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Committee sends resolution supporting reception of federal adoption-grant funds to print
Summary
The committee sent RS 32271 to print. The measure expresses legislative support for accepting federal grants related to adoption education and birth‑mother support should federal grant language permit such use in Idaho.
The Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted to introduce and send RS 32271 to print, a concurrent resolution expressing the legislature’s support for receiving federal funds for adoption education, adoption awareness and expanded birth-mother support if federal grant language permits.
Senator Julie Van Orden (R‑District 30), who presented the resolution, told the committee that state agencies and adoption advocates have encountered federal grants whose terms conflicted with current Idaho law or administrative restrictions, preventing the state from accepting those funds. ‘‘We would like to be ready to receive those monies into the state to help these young birth mothers,’’ Van Orden said.
Terry Markcroft, founder and executive director of the nonprofit Unplanned Good, described the organizations working on the federal advocacy effort and said priorities include expansion of adoption education, increased birth‑mother care and support, legal assistance for birth mothers and targeted outreach to men involved in adoption decisions. ‘‘The idea is to develop an advocacy…with the Department of Health and Human Services in D.C., such that they would be advocating for exactly what we are,’’ Markcroft said.
Committee members asked several clarifying questions about the potential strings attached to federal funding and how grant terms might interact with Idaho law. Senator Maryanne Wintrow expressed conditional support for birth‑mother services but asked for detail on grant language before endorsing the resolution in committee. Committee leadership described RS 32271 as a precursor statement of willingness so that state agencies could apply for federal funds if and when federal grant language changes.
The committee approved the motion to send RS 32271 to print by voice vote; at least one ‘no’ was recorded in the committee record. No fiscal estimate for RS 32271 was provided in committee testimony.
If RS 32271 advances and federal grant language changes, the resolution would indicate legislative readiness to receive and administer funding for adoption education and birth‑mother services subject to federal conditions.
