Pass bill to encourage foster-child adoptions

Des Moines Register
June 03, 2008

Washington lawmakers have a lot on their plates, from monitoring the Iraq war to grilling oil-industry executives. But they could really make a difference in the lives of some young Americans by passing legislation introduced by Sen. Charles Grassley that provides incentives for adoptions of children in foster care.

Leadership from the federal government on this issue is important, and Iowa's senior senator has led the charge for years.

He was co-author of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, which set forth timelines so foster children don't languish in care. He has sponsored tax incentives to promote adoptions and secured grants to provide child-welfare training for judges and attorneys. Federal incentives such as these have contributed to a big increase in the number of children adopted out of foster care - from about 31,000 in 1997 to about 50,000 a year now.

Recently, Grassley introduced legislation that includes the reauthorization of the Adoption Incentive Program - one-time payments to states for finalizing adoptions for foster children.

The bill doesn't encourage states to place more kids in foster care or discourage them from reuniting kids with their biological families. It focuses on children after the rights of their parents have been terminated. It encourages states to help ensure those children who are already eligible for adoption actually get adopted.

At any given time, about 125 children in Iowa meet that definition.

If you visit the Iowa KidsNet Web site, you can find out more about some of them. There is Andrew, who is 13 years old and likes ice cream and playing outside. Nine-year-old Dakota likes basketball and football. Michelle is 16, enjoys movies and scrapbooking and wants people to know that "she is a nice girl and that she really wants a forever family." Hunter is 5 and has limited communication skills and eyesight.

It's generally easy to find a family to adopt a healthy infant or toddler. But the older children get, the harder it is to find people who will make these kids a permanent part of their family. In 2005, the national median age of children waiting to be adopted was 8.4 years old. Sibling groups are also hard to place, as are kids with behavioral and physical problems.

Grassley's legislation would not only help ensure that states receive more money for placing these kids, but also remove other complicated bureaucratic barriers that prevent federal dollars from flowing to states. In the past, Iowa has used adoption incentive payments for things such as recruiting adoptive families and paying for a child to travel to visit an adoptive home. Increasing payments could mean more dollars for such endeavors.

More important, the legislation sends a message to states that finding these children permanent homes is a priority. Let's hope that it also sends a message that resonates with Iowa families willing to share their lives.