To the Future President:

My name is Clayton Hol and I am a 7th grade student at Oskaloosa Christian School in Iowa.

I am writing to talk to you about adoption for children in foster care. I saw a graph from "Together We Rise" on facebook, citing the 2014 statistics of over 104,000 children in foster care are waiting to be adopted in the United States. This bothers me. So many kids need a loving home. They need to feel important and feel like they belong.

This issue matters because my family tried to adopt my best friend. It is too much money and it was not possible. I have friends and cousins who were adopted. They are happy now. I wish you could find a cheaper way for families to adopt, so more kids could feel loved.

You should care about this issue because of the cost of foster care. If you made it cheaper to adopt, you could save money on foster care costs. Since there are so many children needing homes, we shouldn’t allow any more refugees in this country either. We have so many children needing homes already, to allow more in the U.S. could create more violence or poverty.

Please pray about what you can do about this issue. You definitely want to make sure children find loving homes, but maybe more homes could adopt if it wasn’t so much money. As president you have a lot of authority and could make a great change on this issue. One way you can make a change is making the adoption process less money. More people would be interested if they could afford it. Another way you could make a change is making the paperwork less. A lot of people are scared of the amount of work involved in adoption and foster care. As president you can make these changes.

As a Christian I believe the meaning of this verse is true: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when dreams come true, there is life and joy.” –Proverbs 13:12. Children would be so happy to have a place to call home and family to call their own. My Christian faith teaches me that Jesus loves children. I want to help children and show love like Jesus. I want the children to find hope in a family just like I have in my faith and family. The children will find hope and joy when they get a family.

You can be a part of changing the lives of these children. Please look for a way to improve this process. I appreciate your leadership in helping this country.

Sincerely,

Clayton Hol