November 14, 2005

November is National Adoption
Awareness Month

COLUMBUS, OH – Congresswoman Deborah Pryce (R-Upper Arlington) today submitted the following editorial:

Every month of the year is dedicated to raising awareness for a number of causes, from the noble (October – National Breast Cancer Awareness Month), to the instructional (May – Correct Posture Month), to the nebulous (May – Garlic Mustard Awareness Month). While each may have its backers and benefactors, none is more near and dear to my heart than November’s National Adoption Awareness Month. While all adoption-related issues are important, the particular focus of this month is to promote the adoption of children currently in foster care.

In observance of this campaign, my Washington, DC office will display the portrait photograph of Marteno, a thirteen year old foster child from Ohio who is waiting to be adopted by a loving family. Similarly, Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH) will hang in his Senate office the portrait of Marteno’s brother CJ, who is also awaiting permanent placement. Our hope is that Marteno and CJ will soon be reunited and can live together with a warm, caring adoptive family.

Adoption touches nearly all of us. According to Voice for Adoption, there are more than one and a half million adopted children in the United States, amounting to over 2% of all American children. Further, the Adoption Institute’s 1997 Public Opinion Benchmark survey found that 58% of Americans know someone who has been adopted, has adopted a child, or has relinquished a child for adoption. Many household names like Marilyn Monroe, Eddie Murphy, John Lennon and Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell spent their childhood in the foster care system.

Since coming to Congress, I have served on the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, and have tirelessly fought to eliminate bureaucratic and financial impediments to adoption. While many of my efforts have been successful, sadly, far too many children remain in need of permanent placement in loving homes, and float interminably within the foster care system.

Presently, there are more than a half million children in our nation’s foster care system, 118,000 of whom are currently available for adoption. On average, a child who enters the system will remain in foster care for 32 months, and only about half will return to their parents. Nearly 20% of foster children are in group homes or institutions. Foster care adoption is the adoption of children in state care for whom reunification with their birth parents is not possible for safety or other reasons. It is arranged by state child welfare agencies or by private agencies under contract with the states. Children may be adopted by their foster parents, relatives (who may or may not have been caring for the child through kinship foster care), or adults to whom they have no prior relationship.

I am pleased to report that federal law continues to create incentives for adoption, and adoption from foster care has increased significantly over the past five years. Last year, Congress passed the Hope for Children Act, which made permanent a $10,000 tax credit for families who adopt children – without this action, the provision would have expired in 2010. Further, we are so fortunate to have the incredible adoption work being performed right here in central Ohio by Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, a new signature program of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. This new program is funding adoption recruiters across the nation whose work focuses exclusively on finding permanent adoptive homes for the 118,000 children waiting in foster care. The Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program is but one of dozens of compassionate organizations that are breaking down remaining barriers to adoption.

Please join me in observance of National Adoption Awareness Month, and celebrate the thousands of benevolent Americans who give children like Marteno and CJ permanent homes through adoption of children from foster care.