Thank you, and good afternoon everyone. Welcome to this Congressional Briefing on overcoming barriers to the interstate adoption of children in foster care [Overcoming Interjurisdictional Barriers to Permanency for Children in State Care].

The Freddie Mac Foundation has joined Voice for Adoption and our congressional cosponsors — the Honorable Tom DeLay, Wally Herger and Ben Cardin — because we share a commitment to helping children in foster care find permanent, loving homes. To our partners, thank you for your leadership and support. I’d like to take a moment to also recognize my Freddie Mac colleagues who have joined us today: Cheryl Clarke, director of giving for the Freddie Mac Foundation and Virgil Griffin from Freddie Mac’s Government Relations & Public Policy office.

We all know that the security and love of a family is the most precious gift there is in this world. It’s what every child needs. Yet every night, more than half a million children go to bed hoping and praying for a family of their own.

For some of these children who are waiting to be adopted, appropriate families are not available in the states or counties where they live. Particularly for children who have special needs and are difficult to place, the largest net possible must be cast to find them a permanent, loving home.

Yet when families are found out of state, too often, unnecessary barriers and delays impede the adoption. In fact, on average, it takes one year longer for a child to be adopted through an interstate placement.

This interstate adoption issue is one the Freddie Mac Foundation is familiar with. Through our Wednesday’s Child program in six cities, and our Wednesday’s Child website, we work to unite families with hard-to-place foster children across the country. Many of the programs reach out to viewers and potential adoptive families across state lines. For example, our new Wednesday’s Child program in Philadelphia, launched two months ago, broadcasts to families in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania.

We’re delighted that our panelists have joined us today, during National Foster Care Month, to share their knowledge on such an important topic. I’d also like to recognize Courteney Holden, Voice for Adoption’s Executive Director, and Ernesto Loperena, VFA President, for their leadership on adoption issues.

To all of you here, we appreciate your support of foster children and families around the nation. Through your work in public policy and by providing resources to support adoption, I’m confident we can build a brighter future for our children.

Thank you.