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House appropriations subcommittee hearing urges workforce, data fixes and post‑adoption supports to speed permanency
Summary
Witnesses at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing urged Congress to invest in the permanency workforce, expand adoption‑competent mental‑health services, fix federal data systems that lose adoptee identifiers, and redesign discretionary grant rules so tribes and states can access effective programs.
The House Appropriations subcommittee held a hearing on advancing permanency and child welfare, hearing from five witnesses who pressed for stepped‑up federal action to reduce delays to adoption and to make post‑adoption supports routine.
Kate McLean, executive director of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, told the panel that three priorities should guide federal work: making adoption more accessible and ethical, ensuring families and children are prepared and supported before and after placement, and strengthening the permanency workforce so cases move efficiently. "We need a skilled permanency workforce," McLean said, arguing that staff shortages and insufficient training contribute to multi‑year delays to permanency.
Debbie Riley, CEO of the Center for Adoption Support and Education, emphasized mental‑health services and training, pointing to the National Training Institute (NTI)…
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