FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2/15/12
Landrieu Resolution Supporting Efforts for Every Child to Have A Loving, Permanent Family Passes
WASHINGTON — The United States Senate today unanimously passed a resolution authored by U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., affirming that all children have the right to be loved within a safe, nurturing and permanent family. The resolution supports local, state, federal and international efforts that work to safeguard and promote this right.
“On Valentine’s Day, we remember and recommit ourselves to the simple idea of love: Every child has a right to be cared for within a safe and permanent family. The first call I made this morning was to my husband and kids to wish them a happy Valentine’s Day. But sadly there are millions of children today who may not receive a call or valentine from a parent because they are orphans,” said Sen. Landrieu, as she introduced the resolution during a speech on the Senate floor last night. “The love between a parent and a child is irreplaceable. This resolution states that this Senate firmly shares this belief. Without the love and attention of a protective parent, children can become withdrawn, experience developmental delays and show signs of extreme and toxic stress.”
The American Academy of Pediatricians and results of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project assert that institutional care can be harmful for children, especially young children. These studies verify that children raised in institutions too often experience developmental delays and show signs of extreme and traumatic stress.
In the United States, approximately 408,000 children reside in the foster care system and a staggering 107,000 await adoption. Thousands of children age out—the point when a child is considered an adult and no longer a minor by a state’s statute—of the foster care system in the United States every year.
Sen. Landrieu has been a tireless advocate to reform the U.S. foster care system. If just one family in every three houses of worship across the United States adopted a child out of foster care, every U.S. orphan would have a permanent home.
“Amidst all the Valentine’s Day excitement, let’s not forget that thousands of children domestically and millions of children worldwide are deprived of the basic right to be loved in a protective family,” Sen. Landrieu said.
Watch highlights from Sen. Landrieu’s speech last night.