ISSUES/LEGISLATION: EDUCATION: ADOPTION IN SD

In South Dakota, nearly 1,600 children are in the foster care system. The average age of a child in foster care is nine years old. At the same time, in South Dakota, 100 children on average "age out" of the foster care system each year before they are adopted.

On a national scale, there are 523,000 children in the foster care system in America, 126,000 of whom are waiting to be adopted. Yet, only 20 to 25 percent of foster children waiting for adoption will ever find an adoptive family before aging out of governmental care.

As a founding member of the bipartisan Congressional Coalition on Adoption (CCAI), I am committed to assisting children in the United States and throughout the world to find safe, stable, loving, and permanent homes. Since the cost of adoption can be very high, we ought to do what we can to lessen this initial burden for the exceptional people who provide stable, loving homes for children. Adoption proceedings and legal fees for some domestic adoptions can cost more than $40,000.

To ease some of this burden, I helped push through the $10,000 adoption tax credit when it was enacted in 2001. In 2004, the Adoption Tax Relief Bill passed the Senate unanimously making permanent the $10,000 tax credit to make adoptions more affordable for families.

The Congressional Coalition on Adoption���s signature public awareness program is the Angels in AdoptionTM Program. This program raises congressional awareness about the thousands of foster children in this country, and the millions of children around the world in need of permanent homes. CCAI���s Angels��� event provides an opportunity to members of Congress to recognize and honor the good work of their constituents who have enriched the lives of children through adoption.

Over the years I have been pleased to recognize many South Dakotans as Angels in Adoption. This year, Jim and Sue Russo of Sioux Falls were honored. In 2004, Gloria Gilbert of Rapid City was recognized as an Angel in Adoption. Learn more about the Angels in Adoption program: http://www.ccainstitute.org/angels.php.

Each year the CCAI sponsors National Adoption Day. In 2004, 3,400 adoptions of children from foster care were finalized. For more information on National Adoption Day visit: www.nationaladoptionday.org.

Additionally, I am supportive of efforts to give more help to relatives who take care or adopt children. In South Dakota there are 2, 625 grandparents who are raising their grandchildren. I am an original cosponsor of the Kinship Caregiver Support Act, which would assist kinship caregivers, including those who are caring for children but have not adopted them. I believe that more needs to be done to assist relatives who selflessly care for children when their parents cannot.