October 1, 2008 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S10303 

General Ward and know that he is 

aware of both the opportunities and 

risks as AFRICOM stands up. I still believe that a unified regional combatant 

command can contribute to broader 

U.S. Government efforts to confront 

the many security challenges in Africa 

and can provide additional tools to pursue coherent and strategic objectives 

across the continent. But to fulfill that 

potential, AFRICOM must demonstrate 

in its inaugural months and years that 

it recognizes the unique political realities throughout Africa, concentrates 

on its defined mandate, and takes its 

lead from our diplomats. Simultaneously, we in Congress must act to ensure that our diplomats have the resources they need to take that lead in 

formulating and implementing comprehensive U.S. strategies in Africa. 

f 

NATIONAL ADOPTION MONTH 

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I rise 

today in honor of National Adoption 

Day and National Adoption Month. 

Senator COLEMAN and I understand 

that the Senate passed our resolution 

recognizing National Adoption Day and 

National Adoption Month. I stand before you today and challenge every 

Member of Congress to take this opportunity to be the voice for children who 

do not necessarily have someone to 

speak for them. 

As chair of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, I strongly believe 

that ‘‘there is no such thing as an unwanted child, just unfound families.’’ 

The Hague Convention recognizes 

‘‘that the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding.’’ Unfortunately, not all children have a family 

of their own, but through adoption our 

children have the opportunity to find 

their ‘‘forever family.’’ 

Nearly half of all Americans have 

been touched by adoption, and last 

year more than 4,200 children became 

members of permanent loving families 

through adoption celebrations that 

were held in all 50 States, the District 

of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. I commend every State for its efforts, but we 

still have miles to go. 

Between 2002 and 2007, approximately 

4.8 million children were serviced by 

the U.S. foster care system, and only 

310,000 of them were adopted by ‘‘forever families.’’ Children in foster care 

are some of the most vulnerable members of our society, and we must do everything in our power to make sure 

they have the necessary tools to live a 

normal healthy life. As Members of 

Congress we have taken a stance in 

helping children move from foster care 

to permanent, adoptive homes by passing the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 

2008. However, National Adoption Day 

gives us the chance to experience firsthand the joys that adoption brings to 

the lives of our children and their families. 

President Bush has recognized the 

importance of adoption to children and 

our Nation. That is why he declares 

November to be National Adoption 

Month. This year National Adoption 

Day occurs on November 15 as a part of 

National Adoption Month. National 

Adoption Day is an event to raise 

awareness of the 129,000 children in foster care who are waiting for permanent 

families. Since the first National Adoption Day in 2000, nearly 20,000 children 

have joined ‘‘forever families’’ on this 

special day. This year we hope to have 

events in all 50 States, the District of 

Columbia, and Puerto Rico. 

I want you to picture what happens 

on this fall day, children running, 

laughing, and playing with their new 

parent. Think about a girl or boy planning their special outfit and joyously 

awaiting the family celebration. Imagine the excitement welling up inside of 

a child as she looks into her new parent’s eyes and knows she is finally part 

of a family. She will never dread the 

sound of a car coming to take her away 

again or wonder where she will lay her 

head or which school she will be moved 

to. 

Now picture the other dramatically 

different reality. There are approximately 513,000 current foster care children in the United States, and 114,000 of 

them are waiting for adoption. Since 

1987, the number of children in foster 

care has nearly doubled, and the average time a child remains in foster care 

has lengthened to nearly 3 years. Each 

year, approximately 24,000 children in 

foster care will age out of the system 

without ever being placed with a permanent family. 

According to a survey by the Dave 

Thomas Foundation for Adoption, 

many potential adoptive parents have 

considered foster care adoption, but ‘‘a 

majority of Americans hold misperceptions about the foster care adoption process and the children who are 

eligible for adoption.’’ For example, 

‘‘two-thirds of those considering foster 

care adoption are unnecessarily concerned that biological parents can return to claim their children and nearly 

half of all Americans mistakenly believe that foster care adoption is expensive, when in reality adopting from 

foster care is without substantial 

cost.’’ 

Most foster children entered into 

State custody because their parents 

were either unable or unwilling to care 

for them. Not only are children separated from parents, but in many cases, 

siblings are separated when they are 

placed in foster care. Over half the 

children in foster care are 10 years of 

age or older and have more difficulty 

being adopted. These children are just 

waiting to flourish with the right parent’s guidance. 

In Louisiana there are 4,541 children 

in foster care and 1,162 of them are 

waiting to be adopted. I would like to 

share with you how foster care and 

adoption has affected some of our children in Louisiana. 

Ian is 15 years old and first entered 

foster care at the age of 5 due to physical abuse and lack of supervision by 

his mother. Ian’s mother surrendered 

her parental rights, and he and his 

three sisters were placed for adoption. 

Ian’s younger sisters were adopted by 

their foster parents. 

In November 2006, Ian was placed in a 

specialized foster home after completing a facility program. This family 

has worked very closely with Ian in 

learning to trust others, making appropriate choices, on becoming part of a 

family unit, and being able to ‘‘attach’’ 

to others in preparation of an adoptive 

family. Ian is working very hard to adjust to a ‘‘traditional family lifestyle’’ 

and is progressing well in this family 

setting. Ian states he wants an adoptive family that says, ‘‘You are our 

child and we will not turn you away.’’ 

Ian is very personable and is looking 

for acceptance in life. He is polite, affectionate, and very adventurous. Ian 

enjoys playing basketball, riding bikes, 

reading Harry Potter books, and playing video games. Numerous recruitment efforts for an adoptive home have 

been made since Ian was placed in the 

specialized foster home, but an adoptive family has not been found to date. 

One of the greatest barriers to adoption is a lack of resources of prospective adoptive families willing to adopt 

older children. 

While Ian is still desperately searching for someone to love and care for 

him, Christopher, through all of his 

struggles, has found that sense of permanency. Christopher is 12 years old 

and first entered foster care at the age 

of 2 months. He was subject to abuse by 

his biological father that resulted in a 

skull fracture, subdural hematoma, 

bruises, bites, and burns. Christopher 

had many developmental delays and 

problematic behaviors requiring placement in specialized foster homes. 

Christopher’s removal was requested 

by several foster placements because of 

behavioral issues. In June 2006, a foster 

parent who had provided respite for 

Christopher was asked to consider the 

fostering of Christopher as the child 

had formed a very strong bond to this 

foster parent and her children during 

his respite visits. Upon placement in 

this home, drastic improvements were 

noted in Christopher’s behavior, socialization, academic achievements, and 

physical health. In all appearances, 

Christopher was now functioning in the 

normal range for his age and with 

minimal evidence of neurological impairment. Christopher’s neurologist 

continued to marvel at Christopher’s 

functioning considering the extensive 

injuries he had suffered as an infant. 

One day while the adoption social 

worker was visiting with Christopher 

and his foster mother, Christopher said 

he wanted to change his name to 

‘‘Kantrell.’’ The social worker responded ‘‘Kantrell (and Christopher’s 

last name), that does sound nice.’’ 

Christopher replied no, ‘‘Kantrell’’ and 

the last name of his foster mother. The 


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S10304 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE October 1, 2008 

social worker stated that she immediately noted a glistening in the eye of 

the foster mother who replied, ‘‘Is that 

really what you want, Christopher?’’ 

Christopher responded that was very 

much his desire. The adoption of Christopher was finalized in January 2008 

with Christopher changing his name to 

‘‘Kantrell.’’ Kantrell has continued to 

thrive in his adoptive home and is a delight to all who know him. 

Each year, 79,000 children and youth 

who exit foster care leave without a 

permanent home or belonging to a family. I could stand here every day for the 

next month and talk about each child 

who needs to be adopted out of foster 

care. The bottom line is that each of 

these children, from 1 day old to 22 

years old, needs permanency. They all 

need a loving, nurturing family that 

will help them to grow, bring out their 

unique personalities, and transform 

them into confident and happy adults. 

On National Adoption Day, I have 

faith that we can be the catalyst to securing a permanent loving family for 

every child. The miracle of adoption 

cannot be explained, but the loving 

parents who are holding their children 

for the first time today are living examples of how dreams can be realized. 

As an adoptive mother myself, I find 

that words cannot adequately explain 

the miracle of adoption. I can only 

take a moment to offer my most humble thanks, gratitude, and appreciation 

to all those across the Nation who have 

given their Saturday to help find waiting children safe and loving homes. 

Let us continue to remember that 

when National Adoption Month and 

Day end there are still thousands of 

children who need that sense of permanency. I challenge Congress to make 

these children their first priority and 

not another statistic to be studied. 

Please join us in supporting National 

Adoption Day and National Adoption 

Month by participating in events held 

across the country celebrating this 

most joyous, hopeful act. 

f 

HIGHER EDUCATION LOANS 

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, this 

past August the President signed into 

law the Higher Education Opportunity 

Act which reauthorized programs for 

postsecondary and higher education. 

Contained within the reauthorization 

is the Education Disaster and Emergency Relief Loan Program. The bill 

established a loan program within the 

U.S. Department of Education to provide critically needed low-interest 

guaranteed loans to institutions in the 

event of catastrophic natural or manmade disasters. 

The colleges and universities in Louisiana, particularly those in the New 

Orleans area, remain in many ways financially crippled by Hurricane 

Katrina. Three years after Katrina and 

Rita devastated Louisiana and Mississippi these institutions still have 

nearly $700 million in unrecovered 

losses. The estimates for Gustav and 

Ike are still not finalized, but at this 

stage the damage is purported to be at 

least $46 million to State colleges and 

universities alone. 

Before Katrina, the 11 colleges and 

universities in the New Orleans area 

educated 70,000 students. Today, that 

number is only 50,000, but it continues 

to slowly rebound. This growth comes 

despite the fact that our institutions of 

higher education experienced more 

than $1 billion in physical damages and 

operational losses due to the 2005 hurricanes and have recovered less than half 

of those losses. Higher education institutions are the largest employers in 

New Orleans both before and after 

Katrina. The higher education industry 

in New Orleans continues to attract 

millions of research dollars and supports industries as diverse as biotechnology, aerospace, and medicine. 

The work of each institution in the 

city can be seen in every aspect of the 

region’s recovery, from the redesign of 

the city’s troubled public schools to 

coastal restoration and hurricane protection to the provision of health care 

across the region. They engage in this 

important work even as they continue 

to struggle with mounting revenue 

losses, buildings that remain in disrepair due to flooding, and the loss of 

key faculty and staff. 

I call today on the Secretary of Education to make the Education Disaster 

Loan Program a top regulatory priority. It is my understanding that 

some Department of Education officials have said that they will not promulgate regulations on any newly created programs in the Higher Education 

Act until funds are appropriated. This 

simply is not acceptable. This issue has 

become a major roadblock in the current disaster funding process, and it is 

my hope that the Secretary and the 

Department will move expeditiously to 

establish regulations so that the program may provide crucial assistance to 

the colleges and universities impacted 

by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, 

Ike, and the Midwest floods. 

f 

PRIVACY PROTECTIONS—S. 2321 

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am 

pleased to announce that, today, after 

several discussions, the Bush administration and lead sponsors of the E-Government Reauthorization Act of 2008, 

S. 2321, have accepted an amendment I 

have drafted to ensure that Americans’ 

privacy comes first when the Government purchases and uses their most 

sensitive personal information. My 

amendment requires that Federal agencies must conduct privacy impact assessments before employing outside 

contractors that use and market Americans’ sensitive personal data. 

The addition of privacy protections 

to the E-Government Reauthorization 

Act will help to better protect all 

Americans from the growing threats of 

data breaches, identity theft, and other 

cyber crimes. I am particularly pleased 

about the compromise reached today 

because I am a proud supporter of this 

bill. In 2002, I was an original cosponsor 

of E-Government Act, and in the intervening years, I have worked to promote 

and strengthen this law. 

The E-Government Reauthorization 

Act is a good bill that will now be even 

better because of the privacy protections added by my amendment. Recently, the Government Accountability 

Office released a report on lessons 

learned about the Government data 

breaches at the Veterans’ Administration and elsewhere. That report found 

that Government contractor responsibilities for preventing and responding 

to data breaches should be clearly defined. My amendment takes a small 

but important step toward addressing 

the growing problem of lax data security by Government contractors by 

making sure that Americans’ privacy 

rights are not compromised when they 

entrust their sensitive personal information to our Government. 

I thank the lead sponsors of this bill 

for working with me on compromise 

privacy language for this bill. I also 

thank the many stakeholders who support this bill and my privacy amendment, including the Center for Democracy and Technology, Symantec, and 

the Cyber Security Industry Alliance. 

I urge all Senators to support and 

pass this important legislation. 

f 

HONORING MARYLAND’S 

OLYMPIANS 

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, today 

I rise to honor and congratulate Maryland’s Olympic athletes for their performance in the 2008 Beijing Summer 

Olympic Games. These dedicated, disciplined, and accomplished athletes are 

a source of great pride to Maryland and 

the country. Therefore, it is with great 

enthusiasm that I commend: 

Freddy Adu of Montgomery County, 

2008 men’s soccer team; Carmel Anthony of Baltimore, 2008 men’s basketball team; David Banks of Potomac, 

2008 men’s Olympic rowing team; Maurice Edu of College Park, 2008 men’s 

soccer team; Jun Gao of Montgomery 

County, 2008 women’s table-tennis 

team; Georgia Gould of Baltimore, 2008 

women’s cycling team; Kathryn Hoff of 

Towson, 2008 women’s Olympic swimming team; Gao Jun of Gaithersburg, 

2008 men’s Olympic table tennis team; 

Bobby Lea of Talbot County, 2008 

men’s Olympic cycling team; Mechelle 

Lewis of Prince George’s County, 2008 

women’s track & field team; Jessica 

Long of Baltimore, 2008 Paralympics 

swimming team; Khan Bob Malaythong 

of Rockville, 2008 men’s Olympic badminton team; Tatyana McFadden of 

Howard County, 2008 Paralympic 

wheelchair racing; Scott Parsons of 

Montgomery County, 2008 men’s canoe 

and kayak team; Michael Phelps II of 

Baltimore, 2008 men’s Olympic swimming team; Lauren Powley of the University of Maryland, 2008 women’s field 

hockey team; Dina Rizzo of the University of Maryland, 2008 women’s field 


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