Charles Rangel: “I rise in support of H.R. 867, the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 because I believe it can improve the lives of…”

“I rise in support of H.R. 867, the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 because I believe it can improve the lives of many children who find themselves in foster care. Congresswoman Barbara Kennelly and Congressman David Camp deserves our thanks for pulling together a bill that enjoys broad bipartisan support--and for negotiating a good compromise with our Senate colleagues. H.R. 867 makes commonsense improvements in our child welfare and foster care laws. It makes clear that, in making a reasonable efforts to reunify a family, the child's is paramount. It reauthorizes the capped entitlement funds that we have set aside to preserve and reunify families and promote adoption. It extends health insurance to those children with special needs who cannot be adopted without such coverage. And, it creates an incentive system that will reward those States that increase the number of children who are adopted out of foster care. These are all good reforms, and long overdue. H.R. 867 may have an even more dramatic effect on the lives of children in foster care. Its success depends, in large measure, on how the States implement the provisions of this new law. It can reduce the number of children in foster care if State's take seriously our instruction to begin proceedings to terminate parental rights sooner under certain circumstances. But, handled the wrong way, this new requirement could just as easily spell disaster.”