Capitol Letters: Finding a permanent, loving home for every child

In the United States, there are approximately 370,000 children in the foster care system with about 117,000 waiting to be adopted. While the number of kids in foster care has fortunately declined over the decades, there is still more work to be done to ensure that every child can find a permanent, loving home as quickly and safely as possible. As a father of four, I know that children are one of life’s greatest blessings, and it’s why, throughout my time in Congress, I have introduced legislation to help connect our nation’s most vulnerable children – those in the foster care system – with a caring family and loving home to call their own. 

In January of this year, legislation that I authored was included in a larger child welfare package, the Supporting America’s Children and Families Act, and signed into law. My bill – the Strengthening Evidence-Based Prevention Services Act – addresses a little-known obstacle negatively impacting organizations that work diligently to keep vulnerable children out of foster care. These groups offer what are referred to as “prevention services,” which include initiatives like substance abuse treatment, mental health services, and parental coaching. 

However, the programs supported by these organizations must be rigorously evaluated for efficacy, with those certified as effective being eligible to receive federal funding. Without this funding, these organizations would struggle to fulfill their missions and consequently be forced to cut their services or shut down entirely. To prevent this from happening, this legislation, which is now law, authorizes a grant program through the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to fund evaluations of prevention services, enabling them to have the supporting evidence that they need to receive federal funding, and in turn, keep families and children together.

In early March, another bill that I introduced to improve outcomes in our foster care system also passed the U.S. House of Representatives with unanimous support. This legislation would help states uphold and strengthen their diligent recruitment plans by improving their processes – with concrete facts and information – for identifying, recruiting, and retaining qualified foster homes. Diligent recruitment plans are strategic frameworks that use data and other relevant statistics to recruit and retain families willing to foster and adopt. This is a particularly important initiative as our nation faces a shortage of foster families and, according to the data, those families who do open their homes do not foster for long. That’s why this legislation would also establish family advisory boards to share best practices, highlight financial obstacles facing foster families, and keep foster families at the center of systematic changes and improvements.

To ensure that more children are paired with stable families, we need to implement policies that identify potential foster families, connect children with those families, and reverse the alarming trend of foster home closures and declining foster retention rates. Fortunately, by passing this bill and getting it signed into law as soon as possible, I am confident that we can connect more foster children with loving families and make a lasting and positive impact on our country.

Additionally, to encourage more families to adopt, I recently helped introduce legislation to lower the financial costs of adoption by making the Adoption Tax Credit fully refundable and removing income as a barrier to adoption. Iowans who want to adopt but do not have the financial resources to do so should not be prevented from making additions to their families – they should be supported. With approximately half of youth adopted from foster care living in families with incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, this legislation makes improvements in our tax code to reduce financial barriers associated with adoption, invest in our families, and help every child find a permanent, loving home.

In the United States, every child deserves a loving home and caring family. Through meaningful policy and collaboration across the aisle, we can improve outcomes in our foster care system, support families willing to foster and adopt, and give every child the opportunity to grow up surrounded by a strong and dedicated support system.