoption and advancing efforts to harmonize state and national laws to make adoptions safer and more efficient.