Rep. Doggett on Promoting Adoptions, Praising San Antonio as a Model of Success
Weall want to find permanent loving homes for children who are placed in thefoster care system, and we have some progress upon which to build.
Ourfederal Adoption Incentives program, which provides financial awards to Statesthat increase the number of children adopted out of foster care above a certainbaseline, is an important part of this effort. These awards are due toexpire at the end of September, and I am hopeful that we can work toreauthorize this program.
Underadoption incentives, States become eligible for awards if they increase thenumber of: total adoptions; children over age 9 that are adopted; and theadoption of children with special needs. If sufficient funding isavailable, States also are granted awards for increasing the rate ofadoption out of foster care.
Thegoal of the Adoption Incentives program is to incentivize States to increaseadoptions out of foster care and to quickly move children, who are unable toreturn to their parents, to a permanent home. States must reinvest thosepayments back into services – such as post adoption services – for children andfamilies that are generally provided under the child welfare system.
$43million a year is available in the program through the end of FY 2013. Since the program was created, more than $375 million has been awarded andevery State has earned some funding.
InFY 2011, Texas received nearly $7 million in Adoption Incentives, the largestamount earned by any State. San Antonio has been viewed as a particularmodel of success for adoption. Bexar County has been creative in safelymoving children into permanent homes. Each month the county hosts an adoptionday event that allows dozens of families to complete their adoptions in a singleday.
Theseproceedings have allowed countless children to have shorter stays in fostercare and move more quickly into stable homes with a new family that they cancall their own.
Judgesin Bexar County understand that they are responsible for getting children whoexperience abuse and neglect into a safe foster environment ANDresponsible for placing that child with a permanent family if it does notbecome safe for that child to return home.
Theseimprovements to the local adoption system, encouraged and utilized by localchild advocates like District Judge Peter Sakai –who has been a leader in thisarea for well over a decade– and CASA San Antonio have allowed faster and moreefficient placement of foster youth into permanent families.
Wewill soon hear from Nicole Dobbins who will discuss concerns she has about thelack of clarity regarding how States use these award payments. While someare using the awards to promote adoption and support newly adopted families,it's important that these funds aren't simply used to supplant money that wouldotherwise be spent on adoption activities. The inclusion of amaintenance-of-effort requirement as part of reauthorization could help ensurethat these funds are used to improve child welfare in the States.
Iwelcome the opportunity to discuss how we can continue to increase adoptionsfor children in foster care, but a good first step would be to avoid cuts inadoption programs that are set to occur within a few days under the sequester.
Cuttingfunding for this program could mean less funding for post-adoption services forfamilies that have adopted a foster child, or less funding to recruit adoptivehomes through online adoption exchanges and promotional materials, or lesssupport for training adoption workers.
Anotherissue that deserves our attention is the Family Connection Grants program whichis also scheduled to expire at the end of September.
Thisprogram provides $15 million each year in grant funding to State agencies andcommunity organizations that support activities that connect – or reconnect –children with their biological relatives when it is safe and appropriate to doso.
Thissmall program is fairly new and preliminary results show that it has thepotential to have a positive impact in improving the lives of at-riskchildren.
Ilook forward to hearing from today's witnesses and working with all of mycolleagues to continue to improve the well-being of all children in fostercare.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office">