Senate Recognizes National Adoption Day, Month

On November 15, the Senate passed, by unanimous consent, S. Res. 384, a resolution expressing support for the goals of “National Adoption Day” and “National Adoption Month.”

Sponsored by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), the resolution contains a number of findings, including:

• there are approximately 514,000 children in the foster care system in the United States, approximately 115,000 of whom are waiting for families to adopt them;
• fifty-two percent of the children in foster care are age ten or younger;
• the number of youth who ‘age out’ of foster care by reaching adulthood without being placed in a permanent home has increased by 41 percent since 1998, and nearly 25,000 foster youth ‘age out’ every year;
• while three in ten Americans have considered adoption, a majority of Americans have misperceptions about the process of adopting children from foster care and the children who are eligible for adoption; and
• forty-five percent of Americans believe that children enter the foster care system because of juvenile delinquency, when in reality the vast majority of children who have entered the foster care system were victims of neglect, abandonment, or abuse.Sen. Landrieu said, “National Adoption Day occurs on November 17 as part of National Adoption Month. National Adoption Day is an event to raise awareness of the 114,000 children in foster care who are waiting for permanent families. Since the first National Adoption Day in 2000, nearly 17,000 children have joined ‘forever families’ on this special day. This year, we hope to have events in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.” She continued, “According to a recent survey by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, many potential adoptive parents have considered foster care adoption, but ‘a majority of Americans hold misperceptions about the foster care adoption process’…For example, ‘two-thirds of those considering foster care adoption are unnecessarily concerned that biological parents can return to claim their children, and nearly half of all Americans mistakenly believe that foster care adoption is expensive, when in reality adopting from foster care is without substantial cost.’”