III 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 378 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that children should have a safe, loving, 

nurturing, and permanent family and that it is the policy of the United 

States that family reunification, kinship care, or domestic and intercountry adoption promotes permanency and stability to a greater degree 

than long-term institutionalization and long-term, continually disrupted 

foster care. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 15, 2012 

Ms. LANDRIEU (for herself, Mr. LUGAR, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. GRASSLEY, 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mrs. 

HUTCHISON, Mr. LEVIN, and Mr. NELSON of Nebraska) submitted the 

following resolution; which was considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that children should 

have a safe, loving, nurturing, and permanent family 

and that it is the policy of the United States that family 

reunification, kinship care, or domestic and intercountry 

adoption promotes permanency and stability to a greater 

degree than long-term institutionalization and long-term, 

continually disrupted foster care. 

Whereas the family is the basic unit of society and contributes to the emotional, financial, and material support essential for the healthy growth and development of children; 


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•SRES 378 ATS 

Whereas children without a family or connections to siblings 

and relatives or a permanent relationship with a caring 

adult are at risk of being homeless, growing up in substandard institutional care, and are vulnerable to sexual 

and labor exploitation and abuse; 

Whereas research has shown that children who are abandoned, abused, or severely neglected can face significant 

risks that are costly to society, including lower individual 

lifetime earnings, poorer educational achievement, and 

higher consumption of health services, which in turn 

could lead to a greater risk of criminal activity and greater risk of incarceration; 

Whereas there is scientific evidence that children deprived of 

a family, including connections with siblings, often experience trauma, which can have a detrimental impact on 

the development of a child; 

Whereas some estimates show that there are approximately 

18 million children in the world who have lost both parents and at least 2 million children in the world who are 

in institutional care; 

Whereas there are approximately 408,000 children in the 

United States foster-care system and 107,000 of them 

are awaiting adoption; 

Whereas within the current foster-care system, many children 

are overmedicated, housed in inadequate group homes, 

denied the ability to engage in age-appropriate activities, 

such as afterschool activities, and often denied access to 

their siblings or placement with a relative guardian due 

to insufficient efforts to locate family members; 

Whereas thousands of children who ‘‘age out’’ of the fostercare system in the United States every year lack the seVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:16 Feb 15, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR378.ATS SR378

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•SRES 378 ATS 

curity or support of a biological or adoptive family, connections with siblings and relatives, or a permanent relationship with a caring adult and struggle to secure affordable housing, health insurance, higher education, and 

adequate employment; 

Whereas current governmental efforts to assist these highly 

vulnerable children in the United States and around the 

world do not include an effective strategy for securing a 

protective family, connections with siblings and relatives, 

or a permanent relationship with a caring adult for every 

child; and 

Whereas while there have been several bipartisan laws enacted in the past several years that have made progress 

on a number of needed child-welfare reforms, much remains to be done to ensure that all children have a safe, 

loving, nurturing, and permanent family, regardless of 

age or special needs: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That— 

2 (1) the Senate— 

3 (A) affirms that all children in the world, 

4 including those with special needs, deserve a 

5 safe, loving, nurturing, and permanent family, 

6 connections with siblings and relatives, or a 

7 permanent relationship with a caring adult; 

8 (B) acknowledges that the United States 

9 Government can and should do more by work10 ing with the private sector, nonprofit organiza11 tions, and faith-based communities to imple12 ment cost effective strategies that connect chilVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:16 Feb 15, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR378.ATS SR378

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1 dren living outside of family care with a perma2 nent, supportive family, or connections with sib3 lings and relatives, or a permanent relationship 

4 with a caring adult; 

5 (C) encourages States, counties, cities, and 

6 to the extent appropriate, other governments to 

7 invest resources in family preservation, reunifi8 cation services, services to help older youth 

9 transition out of care with a connection to sib10 lings, relatives or a caring adult, kinship adop11 tion, domestic adoption, and intercountry adop12 tion and post adoption strategies to ensure that 

13 more children in the United States are provided 

14 with safe, loving, and permanent family place15 ments or a permanent relationship with a car16 ing adult; and 

17 (D) recognizes the United States Agency 

18 for International Development and the Depart19 ment of State for recent efforts to develop a 

20 strategy for meeting the unique needs of chil21 dren living outside of family care; 

22 (2) it is the sense of the Senate that children 

23 should have a safe, loving, nurturing, and permanent 

24 family; and 


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1 (3) it is the policy of the United States that 

2 family reunification, kinship care, or domestic and 

3 intercountry adoption promotes permanency and sta4 bility to a greater degree than long-term institu5 tionalization and long-term, continually disrupted 

6 foster care. 

Æ 


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