House Recognizes National Adoption Day

On September 18, the House passed, by voice vote, H. Res. 1432, a resolution “supporting the goals and ideals of National Adoption Day and National Adoption Month by promoting national awareness of adoption and the children in foster care awaiting families, celebrating children and families involved in adoption, recognizing current programs and efforts designed to promote adoption, and encouraging people in the United States to seek improved safety, permanency, and well-being for all children.”

Sponsored by Rep. Jon Porter, (R-NV), the resolution contains a number of findings, including:

• there are nearly 500,000 children in the foster care system in the United States, approximately 130,000 of whom are waiting for families to adopt them;
• nearly 54 percent of the children in foster care are age 10 or younger;
• the average length of time a child spends in foster care is more than 2 years;
• for many foster children, the wait for a permanent, adoptive, ‘forever’ family in which they are loved, nurtured, comforted, and protected seems endless;
• the number of youth who ‘age out’ of the foster care system by reaching adulthood without being placed in a permanent home has increased by more than 58 percent since 1998, as nearly 27,000 foster youth ‘aged out’ of foster care during 2007;
• while three in ten people in the United States have considered adoption, a majority of them have misconceptions about the process of adopting children from foster care and the children who are eligible for adoption;
• National Adoption Day is a collective national effort to find permanent, loving families for children in the foster care system;
• since the first National Adoption Day in 2000, 20,000 children have joined forever families during National Adoption Day;
• in 2006, adoptions were finalized for over 3,300 children through more than 250 National Adoption Day events in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico;
• and National Adoption Month celebrates the gift of adoption, recognizing the adoptive and foster families who share their hearts and homes with children in need, and raises awareness of the need for families for the many waiting children, particularly older children and teens, children of color, members of sibling groups, and children with physical and emotional challenges.