Political Quotes

“Mr. President, on Saturday, many children and families around the country will celebrate National Adoption Day. It's a day that many adoptions are finalized and youth find their forever families. It's very comforting and fitting that this day helps kick off the holiday season. Families will be formed and strengthened. This Thanksgiving, many children will celebrate with their new families and not have to worry about their next placement or their next meal. And this month, we give thanks to the men and women who make their dreams come true. Since the first National Adoption Day in 2000, nearly 50,000 children have joined ``forever families'' during National Adoption Day. In 2013 alone, adoptions for 4,500 children were finalized through 400 National Adoption Day events across the country. These are impressive numbers--numbers that make us proud of the work being done to help children in foster care find loving families. But there is always more work to be done. Today, there are over 102,000 children in the foster care system. Iowa alone has over 6,200 children in foster care, many of whom are waiting for a loving family to adopt them. There are so many issues facing foster youth--in addition to being torn apart from their families. They face serious trauma. They are likely to be treated differently and don't get to do the same activities as other kids. They transition from home to home and school to school. They don't know normalcy, and they may never know permanency.…”