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< Back to Testimony / Comments
March 4, 2010
Executive Director Judith Sandalow testified at the Adoption Reform Amendment Act of 2009 hearing in strong support of the provisions that would extend adoption and guardianship subsidies until youth turn 21 and expand guardianship subsidies to include foster parents who are not kin to a child. CLC has long advocated for these important changes.
Extending and expanding these subsidies will remove two key barriers to adoption and guardianship created by current law and will help scores of children to leave foster care for adoption and guardianship each year:
1. Adoption and guardianship subsidies currently expire when a child turns 18, while foster parents continue to receive foster care subsidies until the youth turns 21. This disparity creates a disincentive for foster parents, especially foster parents of older youth, to seek adoption or guardianship.
2. Some children, especially older youth, want to live permanently with their foster parents while staying connected to their birth families. Foster parents who become guardians can do just this - provide permanency without severing legal ties to birth families. However, current law does not allow non-kinship foster parents to receive guardianship subsidies, which effectively prevents many of these foster parents from seeking guardianship.
Removal of these barriers would not only lead to a dramatic increase in adoptions and guardianships each year, but also save the District $3.9 million over four years, as projected by the city's Chief Financial Officer.
To avoid delaying new adoptions and guardianships and cost savings for the District, Sandalow urged the Committee on Human Services to enact the subsidy provisions as emergency and temporary legislation. Sandalow also recommended that the Committee limit post-adoption contact agreements to private adoptions.
Read Sandalow's full testimony here.
Read the testimony of a CLC staff attorney, Bill Ecenbarger, who told the story a teenaged client whose foster parent cannot afford to become her guardian without the subsidy extension.
As one family united together, it was a blessing for my children to receive the gift of happiness from a total stranger. We just wanted to thank you for opening your heart to help. I’d personally like to take the time to say that you will be kept in our hearts and prayers from this day forth. That one day we can return the love you’ve shown to us.
-The D Family
