Clinton Applauds Global Effort To Help Orphans

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute today for its efforts to provide permanent homes for orphans around the world. 

“We meet today because we all believe that every child deserves a safe, loving, permanent family of his or her own,” Clinton said during a policy summit meant to coincide with the release of findings from the group’s year-long “The Way Forward Project.”

Clinton detailed her past experience working for children’s causes, which began in law school when she explored legal protections for abused children. During that time, the former First Lady worked for the Children’s Defense Fund to gather data to help make the case that children with disabilities deserve an education. While traveling the world, Clinton visited two of Mother Theresa’s orphanages in India and a state orphanage in Romania, which further encouraged her efforts to pass legislation to fund permanent homes for orphaned children.

“Consistently the studies prove that children in residential institutions too often experience developmental delays [and] attachment disorders that obviously impact their ability to mature and success later in life,” Clinton said today. “One recent study showed that on average children reared in orphanages had IQs 20 points lower than those raised in foster care.”  

Yet, Clinton deplored that while there have been tremendous efforts to get children out of orphanages and into caring homes, UNICEF still estimates that there are at least two million children in orphanages around the world.

This is where The Way Forward Project comes in. The effort, which was launched last November, brought policy makers, investors and practitioners together to seek ways to improve the full continuum of care for vulnerable children around the world. Their 200-page report concluded that “family-based care is the optimal environment for children and should therefore be the underlying goal for children who, because of things such as disease, war, violence and poverty find themselves living alone, on the streets or in institutions.”

“Let’s work together on this because, for me, there is no higher priority,” Clinton said. “The work I do every day as Secretary to try to make the world a more peaceful, stable, free place is really aimed at helping the next generation realize their God-given potential and this is a big part of that.” 

Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) and evangelical Christian Pastor Rick Warren also spoke at today’s event.

Click here to see a photo taken at the Summit.