At an event early today, surrounded by adoptive families from across Iowa, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced the Improved Adoption Incentives and Relative Guardianship Support Act (S. 3038).
"These parents are extraordinary for their commitment to children. Few things are as powerful as the desire of children in foster care for a safe and permanent home," said the Senator as he noted that public policy ought to encourage and foster more adoptions for everyone's benefit, especially children.
NACAC strongly support this legislation, which would:
- increase payments to state for finalizing adoptions for children with special needs
- make all foster children with special needs eligible for federal adoption assistance
- create a federal subsidized guardianship program to support relatives who become guardians so that their kin can permanently leave foster care
The bill has also been endorsed by the Kids Are Waiting campaign, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, and the National Foster Care Coalition.
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This bill contains a major flaw: it provides payments for increasing the number of adoptions from foster care but doesn't provide payments for eliminating the need to use foster care in the first place. The bill should change the payments so that the payments are made when the number of children in foster care is reduced (either as a total number or as a percentage of [poor] children) increased payments are made to the state agency. This change would result in states working harder to prevent child abuse before requiring the child to be removed and in adopting out long term foster children - a change that will improve many childrens' and families' lives.
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