Press Releases

This week, Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) spoke at the House Ways and Means Committee hearing on strengthening child welfare through reauthorization of Title IV-B, a program serving children and youth in foster care. Rep. Wenstrup recently introduced legislation, the Foster Care Adoption Oversight and Support Act, which he introduced along with Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) to help families adopting children from foster care. Read the full bill text here.

This bill would gather data to assess the effectiveness of post-adoption services and resources provided to families, in order to identify gaps in accessible services, inform strategic investments, and improve outcomes for adopted children and their families.

For every child adopted from foster care in 2022, two children remained in care awaiting adoption, according to the Administration for Children and Families, and too many children return to the system after an unsuccessful placement.

Caring for adopting families is "very important to me, and I think it's vital we learn from programs that have found some success," Rep. Wenstrup said today in remarks at the House Ways and Means Committee hearing. "But what is success? It's not paperwork. Often, we vote for bills that sound really good, they have a nice title, but they don't really bring the success we are talking about today" which is "succeeding in a family, even if you never had one."

Watch Rep. Wenstrup's full remarks here.

"It is incredibly important for adopting parents to be supported in making children feel welcomed, safe, and accepted, so that foster children have permanent new homes. To help ensure more foster children are successfully placed, this bill would direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide Congress a written report, so lawmakers can best direct resources for foster children and their adopted parents," said Rep. Brad Wenstrup, D.P.M. 

"We must work to set our foster youth on a trajectory towards lifelong success, and that starts with strengthening our data collection. The federal government lacks reliable statistics on failed adoptions. This legislation aims to compile key data to pinpoint deficiencies in current foster care services, ultimately informing strategic investments and improving outcomes for adopted children and their families," said Rep. Lloyd Smucker.

"Strong families mean strong communities, and it is essential we ensure that children are brought up in loving homes. Our child welfare system needs to assure taxpayers that their dollars are being used in a way that best serves our nation’s most vulnerable children. I want to thank Congressman Wenstrup for advancing solutions that will provide accountability and transparency for how tax dollars are spent and used to help children and families throughout the adoption process," said Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Rep. Jason Smith. 

"We are pleased to see this bipartisan effort with the Foster Care Adoption Oversight and Support Act, knowing that better data will produce improved policies to support children and families," said Ryan Hanlon, President of the National Council for Adoption.

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