Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman has voted to advance important legislation to improve the nation’s child welfare laws.    

The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday approved a measure to extend and expand the federal programs that provide incentives and support for adoption, foster care, and guardianship of America’s most vulnerable children.

The laws currently governing adoption incentives will expire in late September.  The committee’s action on the “Improved Adoption Incentives and Relative Guardianship Support Act” (S. 3038) means the bill is now ready for a full Senate vote.   

S. 3038 does the following:  

·         Extends and expands incentives for adoption, particularly incentives for adoption of children with special needs;

·        Provides assistance to, and makes it easier for, immediate relatives to care for children in foster care;

·        Significantly increases resources available to children aging out of the foster care system to successfully transition into adult life.

“We should do everything we can to make sure that our most vulnerable children grow up in strong, stable families.  This bill takes a number of very important to steps to encourage more families to adopt children living in foster care, and provides greater flexibility for relatives -- such as grandparents -- to care for children.  The bill also provides critical resources to help older children in foster care to become healthy, productive adults,” Bingaman said. 

Bingaman strongly supported the entire bill, but he specifically pressed for inclusion of a provision that will greatly benefit New Mexico’s Native American children in foster care and those awaiting adoption by enabling tribes and pueblos to claim direct federal funding to support those efforts.  He also pushed for the provision that establishes a National Child Welfare Resource Center for tribes and pueblos, and would authorize grants to states that successfully collaborate with tribes to improve permanency outcomes for Indian children.  These provisions were also originally included in the original Tribal Foster Care and Adoption Access Act (S. 1956), co-sponsored by Bingaman.

            “Native American children are twice as likely as other children to be placed in foster care, which is why it is imperative that Congress act now to improve federal laws governing adoption and foster care, and provide the tribes and pueblos with the resources they need to take care of their children” Bingaman said. 

            The House of Representatives passed a similar bill in June.  A compromise between the Senate and House proposals will need to be reached before the end of September when these adoption programs expire.