NO ONE can argue with President Clinton's call to double the number of adoptions of children in foster care over the next six years. Foster care is a necessary respite in many cases, but for too many children, what was meant to be a temporary solution becomes a permanent limbo. The president is right to highlight the need for swifter resolution of cases of children who cannot or hTC should not return to their parents.
In Maryland, foster children who cannot return home now wait an average of 32 months for adoption. That's almost three years -- an eternity for a child -- but at least the wait has gotten significantly shorter in the past decade. Still, plenty of children linger in the system longer than they should. Currently, some 1,450 Maryland foster children are waiting to be adopted.
In announcing his new initiative, President Clinton called attention to the bill he signed earlier this year banning racial preference in adoption, a laudable and overdue move, and providing for a $5,000 tax credit for families who adopt a child. While important, the tax credit won't significantly affect foster care adoptions, since for the majority of foster care kids there are state or federal subsidies available to adopting families.
