September 23, 2008 - Nebraska's Senator Ben Nelson praised the passage of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act yesterday.  This bill facilitates the transfer of children from foster care to adoptive homes, allows for more children to be cared for by relatives and creates opportunities for older children preparing to transfer out of the foster care system.
 
"As an adoptive parent myself, I understand the challenges and unique needs of foster and adoptive families," said Senator Nelson, a cosponsor of a similar Senate version of the bill and member of the Senate Adoption Caucus."This bill will not only improve the foster and adoption systems, but also provide much needed support for some of the most vulnerable members of our society – foster children."
 
In Nebraska, there are currently 6,292 children in foster care, a quarter of which are 0-5 years old. Additionally, in Fiscal Year 2006, only 534 adoptions were finalized out of a total of 1,505 children eligible for adoption. Nationally, over 26,000 youth age out of the foster care system each year without ever finding a family.
 
"We must do better for these children who are in our care," said Senator Nelson. "We must encourage adoption and make the decision to adopt easier and less burdensome.  Every child deserves a caring, loving family."
 
Senator Nelson and fifty of his colleagues in the Senate wrote a letter to House and Senate leadership earlier this month in support of this bill, urging that they act quickly to pass the it before the Adoption Incentives Program was set to expire on September 30, 2008. They wrote that, "this program has led to a dramatic increase in the number of children leaving foster care for good," and that the bill would strengthen efforts to help children in foster care find permanent families through adoption and relative guardianship.
 
"Over 127,000 American children are in foster care waiting to be adopted today, and on average they will wait more than three years to join an adoptive parent," the bipartisan group of 51 senators wrote in the letter.
 
"We appreciate the commitment made by Senator Nelson and his colleagues in paving the road to permanency for children and families," said Kathy Moore, Executive Director of Voices for Children in Nebraska. "This bill is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise tumultuous year and we hope it is the first of several policy changes to come in 2009 which will improve conditions for Nebraska's vulnerable children."
 
The bill makes changes to adoption and foster care policies that will benefit children and families throughout the system. The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 will:

• provide support to relatives – generally grandparents, aunts and uncles – so they are more able to provide care for children in their own families,
• create opportunities for children aging out of foster care so they are able to pursue education or vocational training after the age of 18,
• allow more Native American children to receive foster care in their own communities by providing Tribes with the same direct access to federal funding for foster care and adoption services that states currently receive, and
• reauthorize and improve the Adoption Incentives program and allow more families to receive adoption assistance, particularly for adoption of older children and children with special needs.

The bill will now go to the President for his signature.

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