News : November is National Adoption Month

November is National Adoption Month, and this past week, the Senate passed a resolution celebrating and supporting the goals of National Adoption Month. As a long-time proponent of adoption and member of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, I was proud to join my colleagues to introduce this legislation.

Children need a permanent and loving home and throughout my time in the Senate, I have consistently fought to improve our nation's adoption system. I have authored and supported various bills such as the Adoption and Safe Families Act, the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoption Act and the Family First Prevention Services Act. It's important to me that adoptive and foster parents are supported as they open their hearts and homes to children in need.

Each year, I nominate Iowa families and organizations for the Angels in Adoption Award. This year I was honored to nominate and present the award to Chelsey's Dream Foundation, a non-profit founded to provide financial and emotional support to adoptive families, in Anamosa.

In August of this year, China abruptly announced it was ending foreign adoption work. This announcement has left families in Iowa and across America, who have been in the process of adopting a child from China and have formed a bond with their child, unsure of whether they will be able to welcome their child home. On the 17th of September, I sent letters to both the Department of State and the Chinese Embassy asking for more information on behalf of an Iowan family that reached out to me.

On November 1st, I led a letter alongside 102 of my colleagues in Congress to President Biden requesting that the Administration act on behalf of these children and families and urge China to uphold its commitment to American families.

In this Congress, I am shepherding my bipartisan Recruiting Families Using Data Act through the Senate. Currently, there are shortages of qualified foster parents. My legislation seeks to enhance recruitment and retention efforts of qualified foster parents by improving data collection and ensuring robust diligent recruitment plans. Improving data collection can assist the ability of states to conduct targeted recruitment to find families that meet different areas of need.

Read my most recent HIStory piece, Adoption Delivers Blessings of a Forever Family and click the button below to sign up and receive periodic updates from me. Keep in touch!