Congresswoman Laura Richardson Recognizes National Adoption Day/Month

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize November 19, 2011 as National Adoption Day, which celebrates adoptive families who have opened their homes to children placed in foster care. Today, states, communities, public and private organizations, businesses, families, and individuals come together to increase awareness of children in need of permanent homes and families.

Mr. Speaker, currently there are over 463,000 children living in foster care. These children have been placed in homes on the account of the physical, sexual and emotional abuse they have endured with their biological caretaker. My state of California currently has the largest foster care population with the number of youths in foster care tripling since 1981. These children deserve to grow up in a loving home that is safe, happy, and most importantly one they can call their own.

Since the first major effort to bring awareness to the need of adoptive families, which was initiated by former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis and later proclaimed a month in November 1995 by President William J. Clinton, nearly 50,000 children in the system have been adopted yearly. American families have opened their homes to these children and provided resources and opportunities that allowed them to have a chance of claiming the American Dream.

Unfortunately out of the 463,000 children living in foster care, about 107,000 are available for adoption. 65% of children who are not placed in a permanent home emancipate themselves from the system often left unemployed, without a place to live and resorting to homeless shelters. Less than 3 percent go on to college and emancipated females end up four times more likely to receive public assistance compared to the overall population of the United States.

Measures by the government have been implemented to increase the adoption rate and make the process of adoption easier for families who seek to adopt. The Affordable Care Act increases and improves the Adoption Tax Credit. It allows the process of adoption to be accessible and affordable for families who want to nurture, care, uplift and open their home to a child. States can also receive incentives for increasing adoptions of children adopted from foster care. A project by the Department of Health and Human Services, AdoptUsKids, offers support to States and even tribes and territories to recruit adoptive parents. The project also provides assistance and help to families considering adoption or those who have begun the process.

Mr. Speaker, it is vital that we continue to create more programs, events and activities that will enlighten citizens of the United States on stories of children successfully placed in permanent homes, debunk myths about the process and acknowledge the thousands of children who could potentially become a part of these statistics. Through these efforts we can increase the rate of adoption, decrease the rate of homelessness among the youths in this group and help develop future leaders and innovative thinkers of tomorrow.

To the families who have opened their hearts and homes to these children we celebrate you and your efforts to change the lives of these children. As the rest of us enjoy and share the company of our children and extended family members, let us not forget those children who will not have the same opportunity to do the same. Let us not forget the children who will not be able to celebrate the holiday season in a warm, loving, and happy home they can call their own. Let us remember these children and work towards positively affecting these children's lives and securing their success in the future.