By Governor Bob Wise(nheimer)
Submitted by Inflatable Sushi
Date: 2003 May 12
Comment on this Work
[[2003.05.12.20.49.19374]]

Supporting Loving Families

SUPPORTING LOVING FAMILIES
by
Governor Bob Wise

Each year, West Virginia families open their homes and their hearts to orphaned children from faraway lands. They give these children the best gift possible: hope for the future and all the benefits of growing up in a loving home and a wonderful nation.

International adoption has grown substantially in recent years, but the process by which these adoptions were recognized was out of date and posed several bureaucratic hurdles. Senate Bill 337, which I recently signed, simplifies this process by allowing adoptive parents to file a Petition for Recognition of Foreign Adoption Decree in Circuit Court. Once this is approved, the adoption becomes official.

Families that adopt from foreign countries have to undergo extensive background checks and legal proceedings, for good reason. However, we can now make at least one step in the process more streamlined.

While we strive to make every interaction a citizen has with state government positive, the best way to improve government service is to reduce the time and money required to do business with the state. Since I took office, new technologies and a thorough review of state government operations have simplified everything from acquiring a hunting license to applying for the PROMISE Scholarship.

This legislation, which I proposed in January in my State of the State address, is just a piece of our larger effort to support West Virginia families. The sales tax holiday, Privacy Act, and medical liability reform measures I have signed also are components of this agenda. We're constantly looking for ways to ease the burden of bureaucracy and improve state government's level of service.

My enthusiasm for this reform was reinvigorated when I signed this bill. I was joined by families who had come together through international adoption. The smiling faces of the children and the love the parents showed for their sons and daughters reaffirmed my commitment to these wonderful families.

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