TV comment and footage of Sen. Grassley's trip through a foster care maze displayed on Capitol Hill will be available via satellite between 3-3:15 p.m. (Central time) at Telstar 5, Transponder 23 Vertical, Downlink 4160, Channel 23, Standard Audio 6.2/6.8.
Actuality comment from Sen. Grassley is available Wednesday morning at 1-800-545-1267. Dial 311, then 1. Or go to www.senate.gov/src/radio/grassley.
WASHINGTON ? Sen. Chuck Grassley plans to introduce legislation to make it easier for foster care kids to be placed in permanent homes with adoptive parents.
Grassley described his proposal today in conjunction with an event on Capitol Hill to highlight the difficult real-life experiences of children in foster care and the benefits of adoption. Members of Congress traveled through a maze set up to offer "a glimpse of how tough the system is on the very children who are supposed to be served by it," Grassley said.
Earlier this year, the federal government issued the final regulations needed to implement foster care reforms approved by Congress in 1994. Grassley was instrumental in crafting the legislation that directed these changes, but he said significant improvements still need to be made to shorten the length of time kids spend in foster care.
"My goals for the bill I'll introduce this month are to establish measurable incentives for states to move children through the foster care system and to make sure that foster and adoptive families have the resources they need to provide a stable environment for these kids," Grassley said.
Nationwide, the federal government provides state governments more than $4 billion each year for foster care. Most of these federal dollars are used for low-income children needing foster care. According to the Congressional Research Service, the number of children nationwide in foster care is the highest in 20 years.
"By adjusting state-financing mechanisms controlled by the federal government, we can do a lot to improve accountability in the system and make sure the system works to give these children a better future," Grassley said. "That means spending less time in long-term foster care and making it easier to place children in a permanent, adoptive home where they have the security and stability they need to thrive."
The senator said that Iowa has done a much better job than most other states in serving children in the system and in many ways serves as a model for improvements. Last year, the federal government honored the Iowa Department of Human Services for a significant increase in adoptions in the previous six years. In Iowa, 138 children were adopted in 1993. In 1999, 683 children were placed in adoptive homes.
Grassley said the bipartisan plan he has developed with Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Mike DeWine of Ohio addresses the way in which federal law influences decisions made by all 50 states to remove children from their parents, return them to their parents, or move children toward adoption.
"From this point forward, we want to reduce incentives for long-term foster care and increase incentives for permanent adoption," he said. The Grassley bill would:
?increase federal matching funds for the first 18 months of foster care. At the end of the eighteenth month in care, the federal match would be adjusted downward over time.
?provide a bonus to states for placing children in an adoptive home within three years. However, the bonus would be recaptured if the adoption disrupts within two years. Therefore, while the federal match rate will be reduced over time, states will not lose money as long as they place the child in a stable adoptive home within three years of entering the system.
?expand the range of reimbursable costs to include such items as respite care. In this way, the States would have an incentive and the means to increase adoptions and a disincentive to prolong foster care.
?limit judicial appeals following termination of parental rights.
?provide additional resources to courts to handle increased caseload.
?provide parity for adoptive families by allowing them equal opportunity to receive adoption assistance payments for adopting special needs children.
?encourage development of foster care review boards.