Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, let me congratulate the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Camp) for his strong support on this important issue. He has been steadfast in helping families in the adoption arena, and this is just one more chapter in his record in this area. I also thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Herger) for the way in which this bill was handled in our subcommittee. It was done in a bipartisan way involving the views of administrators, advocates, and experts in the field; and we have come up with an excellent bill which I encourage my colleagues to support. This bill deals with foster children. Obviously, the first goal of placement for foster children is to try to reunite them with their birth parents, but that is not always possible. When that is not possible, we want to find a safe and permanent home as quickly as possible for that foster child. In 1997, we enacted the Safe and Stable Families Act. This legislation, H.R. 3182, continues the record that we started in 1997. It includes adoption incentive bonuses for payments to States that increase the number of adoption of children out of foster care. And as the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Camp) pointed out, since the enactment of this legislation in 1997, we have seen a 64 percent increase in the adoption of children out of foster care, and that number has held true for children with special needs. H.R. 3182 extends that program for 5 years.”