Jasper Packard: “It pains me to know that our children in foster care are being reunited with abusive families. Our current broken system…”

“It pains me to know that our children in foster care are being reunited with abusive families. Our current broken system places more importance on returning children to the natural parents, despite circumstances such as abandonment and chronic physical or sexual abuse, over placing these children in strong, loving families. This is not right. The Adoption Promotion Act will correct this inequity. It is the right thing to do for America's foster children. Today, there are over 500,000 children in custody of various State foster-care programs. However, fewer than 50,000 children per year move from foster care into permanent homes. Less than 10 percent of our foster children are adopted each year, not for lack of adoptive families, but because Washington bureaucracy is preventing these families from making foster children a permanent part of their life. The adoption process needs to be swift and efficient. The Adoption Promotion Act will amend current law to expedite the movement of children into permanent and loving homes. It will make the interests of the child the primary concern. We need to ensure that foster children are placed in loving homes and not with abusive families. The strength of our Nation is based on strong families. This bipartisan legislation empowers those who know the best way to move children from foster care into loving, stable families.”