Q: What is National Adoption Month?

A: During this season of thanksgiving, families will gather together around the table and celebrate the Thanksgiving feast. From one year to the next, Americans carry on family traditions, recipes and stories that have been passed down from generation to generation. This is the time of year when gathering with family members from far and near and keeping generational connections intact should not be taken for granted. Family is the cornerstone of American society, an institution that nurtures children from one generation to the next and helps keep the American Dream alive for generations to come. November is a month that brings families together and is also recognized as National Adoption Month. Every child deserves to grow up in a safe, loving and permanent home. More than 100,000 children in the United States currently placed in the nation’s foster care system await adoption into a forever family. Iowa has more than 2,700 foster families who have opened their hearts and homes to more than 6,000 youth in Iowa. These vulnerable children want and need permanency, through family reunification or adoption into a permanent, loving family.

As the former chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, I steered key tax relief measures into law more than two decades ago to help adoptive parents with adoption expenses. I successfully secured measures to make the tax credit permanent for special needs children and indexed the credit amount for inflation. For tax year 2023, the maximum credit amount is $15,950 per child. As a member of the advisory council of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, I work at the policymaking tables in Washington to help raise awareness for the challenges adoptive families encounter and celebrate those who open their hearts and homes for a child awaiting a forever family. Since 1999, the nonprofit organization honors adoptive families, individuals and organizations through its annual Angels in Adoption program to highlight their contributions made on behalf of adoption and foster care in their local communities. This year I nominated Joel and Heather Fry who live in south-central Iowa with their nine children, five of whom are adopted. The couple also has opened their home over the years to foster children awaiting reunification with their families. Like thousands of foster families who answer the call to help vulnerable children in their communities, I applaud their selflessness to be a light and beacon of hope for children who have experienced trauma, neglect and despair through no fault of their own.

Q: What are you doing this Congress to help strengthen adoption and foster care policies?

A: Across the country, communities are experiencing a shortage of qualified foster care families to serve the needs of children placed in the foster care system. Policymakers need better information to help guide policies that would strengthen recruitment and retention of qualified foster parents. The federal government sends taxpayer dollars to states to help them finance child welfare services, including grant funding for foster care. Under Title IV-B of the Social Security Act, states are required to describe their recruitment programs to increase the pool of qualified foster parents, specifically outreach that reflects the racial and ethnic diversity of children in state custody. A review by the Department of Health and Human Services showed some states are falling short of these requirements. Improving data collection would provide better guidance to identify the recruitment and retention challenges to effectively secure foster families that meet the needs of the local community. I’ve introduced bipartisan legislation called the Recruiting Families Using Data Act that would require states to develop a new family partnership plan to help meet recruitment needs. It would beef up state efforts to identify, recruit, screen, support and retain foster and adoptive families. Importantly, feedback from foster parents about licensing, support, services and training, including specific reasons why they stopped taking placements, would give clear-eyed details about best practices and shortfalls in the recruitment and retention of foster families. My legislation also would require states to collect information about foster family capacity and congregate care use, as well as the demographics of foster families. As co-founder and co-chair of the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth, I’ll continue my advocacy on behalf of the children placed in foster care and the families who answer the call to open their hearts to help children thrive and reach their full potential, by either fostering or adopting them into their loving homes.

November is National Adoption Month. On November 18, more than 400 communities in courthouses across the country will celebrate adoption ceremonies on the Saturday before Thanksgiving Day that bring families together in a forever home for the holidays and every day of the year.