On Tuesday, November 12, Vice President Mike Pence delivered remarks at the 2019 HHS National Adoption Month Celebration. He exclaimed that the Trump Administration is the most pro-adoption (and pro-life) Administration in American history and that today’s celebration is for the many families that have opened their hearts and homes to forever families.

The 2019 Adoption Excellence Award winners included Chris and Gig Kean, who adopted Maci 51 days before her 18th birthday from foster care, Scott and Amy Arnston, who adopted Isaiah, the Child Welfare Division of Louisiana’s Department of Child and Family Services, and America’s Kids Belong.

He shared how he and his wife, Karen, had trouble with infertility and considered adoption before his wife became pregnant. Vice President Pence shared that under this Administration, they have been “working tirelessly to strengthen families and support the most vulnerable among us, including,” foster care and preventing children from entering the system. He mentioned President Trump’s signing Family First into law and stated there was a decline in the number of children who entered foster care and more children than ever were adopted from foster care. He said :

“We’re here today because families like these, and businesses and local governments, have all worked together to expand access to adoption all across this country. And I want to assure you, under this President and this Vice President and our entire Administration, we’re going to continue to work to expand adoption for families all across America.”

Vice President Pence indicated that the decrease in the number of children in foster care and the increase in the number of children adopted from foster care is worth celebrating, however, “there’s still more work to do.” He remarked that he is proud of the reversal of the Obama Administration’s nondiscrimination rules that expanded categories of discrimination to include religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity, and that “child welfare providers would never be forced to choose between their faith and serving those in need.” There are more than 125,000 children in foster care waiting for adoption, including the 20,000 older youth who age out annually.

Click here to watch the speech.