Nov 20, 2014
By U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley
There’s no place like home.
During this season of thanksgiving, celebrating life’s blessings with family and friends offers Americans a time-treasured ritual observed for generations. Gathering at the table for food and fellowship, we continue customs set forth during colonial times. From our treasured fortunes of freedom, the bounty of America’s harvest, the sacrifices by our men and women in uniform, the work of our nation’s first responders and the dedication of volunteers who give selflessly to help others in need, Americans have countless blessings for which to give thanks.
Perhaps most of all, we give thanks for our families who share in our heartaches and triumphs throughout the year. From the ordinary to the extraordinary, families support one another through the highs and lows of daily life. The unconditional acceptance and support of a loving family is the gift that keeps on giving long after the holidays come and go.
For more than 100,000 foster children in the United States who long to have a forever family, adoption would secure these priceless blessings of hope and home. In 2013, more than 900 children in Iowa's foster care system were adopted. Today, 6,341 children in Iowa are in foster care and 964 of them are eligible for adoption.
November is National Adoption Awareness Month. Focusing attention on the thousands of children who long for the security and stability that adoption can bring to their lives, policymakers, child welfare advocates, court representatives and local community leaders are working to honor, educate and recruit adoptive parents.
Let’s be clear. Adoption strengthens society by giving vulnerable children a safe, secure upbringing. Strong families help youth reach their fullest potential to become productive, contributing citizens. As founding co-chairman of the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth, I’ve worked to help identify financial, legal and bureaucratic barriers that make it difficult for foster kids to find a permanent, loving home through adoption, guardianship or reunification with their birth family.
If the courts rule out reunification, it makes sense to promote stability for the child to leave foster care for safe, loving homes with relatives. For years I have championed adoption incentives for foster children with special needs and advanced federal policy that allows family guardianships, including grandparents, to receive foster care dollars to help with the costs of caring for and raising a child. By any measure, it’s a traumatic situation for children to be removed from their homes by the courts for their safety and well-being. If loving relatives are able to care for and raise a child with the help of financial support, it makes sense to give states this flexibility.
Congress passed bipartisan child welfare legislation this year that includes my provisions to promote sibling connections in foster care and strengthen child support enforcement. Signed into law in September, the legislation will help states recover money that family courts have determined is owed to custodial parents.
In addition, the law includes measures I championed to keep family connections intact with siblings. For example, the legislation corrects a flawed situation in which brothers and sisters lose their sibling status when parents’ rights are terminated. The loss of sibling status undermines a federal requirement that siblings be placed together whenever possible. Specifically, the new law provides for the parents of a child’s siblings to be notified when the child enters foster care, allowing the adult guardians to reach out and maintain the sibling relationships. Iowa and other states have led the way with policies that recognize parents of siblings as “relatives” for foster care placement purposes.
For the past several years, thousands of families have finalized their adoptions on National Adoption Day, designated as the Saturday before Thanksgiving. On November 22, national organizers expect 4,500 adoptive parents to welcome foster children into their forever families. By all means, it will give “home for the holidays” exceptional meaning this year for those welcoming home a new member of the family for good.
For these newly adopted foster kids, uncertainty ends and certainty begins. Their dream for a permanent place to call home comes just in time for holiday traditions and memories to take root. They will choose from family favorites at the Thanksgiving feast, perhaps saving room for seconds and pumpkin pie. Most importantly, they will give thanks they will have a permanent place setting at their family’s table.
Let’s continue to build on our progress to move youth out of foster care, sooner, rather than later. It’s especially troublesome for those who age out of the system without the family permanency that comes with adoption. Just because a child reaches an 18th birthday doesn’t mean he or she no longer would benefit from the lifelong support system that a permanent family provides.
As Iowans gather around the table this Thanksgiving, let’s give thanks to our own relatives, friends and neighbors who have opened their hearts and homes through foster care and adoption. May the blessings of health, happiness and hope grace all of our families for years to come.
November 22 is National Adoption Day. Sen. Grassley is co-chairman and founder of the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth.
Nov 20, 2014
By U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley
There’s no place like home.
During this season of thanksgiving, celebrating life’s blessings with family and friends offers Americans a time-treasured ritual observed for generations. Gathering at the table for food and fellowship, we continue customs set forth during colonial times. From our treasured fortunes of freedom, the bounty of America’s harvest, the sacrifices by our men and women in uniform, the work of our nation’s first responders and the dedication of volunteers who give selflessly to help others in need, Americans have countless blessings for which to give thanks.
Perhaps most of all, we give thanks for our families who share in our heartaches and triumphs throughout the year. From the ordinary to the extraordinary, families support one another through the highs and lows of daily life. The unconditional acceptance and support of a loving family is the gift that keeps on giving long after the holidays come and go.
For more than 100,000 foster children in the United States who long to have a forever family, adoption would secure these priceless blessings of hope and home. In 2013, more than 900 children in Iowa's foster care system were adopted. Today, 6,341 children in Iowa are in foster care and 964 of them are eligible for adoption.
November is National Adoption Awareness Month. Focusing attention on the thousands of children who long for the security and stability that adoption can bring to their lives, policymakers, child welfare advocates, court representatives and local community leaders are working to honor, educate and recruit adoptive parents.
Let’s be clear. Adoption strengthens society by giving vulnerable children a safe, secure upbringing. Strong families help youth reach their fullest potential to become productive, contributing citizens. As founding co-chairman of the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth, I’ve worked to help identify financial, legal and bureaucratic barriers that make it difficult for foster kids to find a permanent, loving home through adoption, guardianship or reunification with their birth family.
If the courts rule out reunification, it makes sense to promote stability for the child to leave foster care for safe, loving homes with relatives. For years I have championed adoption incentives for foster children with special needs and advanced federal policy that allows family guardianships, including grandparents, to receive foster care dollars to help with the costs of caring for and raising a child. By any measure, it’s a traumatic situation for children to be removed from their homes by the courts for their safety and well-being. If loving relatives are able to care for and raise a child with the help of financial support, it makes sense to give states this flexibility.
Congress passed bipartisan child welfare legislation this year that includes my provisions to promote sibling connections in foster care and strengthen child support enforcement. Signed into law in September, the legislation will help states recover money that family courts have determined is owed to custodial parents.
In addition, the law includes measures I championed to keep family connections intact with siblings. For example, the legislation corrects a flawed situation in which brothers and sisters lose their sibling status when parents’ rights are terminated. The loss of sibling status undermines a federal requirement that siblings be placed together whenever possible. Specifically, the new law provides for the parents of a child’s siblings to be notified when the child enters foster care, allowing the adult guardians to reach out and maintain the sibling relationships. Iowa and other states have led the way with policies that recognize parents of siblings as “relatives” for foster care placement purposes.
For the past several years, thousands of families have finalized their adoptions on National Adoption Day, designated as the Saturday before Thanksgiving. On November 22, national organizers expect 4,500 adoptive parents to welcome foster children into their forever families. By all means, it will give “home for the holidays” exceptional meaning this year for those welcoming home a new member of the family for good.
For these newly adopted foster kids, uncertainty ends and certainty begins. Their dream for a permanent place to call home comes just in time for holiday traditions and memories to take root. They will choose from family favorites at the Thanksgiving feast, perhaps saving room for seconds and pumpkin pie. Most importantly, they will give thanks they will have a permanent place setting at their family’s table.
Let’s continue to build on our progress to move youth out of foster care, sooner, rather than later. It’s especially troublesome for those who age out of the system without the family permanency that comes with adoption. Just because a child reaches an 18th birthday doesn’t mean he or she no longer would benefit from the lifelong support system that a permanent family provides.
As Iowans gather around the table this Thanksgiving, let’s give thanks to our own relatives, friends and neighbors who have opened their hearts and homes through foster care and adoption. May the blessings of health, happiness and hope grace all of our families for years to come.
November 22 is National Adoption Day. Sen. Grassley is co-chairman and founder of the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth.