Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining this special event today.
Each year, it’s a pleasure to be involved in the celebration of National Adoption Month. I’m sorry that this year we have to mark this occasion virtually, but there is good news to make up for that: We have remarkable progress to celebrate—thanks, in significant part, to the hard work that so many of you have been doing.
I especially want to thank those of you joining us who are adoptive parents or foster parents yourselves. I’ve said before that it’s fitting that we celebrate National Adoption Month in such close proximity to Veterans Day.
Last Wednesday, we celebrated heroes who’ve served our country in uniform. Throughout this month, we celebrate other heroes too. All parents who welcome an adoptive or foster child, I believe, are truly American heroes.
Promoting adoption and foster care isn’t a one-month-a-year affair at HHS, and I know it isn’t for many of you either. That’s particularly been the case under Lynn’s leadership at ACF. In cooperation with partners in the White House—including President Trump, the First Lady, and Vice President Pence—I believe Lynn and our team at HHS have put more of a focus on finding forever homes for America’s most vulnerable kids than any administration has done before.
The “All-in” Foster Adoption Challenge Lynn has launched at ACF has galvanized action in an unprecedented way: from states, nonprofits, faith-based organizations, families, businesses, and other partners.
As I mentioned, these efforts have yielded results, and I want to congratulate all of you on those results. Data collected by the Children’s Bureau shows that the number of adoptions from the public child welfare system has been trending steadily upward, and set a new record on FY19.
At the same time we’ve increased adoptions, we’ve also made progress on ensuring that as few kids as possible have to enter foster care in the first place. We’ve made progress there too, reducing the number of American kids in foster care for three years in a row through FY19.
We’ve also put a real focus on promoting the adoption of older youth, because we know that it can be so important for a young person to have a forever family to support them as they grow into independence.
Finally, I also want to recognize the work that adoption organizations and prospective adoptive parents have done during the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve made every effort to provide states and organizations with flexibility to continue work on securing stable and loving homes for America’s youth, suggesting ways to do home visits and court procedures virtually and recommending that states designate staff involved in child protective services and preventive social work as essential employees who can receive needed PPE.
The pandemic has challenged our country in so many ways, and it’s naturally been our key focus as a Department over this past year. But the pandemic has also shown the incredible resilience and generosity of the American people, and the ways in which we come together to care for each other.
Today, we’ll recognize some particularly exceptional Americans who’ve done that: outstanding families, leaders, and organizations who will receive Adoption Excellence Awards. I want to congratulate this year’s awardees, and thank everyone for the work you are doing for our most vulnerable youth.
So many children’s futures are made brighter by your work to support adoption and foster care, and our country’s future is made brighter too. So thank you for what you do toward that healthier, brighter future for our most vulnerable and for all Americans—thank you for being all-in on those efforts.
I’ll now hand things over to Lynn to lead the rest of the event.
