[House Hearing, 110 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
CHILDREN WHO AGE
OUT OF THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON INCOME
SECURITY AND FAMILY SUPPORT
of the
COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
JULY 12, 2007
__________
Serial No. 110-53
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Ways and Means
----------
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COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS
CHARLES B. RANGEL, New York, Chairman
FORTNEY PETE STARK, California JIM MCCRERY, Louisiana
SANDER M. LEVIN, Michigan WALLY HERGER, California
JIM MCDERMOTT, Washington DAVE CAMP, Michigan
JOHN LEWIS, Georgia JIM RAMSTAD, Minnesota
RICHARD E. NEAL, Massachusetts SAM JOHNSON, Texas
MICHAEL R. MCNULTY, New York PHIL ENGLISH, Pennsylvania
JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee JERRY WELLER, Illinois
XAVIER BECERRA, California KENNY C. HULSHOF, Missouri
LLOYD DOGGETT, Texas RON LEWIS, Kentucky
EARL POMEROY, North Dakota KEVIN BRADY, Texas
STEPHANIE TUBBS JONES, Ohio THOMAS M. REYNOLDS, New York
MIKE THOMPSON, California PAUL RYAN, Wisconsin
JOHN B. LARSON, Connecticut ERIC CANTOR, Virginia
RAHM EMANUEL, Illinois JOHN LINDER, Georgia
EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon DEVIN NUNES, California
RON KIND, Wisconsin PAT TIBERI, Ohio
BILL PASCRELL JR., New Jersey JON PORTER, Nevada
SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada
JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland
KENDRICK MEEK, Florida
ALLYSON Y. SCHWARTZ, Pennsylvania
ARTUR DAVIS, Alabama
Janice Mays, Chief Counsel and Staff Director
Brett Loper, Minority Staff Director
______
SUBCOMMITTEE ON INCOME SECURITY AND FAMILY SUPPORT
JIM MCDERMOTT, Washington, Chairman
FORTNEY PETE STARK, California JERRY WELLER, Illinois
ARTUR DAVIS, Alabama WALLY HERGER, California
JOHN LEWIS, Georgia DAVE CAMP, Michigan
MICHAEL R. MCNULTY, New York JON PORTER, Nevada
SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada PHIL ENGLISH, Pennsylvania
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland
KENDRICK MEEK, Florida
Pursuant to clause 2(e)(4) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House, public
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C O N T E N T S
__________
Page
Advisory of July 5, 2007, announcing the hearing................. 2
WITNESSES
The Honorable Dennis Cardoza, a Representative in Congress from
the State of California........................................ 7
______
Tyler Bacon, Florida............................................. 16
Anthony Reeves, Georgia.......................................... 20
Nicole Dobbins, Oregon........................................... 25
Jamaal Nutall, Illinois.......................................... 29
______
Cornelia Ashby, Director, Education, Workforce and Income
Security, U.S. Government Accountability Office................ 39
Mark Courtney, Ph. D., Ballmer Chair in Child Well-Being, School
of Social Work, University of Washington....................... 73
Gary Stangler, Executive Director, Jim Casey Youth Opportunities
Initiative..................................................... 76
Sam Cobbs, Executive Director, First Place Fund for Youth,
Oakland, California............................................ 83
Jane Soltis, Program Officer, Eckerd Family Foundation........... 87
SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD
Child Welfare League of America, statement....................... 102
Everychild Foundation, statement................................. 106
Jennifer Cole, letter............................................ 111
Job Corps Partnering with the Foster Care System, statement...... 108
Kevin Drollinger, statement...................................... 109
North American Council on Adoptable Children, statement.......... 114
Patricia K. Jennings, statement.................................. 120
Seattle University's Fostering Scholars Program, statement....... 122
CHILDREN WHO AGE
OUT OF THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM
----------
THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2007
U.S. House of Representatives,
Committee on Ways and Means,
Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:04 a.m., B-
318, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Jim McDermott
[Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
[The advisory announcing the hearing follows:]
ADVISORY
FROM THE
COMMITTEE
ON WAYS
AND
MEANS
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
INCOME SECURITY AND FAMILY SUPPORT
CONTACT: (202) 225-1721
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 05, 2007
ISFS-9
McDermott Announces Hearing on
Children Who ``Age Out'' of the Foster Care System
Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on
Income Security and Family Support of the Committee on Ways and Means,
today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on children
emancipating from the foster care system. The hearing will take place
on Thursday, July 12, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room B-318 Rayburn House
Office Building.
In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral
testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only,
including a number of former foster children. However, any individual
or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a
written statement for consideration by the Committee and for inclusion
in the printed record of the hearing.
BACKGROUND:
Eligibility for federal foster care assistance generally ends at
age 18, although some States extend this limit with their own funds.
The number of children who emancipate from (or ``age-out'' of) the
foster care system upon reaching this age has increased from 19,000 in
2001 to over 24,000 in 2005 (the most recent available data). This
increase in the number of youth discharged from foster care has
occurred at the same time that the overall number of children in the
system has decreased, from 544,614 in FY2001 to 513,131 in FY2005.
Studies indicate that youth who have ``aged out'' of foster care
fare poorly relative to their counterparts in the general population on
outcome measures related to employment, education, homelessness, mental
health, medical insurance coverage, involvement with the criminal
justice system, early pregnancy, and poverty. For example, research
suggests that one in seven youth suffer from homelessness after they
are discharged from foster care and over half lack health coverage.
Children who are at risk of aging out of foster care, as well as
those recently discharged upon reaching the age of 18, may receive
services under the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program, including
counseling, life-skills training, educational assistance, mentoring,
job placement services, and a limited amount of housing assistance.
While funding for this program was increased in 1999, its impact on
outcomes for former foster children is still uncertain because an
assessment and data collection system for the program has yet to be
established in final form by the Department of Health and Human
Services.
In announcing the hearing, Chairman McDermott stated, ``When most
children reach the age of 18, their parents continue to support and
help them during their transition into adulthood. As the de-facto
parents of foster children, we should do no less. We need to evaluate
whether we are meeting that obligation, or whether we are simply
showing these kids the door without sufficient support, resources and
skills to succeed. ''
FOCUS OF THE HEARING:
The hearing will focus on services and outcomes for children who
``age out'' of the foster care system.
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Chairman MCDERMOTT. The meeting will come to order.
Today we are going to have a hearing on children who age
out of foster care, and at any given time, there are over half
a million children in the foster care system.
Ultimately, they will either return home or find an
adoptive family, but some of these kids will stay in the system
until they reach 18, at which point they are turned out into
the world with little support, few skills, and sometimes
nowhere to live.
It is like getting an eviction notice from the Government
for doing nothing other than turning 18.
I am going to ask everyone here today to remember your life
when you were 18. Had you been raised in a safe and stable
family up to that point? Were you receiving any kind of support
and guidance from your family? Did they help you with a place
to live and a way to pay for your education?
Imagine if the answer to all those questions was a
resounding no. How might that have changed the course of your
own life?
As the de facto parents of foster kids, all of us have an
obligation to give these young people the best possible chance
to succeed.
To achieve this goal, we need to focus on three big
targets. The first is ensuring stable, supportive and loving
environments for children while they are in foster care. It
goes without saying that a nurtured child is much more likely
to mature into a productive adult.
The second priority is to connect these children to a
family. In a perfect world, that means adoption. A child is
never too old to benefit from an adoptive family, but it also
can mean finding relatives who may have lost touch with the
child but who are willing to provide guidance and support
during the child's transition to adulthood.
Of course, there also are other caring adults--mentors,
case workers, teachers--who could make a huge difference in the
life of a young person learning to find their way in the world.
Finally, we need a support system for young people after
they turn 18. While we all thought we were invincible when we
were 18, we learned over time just how vulnerable we and every
other 18 year old really is. Let's not forget that when we move
ahead.
The Chafee Foster Care Independence Program was partly
designed to fulfill such a need, although it also focuses on
young children who are at risk of aging out of foster care.
The program provides counseling, life skills training,
educational assistance, mentoring, job placement services, and
a limited amount of housing assistance.
Funding for this program was increased and made more
flexible in 1999 but its impact on outcomes for former children
is still somewhat uncertain in my view.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is at
least partly to blame for our limited understanding in this
area because the agency has yet to implement an assessment and
data collection system for the Chafee program, nearly 8 years
after being mandated by Congress to do so.
As we consider this last issue of providing adequate
support for foster youth when they turn 18, we ultimately have
to ask the question of whether there is an appropriate age for
Federal foster care to end. It is certainly not when most
parents end support for their kids. You never get rid of them,
I can tell you, even when they are 40 years old.
In fact, one study found the average American youth
receives about $38,000 from their parents after they reach the
age of 18 for tuition and financial assistance.
We also need to consider that research is beginning to show
that youth who stay in care longer have better outcomes than
those who exit from foster care at age 18. Some States have
actually taken it upon themselves to extend foster care beyond
18.
Roughly 24,000 young people are pushed out of the foster
care system every year when they reach their 18th birthday, and
I hope today's hearing begins a longer conversation about how
we can better support these kids in foster care. They really
are our children.
Before yielding to the Subcommittee Ranking Member, Mr.
Weller, I want to yield the remaining portion of my time to Mr.
Stark for a few comments. Mr. Stark?
Mr. STARK. Why do I not withhold, Mr. Chairman, until we
have heard from our colleague, Mr. Cardoza, and Mr. Weller, and
then I will chime in later. Thanks.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. I will turn the mike over to Mr.
Weller, the Ranking Member.
Mr. WELLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning.
Today's hearing explores the challenges faced by children
who age out of the foster care system at age 18 and the
effectiveness of assistance available to help them.
In 2005, over 24,000 youth aged out of the nation's foster
care system. Among many serious challenges, these young people
have lower high school graduation rates, higher rates of
homelessness, and a higher rate of being incarcerated than
other youth their age.
The simple fact is that too many youth who age out of
foster care stumble and fall on their way to adulthood. Some
never recover. Others, including the young people we will hear
from today, find their way through extraordinary personal
effort, involvement of dedicated relatives, as well as other
adults, a little luck, or all of the above.
The odds against their success is not what any of us would
want for our own children. It is equally unacceptable for kids
in foster care whose care is our responsibility.
Under current law, key support to help these young people
make the transition to adulthood comes from the Chafee Foster
Care Independence Program, which funds what are called
``independent living services.''
Today, the Federal Government provides States $140 million
per year, which is twice what was provided a decade ago.
Another $44 million per year has more recently been added just
for education and training vouchers for college and other
postsecondary training expenses.
We know funding has been going up to help youth aging out
of foster care. What we do not know is whether this increased
spending has had a positive effect.
As the Government's Accountability Office testimony says,
little information is available to assess program outcomes.
That is unacceptable.
I urge the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to
finalize whatever regulations or instructions are needed to
help States report and analyze data about youth who access
those services so that we know what is working and what is not.
Despite these gaps in our knowledge, I am encouraged to
learn of several promising demonstrations, especially involving
the education of youth in foster care. School stability and
high school completion are strongly associated with better
outcomes for young people making the transition to adulthood.
We should do whatever it takes to ensure more foster youth
complete at least high school.
We are fortunate to have a panel of young people today who
have aged out of foster care. One of them, Jamaal Nutall of
Joliet, lives in the congressional district I represent, and is
spending the Summer working in my office here in Washington as
an intern.
Jamaal and his peers will discuss their own experiences
making the transition to adulthood, how current programs have
helped and how they might do more.
We will also hear from an array of other experts on these
issues starting with my friend and colleague, Representative
Cardoza of California.
I look forward to all our witnesses' testimony.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for convening this hearing.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Mr. Stark?
Mr. STARK. Let me add before our friend, Mr. Cardoza,
enlightens us, that there is a cost to ignoring these young
people. I hate to put this in dollar terms. If we think about
crime, for instance, as a young person's game, Dr. McDermott
and I are probably not agile enough to be second story people
any more. We could probably hardly walk up the stairs much less
climb through the window.
For those of you who worry about being mugged, you are not
going to be mugged by people our age. This is a young person's
game, and we know that if a person is convicted of a felony
before they are 20, the odds are that between 20 and 50, they
will spend half of that time in some kind of system.
In California, that costs $60,000 a year, if you want to
put it in dollars.
Whatever we can invest to prevent that transition into the
justice system, to keep them in the standards of society, I
think it is worthwhile.
I wanted to just add to Mr. Cardoza's suggestion one
problem that we have. About 30,000 foster children are eligible
for Social Security benefits either supplemental Security
income or survivor's benefits.
Many States are sending private contractors out to mine the
field of foster children and get their Social Security
payments, and the States are taking that money and putting it
into their general fund.
For other children, that money is usually protected by a
guardian appointed by the State or whomever is in charge of
that child. If the money is because the child has a disability,
that money should be used for extra medical care and treatment.
If the child has that extra Social Security payment because
a parent or parents have died, that money should be set aside
for the child. That child has a worse or extra problem coming
out of foster care, and that money could be set aside as it is
for other children to be used when they mature. It could be
used for college, for education, for transportation, buy a car
to get to work.
It is a small amount and really does not belong to the
States. It belongs to those children.
My amendment would suggest that the States be required to
find out where children are entitled and become the trustee for
that child and see that the money is either used for the
child's particular needs or is there and saved for the time
when they mature out of the system.
I hope to talk with my colleagues about that legislation
later. I want to thank Dennis for being here today.
Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Thank you. Mr. Cardoza, welcome to the
Committee. We are glad to have you here because you not only
are a distinguished Member but somebody who has actually done
the heavy lifting of having foster kids. We welcome your
testimony.
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE DENNIS CARDOZA, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Mr. CARDOZA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Your whole testimony will go into the
record, so if you want to try to stay within 5 minutes, we
would appreciate it.
Mr. CARDOZA. I will do my very best. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to just start today by
thanking you very much for this hearing on behalf of all these
young people and the people that have crowded this room today.
This is a very important issue.
I could not agree more with Mr. Weller and Mr. Stark that
this is a compelling issue that needs attention. Your
leadership, Mr. Chairman, on this has been fantastic and I
appreciate your allowing me to testify today.
As you say, I have a written statement that will also be
submitted to the record.
I have discussed this with many of you. I have a very
personal interest in this issue. Seven years ago, my wife and I
adopted foster children. They are not foster children any more.
They are our children.
Since then, I have advocated on behalf of adoption and
foster children with the California legislature and here in
Congress.
Too many children in foster care sit waiting for permanent
families. There are 118,000 children in foster care waiting to
be adopted and numerous barriers keep them in limbo. Children
often bounce from one system to another, from child welfare to
juvenile justice, as Mr. Stark said, to mental health as their
needs intensify.
Moreover, each year 20,000 children age out of foster care
without being adopted or reunified with parents. Often these
youth have no permanent connection to a caring adult.
When children turn 18, society considers them adults. For
children lucky enough to have loving and caring parents, they
have the luxury, as you said, Mr. Chairman, to turn to their
parents in times of financial or emotional distress or in need
of aid.
Unfortunately, foster children who have aged out of the
system do not have anyone to turn to. These children often have
no one they can rely on as they make the difficult transition
to adulthood.
Foster care studies have shown that in the 4 years after
leaving foster care, nationwide, 25 percent of aged out youth
have been homeless at least a partial period of that time.
Forty-2 percent have become parents themselves. Fewer than 20
percent are able to support themselves, and only 46 percent
have graduated from high school.
Since they lack the support systems most young adults take
for granted, aged out foster care teens are at risk for
substance abuse, domestic violence, poverty, and falling into
the trap that Mr. Stark so well illuminated at the beginning of
his State.
In the face of these daunting statistics and challenges,
the problems can seem overwhelming. However, there are concrete
steps that we can take to improve the lives of these at risk
youth.
One of the bills that I have introduced this session is
H.R. 1376, a bill which would extend Medicaid coverage for
foster children who have aged out of the system, by encouraging
State health care coverage through age 21.
The Medicaid Foster Care Coverage Act of 2007 would provide
health care coverage for emancipated foster children, many of
whom face these daunting physical and emotional problems as
they transition to adult life.
I am particularly concerned about youth on mood stabilizing
medications. Given the fact that a number of these young people
are on these medications to cope with their challenges, and
frankly, the post-traumatic stress of being in the system, the
very day they turn 18 and society asks them to assume the
obligations of adulthood, the rug is pulled out from under them
by having their access to these vital medications taken away.
This is simply unfair and frankly counterproductive, and as
Mr. Stark said, it is not a good cost/benefit analysis if we
take a close look at it.
We need to rectify this situation and that is exactly what
my bill will do.
In addition, I am currently working on legislation to
ensure that every child has a court appointed special advocate,
Children and Adolescent Services Advocate (CASA). CASAs are
trained community volunteers to speak for the best interest of
abused and neglected children in court. All too often, the
needs of children can get lost in judicial proceedings. CASA
volunteers are there to ensure that the best interest of the
child are safeguarded in these court proceedings.
I would just like to mention to the Committee that my
children were brought to us by an observing CASA volunteer, who
was my children's kindergarten teacher. They saw that my kids
were under distress and were being abused a second time in the
foster care system. She was able to remedy that because of her
training and her vigilance.
Moreover, other Members have introduced thoughtful pieces
of legislation that address other aspects of the problems
facing these disconnected youth: homelessness, helping
runaways, lack of educational opportunities, and a myriad of
challenges encountered by foster youth.
However, the problem will not be solved by legislation
alone. There needs to be a broader societal shift and
understanding that we can simply not neglect these children any
longer. Until we start to think of these children as Mr. Stark
said, as our children, progress will be stymied.
Unless we embrace these children as our own and start to
think of their problems as our problems, we will be tackling
this problem with one arm tied behind our back.
I think we first and foremost must do everything possible
to encourage adoption. There is simply no substitute for
ensuring that these children are placed in stable and loving
homes and we should support policies that enhance our ability
to find qualified people to become adoptive parents and
moreover, we should find ways to financially help these parents
who are willing to assume this responsibility.
I am going to leave the rest of my testimony for the
record. I thank you for the opportunity. I stand ready to
answer any of your questions about the trials and tribulations
and the joy of adopting children.
[The prepared statement of the Hon. Dennis Cardoza
follows:]
Prepared Statement of The Honorable Dennis Cardoza, a Representative in
Congress from the State of California
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to testify at this
important hearing on the problems facing foster kids as they age out of
the system. I have a written statement that I have also submitted for
the record.
I have a very personal interest in this issue. Seven years ago, my
wife and I adopted two foster children. Since then, I have advocated on
behalf of adoption and foster children in the California Assembly and
in Congress.
Too many children in foster care sit waiting for permanent
families. There are about 118,000 children in foster care waiting to be
adopted and numerous barriers keep them in limbo. Children often bounce
from one system to another--from child welfare, to juvenile justice, to
mental health--as their needs intensify.
Moreover, each year about 20,000 children age out of foster care,
without being adopted or reunified with their parents. Often these
youths have no permanent connection to a caring adult.
When children turn 18, society considers them adults. For children
lucky enough to have loving and caring parents, they have the luxury of
turning to their parents for financial and emotional support during
this time. Unfortunately, foster children who have aged out of the
system do not have this luxury. These children often have no one they
can rely on as they make this difficult transition to adulthood.
Foster care studies have shown that in just four years after
leaving foster care, nationwide 25 percent of aged-out youth have been
homeless, 42 percent have become parents themselves, fewer than 20
percent are able to support themselves, and only 46 percent have
graduated from high school. Because they lack the support systems most
young adults take for granted, aged-out foster care teens are at high
risk for substance abuse, domestic violence and poverty.
In the face of these daunting statistics and challenges, the
problem can seem overwhelming. However, there are concrete steps we can
take to help improve the lives of these at-risk youth.
One of the first bills I introduced this session of Congress is
H.R. 1376, a bill which would extend Medicaid coverage for foster
children who have aged out of the system by encouraging state health
coverage through the age of 21. The ``Medicaid Foster Care Coverage Act
of 2007'' would provide health coverage for emancipated foster
children--many of whom face daunting physical and emotional problems--
as they transition to adult life.
I am particularly concerned about the youth on mood stabilizing
medications. Given the fact that a number of these young people are on
these medications to cope with their challenges, the very day they turn
18 and society asks them to assume the obligations of adulthood the rug
is pulled out from under them by having their access to these vital
medications taken away. This is simply unfair and counterproductive. We
need to rectify this situation and my bill will do that.
Current law provides pathways that enable states to access federal
funding to extend Medicaid coverage for youth who have aged out of
foster care. Currently only 18 states--including my home state of
California--take advantage of this. My bill would mandate that every
state offer coverage under Medicaid for foster children through the age
of 21.
Let's give these children every opportunity to succeed. No child
should be denied health care due to circumstances beyond their control;
it is unfair and immoral. As you continue to debate the reauthorization
of SCHIP, I urge you to carefully consider how my bill compliments
these efforts and may be a salutary addition to a more comprehensive
approach to children's health care.
In addition, I was proud to introduce and pass a resolution, H.
Res. 263, recognizing May as National Foster Care month. By
highlighting this fact and bringing more national awareness to this
issue, it will hopefully make Congressional action to address these
needs easier and self-evident
Finally, I am currently working on legislation to ensure that every
child has a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). CASA are trained
community volunteers to speak for the best interests of abused and
neglected children in court. All too often the needs of children can
get lost in judicial proceedings and CASA volunteers are there to
ensure that the best interests of the child are safeguarded in court
proceedings.
CASA has significantly grown and matured from its early roots in
1977. In the course of the last thirty years, CASA has grown to a
network of more than 50,000 volunteers that serve 225,000 abused and
neglected children through 900+ local program offices nationwide.
However, despite these impressive numbers, more needs to be done.
We must do everything possible to ensure that EVERY child has a CASA
volunteer. My bill, which I hope to introduce soon, will give
incentives to states to guarantee that all children receive the special
attention and care that only CASA volunteers can provide.
Moreover, other Members have introduced thoughtful pieces of
legislation that address other aspects of the problems facing these
disconnected youth: homelessness, helping runaways, lack of educational
opportunities, and the other myriad challenges encountered by foster
youth.
However, the problem will not be solved by legislation alone. There
has to be a broader societal shift and understanding that we simply
cannot neglect these children any longer. Until we start to think of
these children as OUR children, progress will be stymied. Unless we
embrace these children as our own and start to think of their problems
as OUR problems, we will be tackling this problem with one arm tied
behind our back.
There are things we can do as policymakers and in our everyday
lives to make the lives of these children just a little bit better.
First and foremost, we must do everything possible to encourage
adoption. There is simply no substitute for ensuring that these
children are placed in stable and loving homes. We should support
policies that enhance our ability to find qualified people to become
adoptive parents and, moreover, we should find ways to financially help
these parents who are willing to assume this responsibility.
For the children we cannot place in permanent homes, we should do
more to encourage people to be mentors. Mentoring relationships begun
while foster care kids are in their mid-teens can be beneficial as the
kids become more independent.
There are many innovative programs that we can learn from. For
instance, the City of Los Angeles in my home state of California has
done some exciting work in this area and we can draw on their
experience as we think about ways to encourage more people to be
mentors.
The challenge of helping foster youth is vast and daunting.
However, if we can provide these children with the health care they
desperately need; if we do everything in our power to place them in
stable and loving homes or, in the alternative, help them find a mentor
who they can look up to and learn from, we can make the lives of these
children just a little bit better.
There is no time to wait; these children need our help now. We must
act now if we want to help ensure these kids a bright future and
reverse some of these alarming and burgeoning social ills.
I applaud this Committee for holding this series of hearings on the
unique challenges facing our foster youth. As these hearings illuminate
the plight of these kids, I sincerely hope we can build a consensus on
a set of common-sense policies to help these children. Every child, no
matter what station they may be born to, deserves a chance to be raised
in a stable and loving home. Thanks again for holding this hearing and
I look forward to working with the Committee on this issue.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. You skipped over part of your history
in that it is not all roses.
Mr. CARDOZA. It is not.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. To the extent you would be willing to
talk about that, I think it would be useful for Members to hear
what happens to somebody when they adopt kids. It is really
about stories that make it so people understand what the issues
are.
Mr. CARDOZA. I would be very happy to tell our story. In
fact, I have asked my children if it is okay with them to share
their story. They understand that by telling their story, it
may help other children, and they have asked me to do that.
In fact, I shared with you earlier this year that they
asked me to sponsor National Foster Care Month, and you
graciously allowed me to take that bill to the floor, and thank
you for that.
The story of my children is this. They were living in a
community in California. The children are of migrant
farmworkers. The mother had mental health issues and
correctional issues. She probably had suffered from some
emotional issues that caused her to have these issues as I
looked at the medical records that we got from the kids.
They were placed in the care of a grandparent who had 12
children living in a one bedroom house. The grandmother was 80
years old. She could not take care of them, put them in foster
care. They were removed from that home.
They were in a second foster care family where they were
being abused in the system. This kindergarten teacher who was a
CASA volunteer recognized their stress and was able to get them
to us. My wife and I had decided that we had one biologic child
and we wanted to adopt some children. We had gone through the
process of becoming adoptive parents.
As we moved forward, we had a very difficult time. We are
not people without understanding and means. We had the
financial ability to go about the adoption process. My wife is
a doctor, so she had the medical background and the knowledge
necessary. Myself being a legislator, I knew how to work the
bureaucratic process.
Still with all that, there were significant hurdles to
making the adoption happen. We had to fight hard. It took over
a year to make it work. We finally got the custody and went
through all the challenges.
All those processes need to be examined and streamlined.
Just getting the new birth certificates and the Social Security
cards were significant challenges.
To access the parental rights and all that were significant
hurdles. If we were able to streamline that and give more
guarantees to adoptive parents, I have a lot of my friends in
the community who have asked me about adoption, and their
biggest fear is going through this process, bonding with
children, and then somehow having those children removed.
If we can figure out a way to streamline these processes,
that would be a tremendous advantage.
As we move forward, I will tell you that there are
challenges. Adoptive kids come with some baggage. All children
have baggage. Parenting is the toughest thing that any of us
will ever do, much tougher than being in Congress.
The reality is, and I know from personal experience, my
wife and I talked about this just the other day, there are
challenges with our children, but without their having gotten a
permanent and stable home, there would be no chance for them
with the issues they have.
That is the one compelling message that I would like to
leave with this Committee today, that we have to provide the
support and we absolutely have to do everything we can to get
them into permanent and stable families that can then help them
for the rest of their lives.
I will tell you one last thing, that is there has been no
greater joy in my life than bringing these children into our
lives. With all the challenges and all the hurdles that we
have, from the minute I set eyes on them through the one way
mirror in the Social Services Department in a county in
California, they were our kids.
Anyone who wonders whether or not they will bond with young
people they bring into their home, they absolutely will.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Thank you. Mr. Weller?
Mr. WELLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Mr. Cardoza, thank
you for your testimony but also thank you for your leadership
on these issues.
Recently, we had Michele Bachmann of Minnesota who has also
been active on these issues before this Subcommittee. I know
the two of you have worked together in a bipartisan way. For
that, I salute you.
You mention in your testimony, and I am going to ask you a
couple of pretty practical questions here, you mentioned the
legislation you propose, H.R. 1376, the Medicaid Foster Care
Coverage Act of 2007, which would require States to provide
Medicaid coverage for children that age out of foster care
until they reach the age of 21.
Many States currently have the authority if they choose to
provide this type of coverage. Does California currently
provide this coverage?
Mr. CARDOZA. Yes, I believe they do.
Mr. WELLER. Do you know how many States currently provide
the coverage?
Mr. CARDOZA. Seventeen out of 33.
Mr. WELLER. Unfortunately, I have not checked whether or
not my home State of Illinois does, but maybe you know.
Mr. CARDOZA. I do not.
Mr. WELLER. From a practical standpoint, have you scored
this legislation?
Mr. CARDOZA. We have not. I would ask that the Committee
assist us in receiving a score so we know exactly how much it
would cost. I do not think it is that expensive, to be honest
with you.
While our rules do not allow it to be considered this way,
the cost/benefit analysis of making sure these kids have every
opportunity to stay out of the system, as Mr. Stark indicated,
while our scoring mechanism does not allow us to look at that,
I think it certainly is important for us to think about the
bottom line cost to Government.
Mr. WELLER. Since we have these PAY-GO rules that our
Committee has to operate under, have you proposed your----
Mr. CARDOZA. I have not. I will tell you this is one that
is God sent, and we need to do everything we can to try and
figure out how to pay for this. I was an advocate of PAY-GO, as
I am sure you probably were as well. We need to find this
offset.
The reality is this is going to be budget dust in the
greater scheme of things, but it is important to follow our
rules and to honor PAY-GO.
Mr. WELLER. I look forward to seeing your proposed God
sent. Again, thank you for your leadership on these issues.
What I really appreciate is that you work in a bipartisan way
on so many issues. I want to thank you for coming this morning.
Mr. CARDOZA. Thank you.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Mr. Stark?
Mr. STARK. Dennis, thank you. Thank you for sharing your
experiences and those of your children with us.
I think it is through efforts like yours that we can be
encouraged to find, as you say, the budget dust, necessary for
us to fulfill the PAY-GO requirements.
I might just say that all of this type of legislation has
perhaps the broadest bipartisan participation, if I can be
allowed a little bit of political trivia.
It is interesting to note that Tom Delay's very last
legislative act was the Delay/Stark bill which allowed foster
children more convenience in traveling across State lines. It
is probably a very little known fact that Tom and his wife were
foster parents and designed in Texas an idea of foster parents
living in cul-de-sacs so they could share babysitting.
Tom Delay was one of the outstanding geometry tutors for
foster children in his galaxy. As I say, this has a history of
working together to achieve a wonderful result. I hope this
Committee can continue that. I certainly will work with my
colleagues to find whatever is necessary to fund the programs
that we think will help improve the lives of these children.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Dennis, for your work.
Mr. CARDOZA. Thank you.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Mr. Herger?
Mr. HERGER. I really do not have anything to add, but I do
want to add in thanking you, Mr. Cardoza, for your work in this
area. This is incredibly important to our country. There is no
greater asset that we have as a nation than our young people.
To see the tragedy that is taking place every day in the
lives of so many tens of thousands of these young people who
through no fault of their own are left out there. It is tough
enough for the children that we raise that have two parents
every day, as you mentioned.
As a father of nine, what you are saying is so true. There
is no tougher challenge we have than raising children, nor as
you said, is there any greater joy that continues to grow than
having children.
Thank you for what you are doing. This is a bipartisan
effort. It is something that behooves each and every one of us
when we are setting the priorities in these tough budgetary
times to find the means and make sure we can work this out.
Again, thank you for your leadership. I commend you and I
commend all those on this Committee who have also been very
involved in this area. Thank you.
Mr. CARDOZA. Thank you, Mr. Herger. If I could just say in
response that we have talked several times about this when you
were Chair of the Committee and all. I appreciate working with
you.
I wanted to make one point that I forgot in my previous
testimony. Mr. McDermott, with your prior background, you
probably are much more experienced to talk about this than me.
I am well aware even based on my own kids' experience in
foster care of the post-traumatic stress they go through and
the problems of abandonment issues they will carry through the
rest of their lives.
I am told by psychological professionals that the post-
traumatic stress is greater often times than troops in the
field of combat. If you think about it in those kinds of terms,
it speaks to how important it is.
We have to help these young people through this process,
much the same way that we are responsible for helping our own
soldiers get through their experience.
Mr. HERGER. That point is so well made. I have a daughter
and son-in-law who have adopted, too. These are the most
beautiful children, as are yours, that you could ever see. They
adopted them at a young age, relatively young age. Yet, the
challenges that these children have had and the counseling.
Fortunately, they are in a position to afford to have the
counseling that they have had to help grow these children. It
is really a major undertaking.
As you have mentioned, any child that goes through this
traumatic time of being without parents or being in these
troubled homes where their parents really did not possess the
ability to be able to give them the attention is traumatic on
them and is something that is engraved in their minds and their
pscyhes for really the rest of their lives.
It really takes working through this for them to be able to
become the active, productive young people that they can be.
Again, thank you. Very important.
Mr. CARDOZA. Thank you.
Mr. HERGER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Mr. Lewis?
Mr. LEWIS OF GEORGIA. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I do not have any questions, but I want to thank
our friend and our colleague, Mr. Cardoza, for being here
today, for his leadership, for his commitment and dedication,
and for telling his story. I admire you, my friend, for doing
something I call from time to time getting in the way. Continue
to get in the way. Thank you.
Mr. CARDOZA. Thank you. You told my son that one day on the
Floor of the House, on the day of the Voting Rights Act bill. I
do not know if you recall that.
Mr. LEWIS OF GEORGIA. I do recall.
Mr. CARDOZA. He thinks very highly of you, Mr. Lewis, and
so do I. Thank you for your State.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Mr. Camp?
Mr. CAMP. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Cardoza,
for your testimony and for what you and Kathy are doing. It is
tremendous. I do think, as we talk about foster care, adoption
is such a critical part of the solution. Thank you for doing
that and having been involved in these issues for a number of
years. I am very impressed with what you have done.
I do think there is an area that we need to look at, and
that is when children are languishing in foster care, it is
something that we have all tried to deal with. Obviously, this
hearing today and your bill is an attempt to make that a little
bit easier.
I also think we have to look at the issue of when children
have relatives in another State that are willing to take the
kids but often are overlooked because of the laws. That is
something that I think we need to address so that we can keep
family members together, when there are suitable and willing
family members available. I hope that is something that we can
look at.
Again, thank you for being here. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Mr. Meek?
Mr. MEEK. Thank you, Dennis.
Mr. CARDOZA. Thank you.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. I just want to say in response to what
you said about the post-traumatic issues for youngsters, I was
the consultant at the Juvenile Detention Clearinghouse for the
State of Washington for about 7 years.
One of the standard questions you ask young kids is tell me
your three wishes. I never met a kid whose first wish was not I
want to go back to my mother. No matter what the chart would
show me about the place they came from and what they had been
through, that still was there and it never went away. I think
you are absolutely correct, that is why you deal with the
issues as long as you do.
It is a pleasure to have you here and thank you very much.
We will do what we can to improve the situation.
Mr. CARDOZA. Thank you.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. For our next panel, we are very
fortunate to have four young people. Come on up.
[Applause.]
These are young people who have navigated their way through
the foster care system. Three of them are represented by
Members of this Committee, so I would like to recognize Mr.
Weller, Mr. Lewis, and Mr. Meek in a moment to acknowledge
them.
I also want to thank the National Foster Care Coalition for
helping three of them make the trip to Washington, with special
thanks to the ninth grade social studies class at North Eugene
High School in Eugene, Oregon, which made a donation toward
their travel.
We will start with Tyler Bacon of Florida. Mr. Meek?
Mr. MEEK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Being the only Member
from Florida, I get the opportunity to introduce Mr. Bacon.
Tyler is at the age of 22. He lives in Jacksonville,
Florida. He was abandoned by his mother. Tyler entered the
Florida foster care system at the age of 13. He struggled
through a series of group home placements and never formed a
supportive attachment needed for his success in life after
foster care.
Homeless at 18, jobless and faced with many medical bills,
Tyler is successfully overcoming these early difficulties.
Tyler just secured an apartment a few weeks ago after
approximately 1 year of being homeless. Today, he sits on local
State and national boards working to improve the foster care
system.
His dream is to become a national public speaker for the
improvement of foster care and 1 day starting a mentor program
for kids and youth in care.
Tyler was selected to serve as a Foster Club All American
in 2005 and is a board member of the National Independent
Living Association. He is a member of the National Foster Youth
Advisory Board.
He was recently promoted to manager at Blockbuster. Hook me
up.
[Laughter.]
He enjoys running, playing basketball, and participating in
flag football tournaments.
Mr. Chairman, as it relates to Tyler, we just met when we
walked in the room. We tried to get together earlier today. I
am glad, as I said in the past, that he is here along with the
other young people that are here to share their personal
stories, to be able to help us legislate and stand up for
children and young people that are going through the system
now.
Thank you for being here before the Committee.
STATEMENT OF TYLER BACON, FLORIDA
Mr. BACON. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Weller,
and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for allowing me to
come speak to you and share my experience of the foster care
system, my knowledge and expertise on foster care.
My name is Tyler Bacon and I am 22 years old. I entered the
foster care system at the age of 13. I remember the day I
entered as if it were yesterday. I was in a court because we
were going through some family therapy. I remember the judge
asking my mother what she wanted to do with me. My mother
responded this is not my child, I do not want anything to do
with him and I do not care what happens.
He paused, looked over at my father and asked my father
what he wanted to do. I turned and looked at my father as he
said nothing, no response, not standing up for his own son and
not knowing what to say or how to respond.
That day, I was placed in the foster care system.
While in the foster care system, I grew up in several group
homes, attended several high schools and educational programs
to try to succeed. While in the group homes, I was with 20 to
60 other young men at one home with staff, five per home. Under
staffed and not able to ask questions or get the proper
assistance that I needed to be able to learn how to be a
successful adult, I struggled through the group homes.
I did not know what to ask. I did not know how to ask, how
to become a man, how to become an adult, what I needed to know
when I turned 18. I thought when I turned 18 that I was going
to be prepared. I thought I was going to be ready. I was
looking forward to my 18th birthday, because I was finally
going to be on my own and I was finally going to be a man.
My 18th birthday was the scariest day of my life. On my
18th birthday, I thought I was going to have a good birthday. I
woke up to see my bags packed and told I was too old to be in
the foster care system. I was an adult in the State's eyes,
that I had to go.
I had nowhere to turn. No family. No friends. Nothing.
While in the foster care system, I was not able to connect with
a family. I was told I was unadoptable. No family wanted me
because I was too old and I had too many family issues.
On my 18th birthday, instead of a cake, I was walking to a
homeless shelter so I had somewhere to live. I struggled but I
was determined to be successful and get back on my feet.
While I was homeless, I was still in high school, afraid to
tell someone I was homeless because I was afraid they would
kick me out of school and I would not finish my education. I
was determined to succeed and graduate.
I finally graduated in 2004 in the top 5 percent of my high
school. Determined. I was finally able to get back on my feet
and achieve my own apartment and have a house to call my own. I
still struggled, still had obstacles that I had to face.
I did not know how to do anything. I did not know how to
pay bills, how to budget, basic stuff that normal every day
people take advantage of. I did not know how to be a man and
how to be a successful independent civilian in society.
Again, because of financial issues, I needed someone to
turn to. This caused me to want to turn back to my bio family,
the family who gave me up. I thought everybody is talking about
if you ever need help, you can turn back to your family. I
tried to reconnect with my family but nothing changed.
They still did not want me. In an altercation and a
confrontation with my family, I was stabbed, ended up in the
hospital having immediate surgery. Given that situation, I was
unable to work. I was unable to pay for my bills, and I ended
up once again homeless, evicted from my apartment because I was
not able to pay my bills and I had no one to help me.
I had no family to turn to. I had no one to go home to. I
had no one to help me get back on my feet. Again, I was
homeless.
I struggled for a year, bouncing from friend to friend,
whoever would let me stay, ending up in a hotel. I had nowhere
else to go. I had to pay for my own hotel so I had a roof over
my head while I was working at minimum wage at a part time job.
The hotel cost me $1,200 a month, unable to save up some money
to find my own apartment or fix the eviction notice that I had,
to be able to pay off that.
I had nowhere else to go. Fortunately, I had family and
friends within the foster care system. My brothers and sisters
that I looked to that are foster youth, I looked to them as
brothers and sisters.
They financially helped me and gave the opportunity to get
back on my feet. They gave me financial support a family would
give me and helped me get my own apartment. Again, I am
thankful for them.
There are a lot of issues. No foster youth should have to
go through the struggles that I went through in life. No one
should have to go through these struggles.
People in a family setting take advantage because they are
able to go back to their family in times of economic need. If
something were to come up, people who grew up in a family
setting would be able to go back to them and live in that home.
Foster youth do not have that family to turn back to.
Instead, we fall back on homeless shelters, jail systems, or
potentially if you are able to financially afford it, hotels.
I ask and I push for Congress to take action now. I ask for
simple things. I ask that we look into extending foster care up
to the age of 21.
I ask that because when you are 18, you are still
struggling to learn how to be an adult, how to financially
support yourself and take care of yourself. Most people who are
18 are still struggling through high school, not yet graduated,
and we look at our success, the foster youth success of
graduating and it is very, very low.
This is because we are forced out at the age of 18 and
struggling to maintain our own lives. Education is not our
first priority. Our life and our shelter is our first priority.
I can say that from experience. I have yet to attend
college because my main priority was to get on my feet and find
shelter for myself.
I also ask that we help provide health insurance up to the
age of 21. Most youth who live in a family setting still
receive health insurance through their parents' medical
insurance up to the age of 21. I ask just because we are foster
youth, why should we not receive the same?
I also ask that we push for permanency for all youth in the
foster care system. I ask that we try our best to set foster
youth up with family. Family is a very, very important thing. I
ask if we cannot find a family for them, we find a successful
mentor to help them through the obstacles that everybody faces
in life.
Permanency is having someone to talk to and you do not need
an appointment to talk to them.
I ask Congress, when you look into the issues that foster
youth face and look at what we need to change, I ask you to
look at yourselves and ask what would you do if we were your
child? If we were your child, would you help us and provide us
with medical insurance, financial stability, and opportunities
for us to be able to succeed in life?
We do not ask for much. We just ask to be treated like
every other kid.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Bacon follows:]
Prepared Statement of Tyler Bacon, Florida
Chairman McDermott, Ranking Member Weller, and members of this
Subcommittee, thank you for allowing me to appear before you today on
behalf of the thousands of children and youth in foster care who can
not be here in Washington to share their stories and to ask you to take
action to help them.
My name is Tyler Bacon and I am 22 years old. I entered Florida's
foster care system at the age of 13. I was placed in care after my
mother told a judge I was not her child and she wanted nothing to do
with me. Abandoned to the foster care system, I grew up in group homes
with between 20 and 60 young men. I was never given the opportunity to
enter a Foster Home or build a relationship with a mom or dad. I never
had anyone to talk to or go to for my problems, no one who cared when I
had an issue.
At the age of eighteen I was told I was an adult and I aged out of
the system. I ended up homeless on my 18th birthday. I had a bigger
plan for myself, however, and I was finally able to get on my feet and
get my own place.
With no other people to call family, at age twenty one I tried to
reconnect with my bio family, but nothing had changed. They still did
not want me in their lives. The strain of the relationship led to an
argument with a family member in which I was stabbed. I ended up in the
hospital with no health insurance, adding to my financial strain. After
being hospitalized I was unable to return to my warehouse job as I
could not do the heavy lifting required by the position. Because I
could not work and had no family support, I found myself evicted and I
ended up homeless once again. I stayed with friends as long as possible
because trying to get my own apartment proved too difficult. Even
though I had access to housing funds from the state to help pay for an
apartment, landlords didn't want to rent to a young adult with an
eviction on his record and I could find no one to co-sign or help with
the application process.
Because I had nowhere else to stay, I ended up in a hotel for four
months. While this arrangement kept me from staying on the street, it
was impossible to save money due to the expensive rate of $1,200 a
month, and an impossible arrangement to maintain with my minimum wage
job.
The good news is that after a year of homelessness, I was finally
able to save enough money to rent my own 1 bedroom apartment. I moved
in last month. I am now employed full-time as a manager with
Blockbuster Video and am excited that I once again am able to spend
some of my time advocating for improvements of the foster care system.
I take this opportunity to ask you to consider these goals for the
foster care system to improve the odds for the thousands of young
people who will celebrate, or fear, their 18th birthday this year:
1. Extend foster care until age 21
Foster youth deserve the same resources, tools and support that
parents provide for their own child. The state serves as our parents.
We are looking to policy makers to provide the safety net a family
provides. By terminating assistance at age 18, the state abandons youth
at a time when they are still in great need of supervision and support.
My story is a single story which approximates the struggle facing over
20,000 of my peers this year alone.
2. Provide health coverage until age 21
I urge Congress to extend health insurance to all youth from foster
care to age 21. Medical expenses to young person struggling to
establish independence can be crushing. In my case, medical bills have
proven to be a grave obstacle to establishing myself.
3. Make permanency a priority for all youth
Most importantly, I urge Congress to provide states with the
incentives and flexibility in financing to assure that everything is
done to provide permanence for young people before they leave foster
care. We need more funding to help former youth get into a family
setting. We must provide older youth with the lifelong support a family
grants their own child. Foster youth are place in the system for their
best interest. How is their best interest looked after if we are
sending them unprepared into the world, vulnerable, and with no safety
net?
I believe the hardships I faced through my emancipation from foster
care were avoidable. If I had experienced some form of permanency in my
life before I left care, I know my transition would have been easier.
Permanency is having someone there to help you when you need it,
someone you don't need an appointment to talk to. Permanency is having
someone to lean on for support when obstacles come your way. Without
some permanency, many foster youth face desperate options like
homelessness, shelters, jail, or if they are fortunate to be employed
like me, temporary and unstable refuge in hotels.
I am determined to succeed despite the obstacles that have been
placed in my path. But I implore members of Congress to act now, to
make changes to improve the odds for my 513,000 younger brothers and
sisters coming up through the system.
Thank you for the opportunity to share my story and thoughts with
you.
Respectfully,
Tyler Bacon
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Thank you very much. Mr. Lewis, would
you like to introduce Mr. Reeves?
Mr. LEWIS OF GEORGIA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of
all, Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you very much for holding
this hearing today.
I am particularly proud and pleased to introduce Mr.
Anthony Reeves from Atlanta, Georgia to the Committee. Mr.
Reeves is a survivor, a leader, an inspiration to many in my
district, the State of Georgia, and across the country.
Mr. Reeves entered the Georgia foster care system at the
age of 11, when his grandmother was no longer able to care for
him, and his mother could not be found. While in foster care,
Mr. Reeves lived in five to six different foster homes and
shelters before finally receiving permanent placement and
stability with Families First, a non-profit agency in Metro
Atlanta that offers individuals family counseling.
Blessed by the support and guidance of two mentors, Mr.
Reeves grew stronger and upon completing high school, he earned
an associate's degree in electronic engineering from DeVry
University.
He now works at Families First as a relief parent, where he
gives back to children in the same way that his mentors did.
Mr. Reeves is also an intern consultant for the Supreme
Court of the State of Georgia, Office of Child Advocacy, and he
works with Metro Atlanta Youth Opportunities.
Last year, the First Lady of Georgia selected Anthony to
help institute policies for foster care parents and foster care
agencies. A few months later, Mr. Reeves was selected as a
FosterClub All-Star. He now travels throughout the country as a
foster care advocate and helps speak on behalf of youth in
foster care.
Two months ago, he was more than lucky but blessed to be
recognized by the Georgia State legislature who passed a
resolution commending his work with foster care.
He is in the process of starting his own music group and
music label and will focus on everything from rock and roll to
rap. He is working on a Bachelor of Science in electronic
engineering.
Mr. Reeves finds time to volunteer with a youth counselor
that I have for the young people in my district in Atlanta.
Mr. Reeves, we are thankful that you are here today and we
look forward to your testimony.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Mr. Reeves, thank you for coming.
STATEMENT OF ANTHONY REEVES, GEORGIA
Mr. REEVES. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and the Subcommittee,
as well as Mr. Lewis and others, here in D.C. as well as in
Atlanta.
My name is Anthony Reeves. I am 23 years of age, actually
24 now. I as well as some of my peers here, we have the
experience of the foster care system. We work for it and we
have also been through it. We understand everything that goes
along with the foster care system.
Growing up is a big challenge for everyone. I am pretty
sure like a lot of you had your parents gritting their teeth
because when transitioning out, they do not know if you are
going to sink or
swim, but they were still there to back you up. Even when going
through your teenage phases, they still held on strong and they
loved you and everything.
Often we as foster youth, we are misunderstood when we go
through our normal teenage phases, and sometimes we are either
put on medication, just to calm us down, or ``calm us down,''
and that kind of takes away from the childhood experience. You
are supposed to be kind of like out there but not too far.
When transitioning out into life on your own, your parents
are there to help you fill out those different applications,
make sure that you are buying the correct car. I know I have
ran through a couple of cars because I did not know what to
buy. They are even there if you need food or if you want to go
back and stick your hand in the refrigerator, you can grab food
out of their refrigerator.
We do not have that option. We do not have that luxury of
like going back to our parents because we are in the foster
care system. We cannot go back to our biological families.
When we transition out, we are basically just put in the
basic survival modes, fight or flight by any means necessary.
I spent 12 years in foster care. After being abandoned by
my mother, I was sent to live with my grandmother. At the time,
she really was not able to care for me. I guess I was kind of
like out of hand too much for her. She had already raised one
so she could not go through another one.
I was sent to a shelter. Upon entering the shelter, it is
almost like being sent to a jail because when I walked through
those doors, I heard the door shut and lock behind me meaning I
could not go back out. It gave me a fear of being in enclosed
spaces.
The first couple of years, I moved around a lot. I went
from shelter to foster home to foster home to shelter. It is a
lot of different placements. Each time when moved around, you
feel like you are being rejected by these different people and
you really did not have anything to do with why you are in the
system. You really do not understand, and sometimes we just
buildup a big barrier, a big wall, we do not want to deal with
anybody at all.
I finally found placement, permanency, in a group home. I
found stability. I found a whole lot of brothers. That is what
we called each other, we called each other family. I called
them my family.
I still had not seen my brother for quite a bit of time,
and that is even before I was sent in the system. I had not
seen my brother for like probably three or 4 years. Just to let
you know how valuable or how important that is to me, the times
I could remember living with my mother, I was basically a
father figure to my little brother.
I would clean up the house. I made sure he had something to
eat. I cleaned up everything from the dishes to even picking up
drug needles and pipes so that he would not stick himself or
put his mouth on it because he was just a little baby. At the
time, I was only like five or something like that.
As I transitioned, as I grew up, my social worker there, he
finally took the time, he said I am going to go ahead and find
your little brother for you. He did all the research and work
and come to find out, my little brother stayed a couple of
exits down the highway from me. It was kind of crazy because we
were both in the same system and he only stayed a couple of
exits down, and I had not seen him for at least 4 years.
Me not seeing my brother is like you not seeing your son or
seeing your daughter or someone like that. It did not make too
much sense to me. That is when I found out the value of
siblings being together, sibling separation.
I was lucky enough to have different mentors as well as the
social worker to instill in me to keep going to school and go
on to college. I did not like school or whatever.
When I was transitioning out, I had to make a choice of
like college, like most people, they choose what is the best
college to go to. My decision was based on who offered year
round school. Let me tell you, I did not like school at all.
To try to figure out who has year round school was hard in
itself because of the fact if I chose a traditional college
that had summers off, that means I had to find some place to
stay during the summer or else I would be homeless, and I have
an extreme fear of being homeless.
Besides that, I really wanted to go to Georgia Tech because
of the fact that I love basketball and I wanted to play
basketball. During the summertime, what was I going to do then.
I chose to go to DeVry because I loved electronics as well.
I obtained my associate's degree and I kind of transitioned out
with the help of my mentors and through like a program with
Metropolitan Area Youth Opportunities Initiative, I was able to
get my apartment. That was a big ordeal in itself. My mother
had like past due bills in my name. When I go to get my
electricity and stuff turned on, I had these high deposits as
well as a past due bill of $150, and I did not know.
I was kind of stuck. That almost left me homeless. If I had
not had my mentors there to help me through my financial
crisis, I would be stuck on the streets because of the fact
that I could not afford the $179 deposit plus the $150 past due
payments and everything else that goes along with that.
Luckily, I had that support.
When my brother grew up in the system, he really did not
have those supports. Nobody told him that he could go to
college or what have you. When he turned 18, he had his bags
and left. He was homeless for a good bit of time.
I let him stay with me at the college which was against all
policies there. Eventually, it was like fight or flight. He
ended up in jail for doing some things that he needed to do to
survive, and even during that time, he fathered a child. She's
beautiful. She always calls me uncle.
I guess what I would like to say today is that this
decision or any decision that is made today will not affect me,
it will not affect Tyler, because we have already transitioned
out, but for our 20,000 other brothers and sisters that come
behind us, we would like to see them have a very successful
transition.
I believe we are obligated to help them because of the fact
that we did not ask to be put in these situations. When you
drop your little kids off at the day care center and they are
grabbing and screaming and pulling on you, that just symbolizes
they do not want to be taken away or they do not want to be
separated from you.
We did not want to be separated from our families. We
wanted that connection. For many of us in foster care, we spent
our whole lives crying for that connection.
Some things that we could do is extend foster care to the
age of 21. I watch the news often. A lot of times you see like
when a youth does something bad, they say if there was
something that I could do to help him, I would have done it.
This is something you can do, to help the youth, so you do not
have to say that, if I could have or what would happen if I
would have.
I just appeal to extend the support service to age 21 for
all our young people in foster care. I would like the States to
have more flexibility and Federal funding to support families
who stay together and can share placement and recruit caring
foster parents and encourage adoption while establishing
permanency for youth.
I ask that you also help siblings to stay together because
that is a big deal for me.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Reeves follows:]
Prepared Statement of Anthony Reeves, Georgia
Chairman McDermott, Ranking Member Weller, and members of this
Subcommittee, thank you for allowing me to appear before you today on
behalf of my brothers and sisters in foster care who need your help to
make a successful transition from foster care to adulthood.
My name is Anthony Reeves. I am 23 years old and live in Atlanta,
Georgia. I have worked with the First Lady of Georgia, instituting
policies for foster parents and foster agencies through the First
Lady's Children's Cabinet and Project Embrace. In 2006-07, I was
selected to serve as a FosterClub All-Star intern, traveling the
country to motivate and educate my younger peers in foster care. Now I
work for Families First as a Relief Parent (the same organization I
grew up with), and with Metro Atlanta Youth Opportunities Initiative
(M.A.Y.O.I.), an organization that helps current and former foster care
clients that are transitioning out of the foster care system. I am
working with Georgia's Supreme Court bettering life for youth
transitioning from foster care. I am also in the process of starting my
own music label and music group.
Growing up is a big challenge for everyone; you have your
rebellious stages and your experimental stages, which I'm sure had many
of your own parents gritting their teeth--but your parents were always
there to forgive you. And then when you get ready to transition out of
their home into a life on your own, you know that they are going to be
there to help you with your rental applications and job applications,
moving in to your first apartment and giving you the old pots and pans
and the couch from the family room, just little things that make a big
difference. Most importantly, your parents are there for you to make
sure that you have food or to help if you need transportation or can't
figure out how to run the dishwasher. Whether the challenges are big or
small, your mom or dad will try and help you.
Growing up in foster care is so much harder because when we foster
youth go through our normal teenage phases, we are usually living with
people who do not know us very well, or we might even be in a placement
where our caretakers or staff may be quite disconnected from us. We are
often punished for doing the things that most teenagers do, and may
even be put on medication as a means to calm us down or as a
consequence.
Then, when we are transitioning out of care into a life on our own,
we have to be nothing short of perfect, because we don't have our
parents to help us move in and show us how to fill out applications.
Most of us aren't allowed to get a drivers license, so we are stuck
without transportation if we are in rural areas. Life is tough because
we are really put in the most basic of survival modes, ``fight or
flight,'' ``by any means necessary.''
I spent 12 years in care. I entered foster care after being
abandoned by my mother and having a grandmother unable to adequately
care for me. The first couple of years I moved around a lot and led a
very lonely and unstable life growing up. Then I was placed in a group
home which was bitter sweet. I found some stability, but I lost all
contact with my little brother for who I served as a parent to during
our younger years. During that time, I would clean the house, do
dishes, make sure we had food, and even cleaned up drug paraphernalia
to make sure the home was safe for us. I was only 5 years old.
It took the social worker of the group home--now a mentor and
permanent father figure in my life to me--to finally do everything in
his power to locate my brother. After a diligent search by mentor, I
came to find out my brother had lived just a few exits down the highway
from me for at least three years. When I finally found my little
brother, I began to understand the importance of staying connected to
my sibling.
With the support of my mentor, I was motivated and encouraged
enough to graduate high school and go on to college. After high school,
I had to make a choice of which colelge to attend. Unlike most youth or
teenagers who transition out of their family's house, their decision is
mainly based on who has the best school. Mine, on the other hand, was
based on who offered school year round. The reason? If I went to a
traditional college then I would have to worry about where I was going
to sleep for the summer (I have an extreme fear of being homeless). It
was a tough decision, because in addition to a talent a technology, I
also had a love for basketball and I really wanted to wear the gold and
black colors for Georgia Tech.
I achieved my Associates degree at DeVry University and now I am
working on my Bachelors degree in Electronic Engineering. I have my
apartment--which was drama in itself--because I was unaware and ill
prepared for the expenses that come with getting your first apartment,
and because my biological mom has past due bills that she had placed in
my name. These challenges almost left me homeless. With the help pf my
mentor, I was able to overcome these obstacles and get my own
apartment.
However, when I re-connected with my brother, I realized how truly
dangerous transitioning is for some foster youth who cannot make their
way safely to adulthood. Some of us get lucky and can find the support
and resources we need when transitioning out of care, but some of us
don't.
When my brother transitioned out at 18, he had not found the
stability I had found or connected with supportive adults in his life
that could provide the type of mentorship that I relied on. With no
guidance, he never attained his high school diploma or G.E.D. He
fathered a child. From there, things kind of fell apart for him, and
then he became homeless. With a criminal record and no education, it is
now almost impossible for him to get a decent job.
We are two brothers in foster care with different experiences and
luck and very different outcomes. What is important to me now is not to
take chances with all my other brothers and sisters--about 20,000 this
year alone-- transitioning out of foster care. While my transition
won't be affected, I hope to improve the odds for successful
transitioning for all foster youth coming up behind me.
Changes must be made because we, young people in foster care, do
not ask to be put in the system. When you drop your child off at the
day care, they usually cry their lungs out, signifying that most
children don't want to be away from their family. For many of us in
foster care, we spent our childhood quietly crying for family. Life is
tough enough when transitioning out of care, and it is even tougher if
you don't have the support that you need from people who care about
you, or if you don't have resources and skills packed along with the
rest of your belongings as you are shown out the door.
The child welfare system--the people who decide to place us in
foster care for our own good--have a responsibility to help guide us
into a stable adult life. I think that if we were able to receive
support up until age 21, or even until we finish a college education or
a training program, that transition to adulthood would be way more
successful for many of us.
I appeal to Congress to extend support services to the age of 21
for all young people in foster care across the country. I recommend
that Congress extend eligibility for the Chafee Foster Care
Independence Program to youth under age 25, which should include
eligibility for room and board and for education and training vouchers.
It is also my dream that every young person in foster care is
provided with support from adults in their lives like I was. I believe
it made all the difference in my life, and led to the divergent paths
between my brother and me. I would like states to have flexibility in
federal funding to support families staying together in the first place
or to reunite families that can safely and healthily be back together.
Flexible funding could support kinship placement for children within
their families, recruit caring foster parents, and encourage more
adoptions--establishing permanency for our youth. Providing states with
more flexibility in federal funding would help families stay together
or be created--so siblings, like my brother and me--could walk the same
successful path to adulthood together.
Thank you for opportunity to speak with you today.
Anthony Reeves
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Thank you very much. Nicole Dobbins is
from my area of the country. You have already been introduced
by your school that gave some money to get you here, and we
welcome you here.
Nicole has been in and out of foster care for six years.
She is 24. In June 2006, she graduated from Oregon State with a
Bachelor's degree in exercise and sports science.
I suspect you are an athlete more or less. We welcome you
here and it is your turn to tell your story. Thank you for
coming.
STATEMENT OF NICOLE DOBBINS, OREGON
Ms. DOBBINS. Chairman McDermott, thank you for making us so
welcome. Ranking Member Weller and Members of the Subcommittee,
I thank you for hearing my testimony on behalf of the 24,000
teens aging out of the foster care system each year.
Good morning. My name is Nicole Marie Dobbins. Like
Chairman McDermott said, I am 24 years old. I am a former
foster youth and a life long resident of Portland, Oregon.
I spent a total of 6 years on and off in the State foster
care system, entering at the age of two with my younger sister,
due to my mother's drug addiction and inability to care for us.
My sister and I were reunited after a couple of years with
my bio mom, but only to be put back in foster care at the age
of 14 due to other issues, and again, drug abuse on my mother's
behalf.
Foster care is where I remained for the next 4 years until
only 1 day after graduating high school, I was kicked out of my
foster home, a place I had been living in for 2 years prior. I
was forced to hand over my key with no explanation of what was
going on other than now I was 18, graduated, and not allowed to
stay any longer.
I did not attend any closing court hearing nor did I
receive any farewell from my caseworker. I recall having a
meeting a week or so later in which they asked me what I
planned to do, as if I were to have all the answers at that
time.
This is how I exited the foster care system, and on that
note, I was expected to be an adult. Sadly, the State played no
active role in my transition. I was 18 years old and homeless,
without any permanent connections to adults in my life, I had
no one and there was no one to understand my struggle. I was
forced to find a way all on my own.
The difficult part was not that I was homeless or that I
was kicked out. The difficult part was I thought I had found
someone in my foster mother that would be there for me beyond
foster care and be there for me in the long run through trials
and tribulations.
I was wrong, and now I had to figure it out on my own. At
18, I was not prepared for the loss of adult support.
Growing up in and out of the system provided me with little
stability and poor connections to people who cared about me. I
left foster care hurt and angry. I longed for someone to be
that person I could rely on. I longed for a healthy family. I
longed for what every child longs for. I longed to be loved.
I found hope and stability and education because when I had
nothing else, I always turned to that for an escape.
When I was only 10 years old, I was in the fourth grade. I
knew I wanted to go to college, not because I wanted to be
anything special or because of any one particular thing
fascinated me. I wanted to go to college so that I could
support my family and be a role model to my younger sister.
Mostly, because I did not want to end up like my mother.
I knew I had to take a path my mother did not. She never
graduated from high school, which made me the first in my
family to get a high school diploma.
At the age of 18, I made the transition from foster care to
what caseworkers call ``independence.'' With the plan in mind
to attend college, I was accepted into Oregon State University.
However, there was one huge problem. I was now a graduate of
high school and homeless.
It was only June and school did not start until September.
Before I would ever see college, I had to get through the
Summer. It was a struggle that I managed to tackle.
In some ways, education saved my life. I felt very blessed
to have my financial needs for school met. I am thankful for
the resources such as Chafee educational training vouchers,
which was a huge help to me and lessened my stress in receiving
that each year.
However, these resources were not given to me at the time
of transition. I had to seek them out after my sophomore year
in college.
Education alone was never enough. I was a freshman in dorms
with many new friends and excited about the opportunity to
start a new life. Externally, I appeared to be happy, but what
I kept from everyone was how I felt inside.
I was sad and lonely and hurting and often cried myself to
sleep. I was too scared to ask for help and too proud to say I
needed any. My peers did not understand me. They had family
visiting and care packages arriving when I barely had people
calling and checking in on me.
It was not long before I was diagnosed with depression. I
dealt with depression without any medication because I had no
health coverage. I was diagnosed by the Student Health Services
and allotted five free counseling visits based on the student
health fees that I paid to go to Oregon State.
I purchased a month's worth of medication but chose not to
take them based on knowing that I would not have the financial
commitment to continue the education, so I did not want to
cause more harm to the depression than already was there.
I am one of the youth that could have benefited from
Representative Cardoza's bill for health insurance to be used
in foster care. That is something I would like to see put in
place so that youth like myself will not have to struggle as
much as I did.
Take this journey with me, as I recall one of the hardest
times in college. Being kicked out of the dorms for the
holidays. Thanksgiving came around and I did not realize I was
going to have to leave until a week beforehand. My new friends
all had family plans and I was not about to be anyone's burden
by asking to join.
On holidays, I waited. I waited to be asked over to
friends' houses. Looking back, I was thankful that I always was
asked. Now I cannot help but wonder and I hope you do, too,
where do youth go when they do not get asked?
I owe great gratitude to organizations such as FosterClub
and the National Foster Care Coalition for offering an outlet
for me to make change in the child welfare system.
Before my work with FosterClub, I never heard of
permanency. I have now learned what permanency means and
because of that, I have been given the chance to establish it
in my own life.
Permanency just does not appear. It is nurtured. As foster
youth, we do not know what healthy relationships look like. It
is up to someone to teach us.
I have been given the divine opportunity to change child
welfare professionals around the importance of permanency, as
well as share my own experience with thousands of foster youth
around the Nation because of these organizations.
Now I have acquired a huge network of supportive people in
my life and I can honestly say that today, I would not be
sitting here a college graduate, an educated professional,
without the support and love from adults currently in my life.
I pose this question or these questions. What about the
youth currently in care scheduled to transition without
permanent families, without support, without health care,
without education, and without a plan or worse, without anyone
at all?
What will we do for them? I want to remind you this is only
my story.
I want to thank you for listening to my testimony and I
want to thank you on behalf of all the foster youth
transitioning. You have the chance to make a difference. I just
want to thank you again for hearing us.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Dobbins follows:]
Prepared Statement of Nicole Dobbins, Oregon
Chairman McDermott, Ranking Member Weller, and members of this
Subcommittee, thank you for allowing me to appear before you today on
behalf of the 24,000 teens who will age out of foster care this year
without a family or the supports and services they need to make a
successful transition to adulthood. I hope my story helps inform the
subcommittee on ways that Congress can improve the system.
My name is Nicole Dobbins. I am 24 years old and a lifelong
resident of Portland, Oregon. At age 2, I entered the State foster care
system. I was reunited with my biological family only to reenter the
system again at the age of 14. While in foster care, I adjusted to my
new living arrangements and persisted with my studies until I became
first in my family to graduate from high school. My sights and hopes
were set on a college degree. Applications made, I was accepted to
Oregon State University and looking forward to beginning my freshman
year in higher education.
Then, my great shock: at age 18, only one day after graduating high
school, I was kicked out of my foster home without warning. My
relationship as a ``ward of the State of Oregon'' was over. This is how
I exited the foster care system. Sadly, my state played little role in
my transition, although I was very grateful to receive Chafee
Educational And Training Voucher funds for college. I spent my senior
year in high school focusing on my studies and had not focused on what
life on my own would be like. I had made no preparations. I had little
support and no place to call home.
Age 18, college bound, and completely on my own, I made my way to
college. I found myself in a new place with no one I knew. I had little
guidance for what the process of college was like and how lonely my
journey was going to be. The most difficult part of it all was that I
had no connections to any supportive adults in my life. I had no
relationship with my biological family and my only sibling stayed in
the same foster home I was kicked out of, which made it difficult to
stay in contact with her. I was focused on school, but I soon learned
that life for an 18 year old wasn't easy without support. School was
hard; I was lonely, and very unhappy.
As a sophomore I was diagnosed with depression. I had no health
insurance and worse off, I had no one to turn to. The only support I
had was from my peers, who couldn't help or offer the support I needed.
For the most part they just didn't understand. I was feeling like my
life had no direction, and no purpose. Being depressed in college was
debilitating and very difficult for me to manage alone. I wish that I
could have had better support through this time of difficulty. I waited
in limbo for a friend to extend an invitation as I wondered where I
would go for Holidays and school breaks.
It would have been very beneficial if I had been given help in
establishing some sort of permanency before my transition into
adulthood. At eighteen, I was not prepared for the loss I had to face,
the loss of the adult supports in my life. I felt very blessed to have
most of my financial needs for school met, but at the same time I
needed love, support, and encouragement as well, just like any young
adult, and especially as a young adult transitioning from foster care.
Somehow along the way I had the good fortune to find FosterClub who
took me in as an All-Star intern. Along with the National Foster Care
Coalition, FosterClub offers encouragement and an outlet for me to make
change in the child welfare system. Before my work began with these
organizations I hated the system and felt ashamed to say that I was
ever apart of it. However, through training and adult support, I have
now learned what permanency means and I have established it in my own
life. I presently have many support systems and I am now a college
graduate!
In my experiences advocating for foster care reform, I have had the
opportunity to share my story with thousands of youth around the nation
and to speak with people who can improve life for my younger peers
still coming through the system. Recently, I went to Capitol Hill,
along with over thirty of my peers from foster care, and met with
Members of Congress. I spoke at an event sponsored by the Kids Are
Waiting, a project of The Pew Charitable Trusts, as part of its
campaign calling for reform of the federal financing system for foster
care. The Campaign and Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative
recently released a report which reveals how flexible, reliable federal
funding, would enable States to keep families together, recruit more
foster and adoptive parents, or subsidize guardianships for relatives
and others.
As a nation, we must do a better job of making certain that youth
in foster care have family relationships and are prepared for
adulthood. As people with the power to make change, I ask that you take
an active interest in the need for foster youth to establish permanency
before they exit foster care and ensure that they have support and
services as transitioning young adults so that they can have a less
risky and less despondent transition than I did myself. Every day we
fail to act, 67 children like me leave foster care without a safety
net.
Thank you for this opportunity and for taking the time to hear my
testimony.
Respectfully,
Nicole Dobbins
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Thank you for telling your story.
Mr. Weller.
Mr. WELLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Do you want to introduce Mr. Nutall?
Mr. WELLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is a pleasure for
me to welcome and introduce Jamaal Nutall before our
Subcommittee. As I noted in my opening state, Jamaal is a
resident of Joliet, the largest city in the congressional
district that I have the privilege of representing.
He has been an intern in our Washington office this Summer,
and I am proud to say he has made a terrific contribution to
our Congressional office.
He is a great intern. He is a young man with tremendous
potential. He currently attends University of St. Francis where
he will receive a degree in social work in May of 2008, after
which he plans to pursue a Master's degree in school social
work.
He is a member of the University's football team, a member
of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, and an active member of the
Student African American Brotherhood.
I want to welcome Jamaal and thank him for agreeing to
appear before our Subcommittee this morning.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to your testimony,
Jamaal.
STATEMENT OF JAMAAL NUTALL, ILLINOIS
Mr. NUTALL. Chairman McDermott, Ranking Member Weller, and
Members of the Committee, good morning.
It is an honor for me to testify before the Committee today
on child welfare.
My name is Jamaal Nutall and I live in Mr. Weller's
Congressional district. I know a lot about the foster care
system because I was a part of that system for about 10 years.
In addition, I attend the University of St. Francis where I
plan to receive my Bachelor's degree in social work in May of
2008.
I also plan to work in the system to help kids by advising,
mentoring, coaching and setting a good example. I would do so
by receiving my Master's degree in school social work the
following year after graduation.
Imagine for a moment being a kid at age 8 one day playing
with your toys at home and wake up the next day in someone
else's house. How would this make you feel? That is what
happened to me.
Before that day, I was living with my grandmother, as I had
been for most of my life, and there were problems between my
grandmother and my mother, which was my mother actually
suffered from post-partum depression after giving birth to her
first child, which was a baby girl, my only sister, which now I
am the only child because my mother actually killed my sister,
but I always forgave her for that. My father was never in my
life.
Overnight, I was placed in a foster care situation. In
hindsight, my grandmother was trying to protect me. However,
the foster care system could have done a better job. For one
thing, they could have reached out to my extended family to see
if I could have lived with any of them.
The foster care home I was placed in, Henry and Dorthea
Burton, they did the best they could. They fed me, tried to
instill good values, and took me to church. What they could not
do was change the environment outside the house.
On the south side of Chicago, kids can stay in the house or
choose friends. Friends can be a positive or negative
influence. The friends I chose at the time were not a very good
influence. I made some bad choices like not going to school and
not studying at all, and pretty much depending on myself at the
time, which is tough for a young kid.
The street life corrupted me to the point that I was
stealing, involved in robberies, burglaries, and even selling
drugs. I can that I was money hungry at that age. I was so bad
that I was out of control.
During sixth grade, a social worker told me that we were
going to her office to wrap Christmas presents. That is not
what happened. Instead, I was taken to a group home and once
again was in one home one day and another home the next day.
At the group home, I was fortunate to meet up with a
counselor who had faith in me and a teacher who told me I was
smart and I was going to do good things. I also was able to
take advantage of an reward system in place at the group home
that gave more responsibility and freedom to those who had good
behavior. I did more, more than most.
During all this time, my mother was appearing in court
trying to regain custody. My aunt and other family visited at
holidays and brought me items like shoes and clothing. I was
not completely cut off from my family although most of the
other foster kids never saw or heard from family members.
After a couple of years in the group home, one of my aunts
became my legal guardian. I would like to express my gratitude
to her for that. She was determined to make me a better person.
She told me what to do and what not to do. She taught me how to
wash clothes, manage money, and reach goals.
She took me to church and helped me find my first job. Her
daughter, which is my cousin, became my older sister, who has
helped me so much over the past few years.
It was in high school that sports became a big part of my
life. This really was a positive experience for me as I learned
about team work, responsibility, leadership, and made very good
friends.
Sports also helped me with college, as I was awarded a
football scholarship. Being in sports kept me busy and kept me
from hanging out with the wrong people. All kids need an
opportunity to keep busy, whether it is an after school
program, Young Men's Christian Association, Boys and Girls
Club, or interested parents.
By the time I transitioned into adulthood, I was depending
on myself, my family and my friends. This combination of
support helped keep me motivated and contributed to my knowing
that I can do anything I want.
That is a great feeling. One day and one time I never knew
I would have. I feel blessed by my experiences. Most kids
growing up like I did do not make it. I was able to learn from
each of my experiences and allow them to contribute to who I am
today.
Now I am looking forward to changing the world. I started
with myself first and will take it one person at a time.
As I look over my life, I would not change many things but
some. My struggles only made me stronger as a person. I learned
how to become a man the hard way. Through these challenges I
learned responsibility, respect, hard work, dedication and I
learned from my mistakes. I also developed lifelong friendships
with many.
I would like to express my gratitude to those who have
given me the opportunity to better myself.
I have a lot of suggestions for improving the foster care
system that would include treating foster care kids as people
rather than as cases that need to be moved along quickly to
clear off a desk. Placing foster care kids with family members
if at all possible.
Better screening of foster parents, trying to keep kids in
the same school rather than bouncing them around from school to
school, and I encourage foster parents to monitor kids in their
care.
Thank you for this opportunity. I am glad to answer any
questions you may have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Nutall follows:]
Prepared Statement of Jamaal Nutall, Illinois
Chairman McDermott, Ranking Member Weller and Members of the
Committee, good morning. It is an honor for me to testify before the
Committee today on foster care. My name is Jamaal Nutall and I live in
Mr. Weller's Congressional district. I know a lot about the foster care
system because I was part of that system for about 10 years. In
addition, I attend the University of Saint Francis where I plan to
receive my Bachelor Degree of Social Work in May of 2008. I also plan
to work in the system to help kids by advising, mentoring, coaching,
and setting a good example. I would do so by receiving my Masters
Degree in school social work the following year after graduation.
Imagine for a moment being a kid at age 8 who one day is playing
with his toys at home and wakes up the next day in someone else's
house. How would you feel? That's what happened to me.
Before that day I was living with my grandmother, as I had been for
most of my life, and there were problems between my grandmother and my
mother. Overnight I was placed in a foster family situation. In
hindsight, my grandmother was trying to protect me. However, the foster
care system could have done a better job. For one thing, they could
have reached out to my extended family to see if I could have lived
with any of them.
In the foster care home I was placed in Henry and Dorthea Burton
did the best they could. They fed me well, tried to instill good
values, and took me to church. What they couldn't do was change the
environment outside the house. On the south side of Chicago, kids can
stay in the house or choose friends. Friends can be a positive or a
negative influence. The friends I chose at that time were not very good
influences. I made some bad choices--like not going to school and not
studying at all--and pretty much depended on myself at that time, which
is tough for a young kid.
The street life corrupted me to the point that I was stealing,
involved in robberies, and selling drugs. I can say that I was money
hungry. I was so bad that I was out of control.
During 6th grade, a social worker told me we were going to her
office to wrap presents. That's not what happened. Instead I was taken
to a group home and once again was in one ``home'' one day, another
``home'' the next day.
At the group home I was fortunate to meet up with a counselor who
had faith in me and a teacher who told me I was smart and I was going
to do good things. I also was able to take advantage of a reward system
in place at the group home that gave more responsibility and freedom to
those who had good behavior. I did more, more than most.
During all this time, my mother was appearing in court, trying to
regain custody. My aunt and other family visited at the holidays and
brought me items like shoes and clothing. So I wasn't completely cut
off from my family, though most of the other foster kids never saw or
heard from a family member.
After a couple of years in the group home, one of my aunts became
my legal guardian. I would like to express my gratitude to her for
that. She was determined to make me a better person. She told me what
to do and what not to do. She taught me how to wash clothes, manage
money, and reach goals. She took me to church and helped me find my
first job. Her daughter, my cousin, became my older sister who has
helped me so much over the past few years.
It was in high school that sports became a big part of my life.
This really was a positive experience for me as I learned about
teamwork, responsibility, and leadership and made very good friends.
Sports also helped me with college as I was awarded a football
scholarship. Being in sports kept me busy and kept me from hanging out
with the wrong people. All kids need an opportunity to keep busy,
whether it be in an after school program, a YMCA, a boys and girls
club, or interested parents.
By the time I transitioned into adulthood, I was depending on
myself, my family, and my friends. This combination of support helped
keep me motivated and contributed to my knowing that I can do anything
I want. That's a great feeling--one that at one time I never knew I
would have.
I feel blessed by my experiences. Most kids growing up like I did
don't make it. I was able to learn from each of my experiences and
allow them to contribute to who I am today. Now I am looking forward to
changing the world. I started with myself first and will take it one
person at a time.
As I look over my life I would not change many things but some. My
struggles only made me stronger as a person. I learned how to become a
man the hard way. Through these challenges I learned responsibility,
respect, hard work, dedication, and I learned from my mistakes. I also
developed life long friendships with many. I would like to express my
gratitude to those who given me the opportunity to better myself.
I have a lot of suggestions for improving the foster care system.
That would include treating foster care kids as people rather than as
cases that need to be moved along quickly to clear off a desk, placing
foster care kids with family members if at all possible, better
screening of foster parents, trying to keep kids in the same school
rather than bouncing them around from school to school, and encouraging
foster parents to monitor kids in their care.
Thank you for this opportunity. I'll be glad to answer any
questions you may have.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. We want to thank all four of you for
your stories. I have just one question I would like to ask all
four of you and you can think while somebody else is answering.
Who was the person and what did they do that had the most
impact on stabilizing you coming out of foster care or living
through foster care? Any one of you can start. I would like to
hear who the person was and how you got in touch with them.
Mr. NUTALL. For me, I believe my family, my aunt, my
biological aunt, which took me out of the system, which I
appreciate so much. I had many coaches and mentors in my life
that preached to me positive, be positive and you will prosper
from your positive actions.
Just taking me out of the system, I was encouraged to
actually do better for myself instead of hanging around the
streets and doing wrong all the time, I was encouraged to read
a book, actually do better for myself, or play sports, so I can
utilize my talent. I ended up being very talented at any sport
I tried. I was naturally athletic.
When I got to college, I had many older fraternity members
which recruited me and gave me the opportunity to network and
brotherhood and draw me in and became my immediate family.
That's pretty much it.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Tell me who was the person that turned
you around?
Mr. REEVES. My situation is kind of two people plus myself.
In the group home, the social worker there helped find my
brother. I call him all the time now because I work for the
same agency that I grew up with. He is like my father. I call
him. He actually helped me furnish my apartment and everything.
I still call him to this day. We sit down and talk about
anything. He helped motivate me to go on through high school or
to finish high school and go on to college. He was even there
at all of my graduations.
There was another lady that I met. She was my mentor. She
took the place as my mother. She was also there. She helped me
with my deposits, the security deposit that was $250. She told
me what to do as far as my identity from my biological mom for
the $150.
They also instilled in me that I have to set an example for
not only the brother that my mentor found but my other two
siblings that I did not know that I had. They said I had to set
that example for myself as well as for them.
They really became like my driving force and they still are
pushing me. As a matter of fact, they probably are going to
call me right after this.
Ms. DOBBINS. For me, it was never just one person. I just
cannot help but think about it takes a village to raise a
child. There were different people along the way, but there was
not one consistent person.
Definitely some of the things that helped were being placed
with my sister in the same foster home. It was a familiar face.
It was someone who helped me through the times, even though we
were not the best of sisters through foster care, she helped me
through, just being placed with someone I knew.
There were various people through high school and friends'
parents. It was never one consistent person. I think had it
been, it could have been an easier transition. I think a lot of
us said a lot of things that were a struggle because that is
the way to make the system better, we reported our struggles,
but I think a lot of people played a part in supporting us or
supporting me at least during different times. It just was not
a consistent thing.
Mr. BACON. I do not know if I can say one person. When I
grew up in foster care, I struggled with trust issues. I had
that wall, that barrier, that I put up because I was afraid
that people would come into my life and leave me. I figured if
my family left me, other people would leave me.
I contribute a lot of my success to my advocacy that I do.
I go out and I speak and I advocate for foster youth because
that helps me understand what I am going through and helps me
deal with what I am going through.
I am able to go out there and make a difference for those
growing up under me so they do not have to struggle. I
contribute a lot of the success to a lot of the agencies that I
work with, and a lot of the other foster care alumni, such as
Nicole and Anthony, that advocate with me because I know in the
middle of the night, if I have an issue, if I am dealing with
some type of problem, I know I can pick up the phone and call
one of them, no matter what time it is, they will pick up the
phone. They may have to wake up a little, but they will be
there to pick up the phone.
That is how all foster youth feel. We feel that natural
connection with aeach other. As soon as we find out you are a
foster youth, it is that natural bond. It is a family bond.
I contribute my success to my advocacy and all the foster
youth that I have been in touch with and that I advocate for
and the agencies that give us such support and fulfilling our
passions in life and helping us move forward, giving us that
little tough love sometimes when we need it and that push to
keep us moving forward instead of staying in one spot.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Mr. Weller?
Mr. WELLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Jamaal, you stated in
your testimony that you suggest children in foster care should
be living with family members whenever possible. You shared
some of your experience.
Can you elaborate a little more on the difference you feel
from speaking with your peers as well as from your own personal
experience about the difference between being with family
members and outside the family?
Mr. NUTALL. I think the family system is a more genuine
support system than a foster care system. The foster care
system is basically based on stipends paying for individuals to
actually stay in your home. You get parents who do not really
care about the kids at all, all they care about is that payment
and do not really take care of these kids.
In a blood line family, they will do to their best ability,
not even your mother and father, you have cousins, aunts, many
relatives that will look out for you because you are a part of
their blood line.
Family structure is basically based on like a long life
line, you always have your family to look back on. If you can
call anybody, it is your family. If all else fails, your family
is going to be there for you through anything.
Like the saying says, blood is thicker than water. That is
true. Your blood will never lead you astray. That is the reason
why kids are aging out of the system at 18, these foster
parents are afraid to adopt kids. All they really care about is
these payments. I am not going to say that for all foster
parents. There are some excellent foster parents out there.
Everyone is not fortunate to actually have a foster parent
that will actually take care of them and make sure they go
through college, connect with them, and adjoin them to their
family. It seems like they are afraid of foster care.
Same reason why younger kids are most likely to be adopted
than older kids. They feel like they can actually connect with
younger kids and kind of manipulate them to be a part of their
family instead of an older kid that is stubborn, knows their
family and wants to go back with their family.
Mr. WELLER. Jamaal, in your experiences, you talked about
moving around. When you moved around, did you move from one
school to another, you were changing schools while you were
young?
Mr. NUTALL. Yes, I did. Numerous schools. I felt like that
really affected my education. I feel like I really did not
become more educated until I reached college. The college level
actually opened up my mind to different areas and kind of
exposed me to grammar and all this stuff that I was kind of
lacking.
Just from switching schools, you go to a school that really
does not teach you as much and then move to a school that is
really grounded in grammar, emphasis of educating you strong,
but you lack the skills that you should have learned earlier.
I ended up failing one of the grades when I was younger
because I lacked the understanding of how to actually read
fully, how to understand words.
Mr. WELLER. In your life time, how many schools did you
attend during the age of eight and when you entered St. Francis
University?
Mr. NUTALL. I do not know if it is accurate, six/seven,
could be eight.
Mr. WELLER. Did you find every time that you began
attending another school, it took a while just to get
established there and develop relationships and figure it out?
Mr. NUTALL. Yes, it is a major problem. You lose your
friends that you try to create a bond with, and then you move
along to somewhere else, you create new friends, and then you
move on again. Do I keep these friends or should I just toss
them. You are never going to see them again.
It is hard on kids to go through this process. It is one of
the hardest things you could do.
Mr. WELLER. Would you think it is a good idea for us to
find ways to help ensure that children in foster care are able
to continue attending the same school that they were in
previously, so they do not have to go through that transition?
Is that something you think is a good idea?
Mr. NUTALL. Definitely. I think that would help. From
coming from different hearings, I heard different proposals as
grants being proposed to schools like private schools or public
schools that actually allow foster youth to attend that same
school even if they are moved or something like that.
Get the structure right. That would help tremendously in
the future of a youth. They will get a chance to actually bond
with friends they want to bond with, and get the support system
they need at a school, instead of moving around to different
schools. Then you start losing faith and trust.
That is why you have kids that do not really trust their
teachers or do not listen because they really do not care. They
moved from this part and this part. It really does not matter.
Until recent, school was not a big thing for me. I really
did not like school. School was never--I never saw myself going
to college. I always thought that maybe I would do something
else with my life, but I got into sports, and that kind of
opened the door for choices.
Even when I applied to colleges, I never thought that I
could actually get in the colleges I got into. I got into at
least nine different schools. I was very impressed by that. Six
was because of academics and three was because of football.
I had my options to actually choose a school to go to,
which my family really disapproved of St. Francis because it
was still in Joliet, but I really thought the smaller
environment would be better for me. I had time to actually
study and be coached, and actually listen to people, instead of
going somewhere big where there was the possibility I could
drop out because of partying at big schools is more dominant.
Mr. WELLER. Jamaal, you have done a great job. I am very
proud of you and how you presented yourself today. Thank you
for appearing before the Subcommittee.
Mr. NUTALL. Thank you.
Mr. WELLER. I know my time has expired.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Mr. Lewis, do you have a question?
Mr. LEWIS OF GEORGIA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am not so
sure that I have any questions. I do not feel adequate really
to ask questions.
I want to thank each of you for being here today, for
telling your story with such courage. It is my hope that it
will help educate and sensitize all of us. I know it will help
me a great deal.
The four of you are really heroes for being able to survive
and not giving up, not giving in. You do not appear to be
bitter or hostile. I do not know what I would have done if I
had to go through what you have gone through.
I just want to thank you for being here today. Thank you,
Mr. Chairman.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Thank you all four for coming. We want
you to know that what you tell us, we will try to deal with. It
is important for you to come and publicly say it. You have done
us a real service. Thank you.
Mr. MEEK. I am sorry, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Excuse me.
Mr. MEEK. No. I stepped in when you were making closing
comments. I was in the back here. I am sorry. You know how it
is, trying to juggle meetings here.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Go ahead.
Mr. MEEK. I know there were a couple of recommendations
that were made and I know there are two States that have
extended foster care assistance beyond 21 to 23. I think it is
Colorado and another State which escapes me at this time.
I think it is important as we look at this extended care,
and Mr. Chairman, you talked in your opening comments about the
$36,000 that an average kid receives. I was jokingly saying I
just got that last year.
[Laughter.]
I think it is important as it relates to young adult care.
I know many of the Members, and I overheard as I was back here
in a meeting in another room, many of the Members commending
you for coming before the Committee. I think it is important to
open your lives up and share so we can learn, so we can avoid
the situations that you all have gone through.
As it relates to the health care that was mentioned in all
of your testimony, extension of health care, and also making
sure there was assistance for like some sort of family
assistance after the age of 18, how do you legislate. It is
very difficult for us to kind of legislate that process.
The unification with family, need it be cousins or nephews
or nieces, and I know in some instances, Tyler, you tried to do
it and it did not work out the way it was supposed to.
What are some best practices? I am sorry. Maybe it was
already answered and I was out of the room. What are some of
the best practices that you all have found talking to other
folks in other parts of the country?
You have an opportunity that I have not had even as a
Member of Congress to come before Congress and share your
thoughts and ideas.
Hearing some of the people that you have talked to after
they are 18, after they go through that kind of sink or swim
effect in the deep water, what have been some of the things
that have worked for others that have not worked for you that
you wish could have worked for you or that we can endorse?
Ms. DOBBINS. I would like to say that I have done 25
trainings in the State of Oregon around permanency, and this is
something I get asked often, and I would like you to take a
look at not all or nothing, so necessarily you cannot place a
youth with a family member or if you cannot establish some sort
of family, that does not mean that you do not nurture the
relationship still.
For me, I had relatives living 20 minutes away. For
whatever reasons, I was not placed with them. Nurturing those
relationships and even with my grandmother who was out of State
could have been possible support for me as I exited the foster
care system.
Looking at it as not all or nothing is a very good approach
in figuring out what ways to nurture the relationships that do
exist with family members that are healthy members of the
family.
Mr. MEEK. Presently today, I guess you would say that there
is not a system in place, and I know many States are doing
different things, a system in place when they see 18
approaching, someone, a caseworker, someone identifying family
members.
Now this person is kind of an adult, you can brush your own
teeth and do all those kinds of things, and you do not have to
worry about the guardian, do not leave the house after 8:00
kind of thing.
These are young adults, matching them up with blood
relatives. I take it that does not exist today and is something
that can be explored?
Ms. DOBBINS. Not as much as it should. It did not exist in
my case.
Mr. BACON. I just want to speak on that, too. A lot of
situations, the option of putting them back in the family is
not a safe situation, in my instance. One of the things we need
to look at is developing programs to set up foster youth with
mentors before they turn 18.
A lot of the situations, they wait until they turn 18 and
we forget in years growing up, at 16/17, you learn more. That
is the age that you learn more. You are more able to take more
in and you are more acceptable to help.
We need to look at those ages as providing help for youth
at those ages. We need to set youth up with if not supportive
adults, supportive foster care alumni. I know there are
several, like myself, foster care alumni, that would willingly
go in and help develop mentoring programs for foster youth.
That is one of the things that we need to look at, getting
the foster care alumni into the mentoring stages for foster
youth because again, like I said, previously when a foster
youth meets another foster youth, they have that automatic
bond.
When you set up a foster youth with a mentor who has not
experienced the foster care system, the first thing in the
foster youth's thoughts is you do not know where I am coming
from, how can you help me.
When you set them up with a foster youth, that thought may
come up but we are able to say, hey, I have been through the
foster care system. I know what you are going through and I am
a prime example of how you can succeed.
We can also provide tough love for foster youth. A lot of
foster youth when they are set up with a mentor who has not
experienced the foster care system, they give excuses. When
they give excuses to other foster youth, no, that is not an
excuse. We have been through that, too, look, we have made it
and this is how you make it through.
I am a big advocate and I think until we get foster care
alumni in as mentors and to assist and work within the foster
care system and the child welfare agencies within each State,
the major changes will not be done. We need to get foster care
alumni.
We do not need to wait for foster care alumni to come to
us. We need to seek them out and give them an invitation to
come and help us in the foster care system to make the change.
When a foster youth is given the opportunity to make a
difference, they are more than willing to accept it. A lot of
foster youth struggle to make a change because they do not know
how to and they are waiting for someone to ask them.
Mr. MEEK. Thank you all very much. Mr. Chairman, this is
kind of the two outfielders and the ball falling between the
two outfielders kind of situation.
This is my first time on the Committee on Ways and Means,
after being here three terms, but I think it is important as we
start to look at how we can make life better, there has to be
incentives for not only those that have gone through it with
different kinds of experiences--I have been a State legislator
in Florida when you were in the system.
Knowing what I needed to know, just having one house down
from where I grew up a foster home, and meeting and playing
with all the friends as I was coming up as a young person does
not qualify me to know all I need to know.
I think the young adult mentoring piece is very, very
important, and also making sure that we provide that
opportunity. Many parents and young professionals say I can
barely take care of myself, how can I go--maybe with a young
adult, it is a different kind of experience and something that
I think we could possibly work with.
Thank you for your testimony. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. We thank you very much for coming.
Unfortunately, you have heard the bells go off and we are going
to have to go over and vote. We have three votes which should
bring us back around 12:30.
I would ask the panel if they would go get a little lunch
and we will see you back at 12:30. Thank you very much.
[Recess.]
Chairman MCDERMOTT. We will come back to order. Thank you
for waiting. I hope you enjoyed a sumptuous and elegant lunch
in the Longworth Dining Room. Maybe you went to the Rayburn one
where they have carpeting.
We are back here to finish. We have lost the crowd,
unfortunately. We are glad to have you here because you can
give us some practical suggestions about what needs to be done.
We have Cornelia Ashby, who is the Director of Education,
Workforce, and Income Security at the U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO) that goes out and sorts out what is
going on.
Dr. Courtney, who is the Ballmer Chair in Child Well-Being
at the School of Social Work at the University of Washington.
Gary Stangler, who is Executive Director of the Jim Casey
Youth Opportunities Initiative, and Sam Cobbs, Executive
Director of First Place Fund for Youth in Oakland, and Jane
Soltis, who is the Program Officer for the Eckerd Family
Foundation.
We want to thank you all for coming. Your full state will
be put in the record. We would like you to try and hold to 5
minutes for whatever comments you want to make out of your full
states.
Thank you.
STATEMENT OF CORNELIA ASHBY, DIRECTOR, EDUCATION, WORKFORCE AND
INCOME SECURITY, U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE
Ms. ASHBY. Mr. Chairman and Mr. Weller, thank you for
inviting me here today to discuss services for youth who age
out of the foster care system without the support of an
adoptive or other permanent home.
Overall, Federal funding for State independent living
programs doubled with the passage of the Foster Care
Independence Act. While we could not determine the exact amount
of funding States had available to spend on each eligible youth
because of the lack of data on eligible youth emancipated from
foster care, data available at the time of our 2004 report
indicated that States' maximum funding allocation for each
eligible youth in the foster care system ranged from between
$476 and $2,300.
Some States were not able to spend all of their Federal
allocations in the first 2 years of increased funding under the
program. For example, in 2001, 20 States returned nearly $10
million in Federal funding to HHS, and in 2002, 13 States
returned more than $4 million. Data provided in A July 2007
Congressional Research Service Memo to Congress shows that nine
States returned less than 1 percent of total Chafee funding in
2004.
While States expanded and improved independent living
services, under the Chafee program, States differed in the
proportion of eligible youth served. In our 2004 survey, 40
States reported serving about 44 percent of eligible youth in
their States. About one-third of reporting States were serving
less than half of their eligible foster care youth while an
equal percentage was serving three-fourths or more. Certain
gaps in the availability of critical services were reported,
which may explain at least in part why more eligible youth were
not served. For example, States continued to be challenged in
providing youth with a smooth transition between the youth and
adult mental health systems. Of the four States we visited in
2004, three cited difficulties due to more stringent
eligibility requirements in the adult system, different levels
of services and long waiting lines for services. Challenges
with mental health services remained in 2006. Thirty-two State
child welfare directors responding to our survey reported
dissatisfaction with the level of mental health services. There
is also a housing gap. Youth we spoke with in the four States
we visited in 2004 said that locating safe and stable housing
after leaving foster care was one of their primary concerns in
their transition to independence.
This service gap was also identified in our 2006 survey
when 31 State child welfare directors reported dissatisfaction
with the level of housing for foster care youth transitioning
to independence. Under the Chafee program, many States began
offering new services to support youth who had emancipated from
foster care, including education and training vouchers for
postsecondary education and Medicaid health insurance. In July
2007, Congressional Research Service (CRS) data showed that 26
States did not spend all of their fiscal year 2004 ETV funding
with one State returning almost all of its funds and 14 other
States returning over 20 percent of their funding allotment.
Overall, more than 14 percent of fiscal year 2004 ETV funding
was returned to the U.S. Treasury. In 2007, the American Public
Human Services Association reported that 22 States planned or
have already started using the Chafee option to offer Medicaid
coverage to youth who age out of foster care. The study also
found the remaining 28 States and the District of Columbia were
reported to be using other methods, such as the State
children's health insurance program or the Medicaid waiver
demonstration program to extend coverage to youth.
Usage of existing Federal social service programs outside
the child welfare system could help reduce the gap in available
services for youth aging out of foster care. While in our 2004
survey 49 States reported increased coordination with Federal
as well as State and local programs that can provide or
supplement independent living services, barriers hindered
access to services across programs. In our 2006 survey, States
revealed that they were least likely to address challenges in
providing services such as those pertaining to mental health,
services that are typically provided outside of the child
welfare system. Access barriers include the lack of information
on the array of programs available in each State or local area,
and differences in program priorities. In the November 2004
report and May 2007 testimony before this Subcommittee, we
recommended that HHS make information available to States and
local areas about other Federal programs that may assist youth
in their transition to self sufficiency. HHS continues to
disagree with our recommendation.
Services provided to youth aging out of the foster care
system must be effective in preparing these youth for self
sufficiency. However, how well the Chafee program has worked to
improve outcomes for emancipated youth is still unknown 8 years
after passage of the Foster Care Independence Act, and HHS has
not yet implemented its information system that is intended to
meet the Act's requirements for monitoring State performance.
Further, while regional staff conduct much of the Federal
oversight of the Chafee program, their current oversight tools
do not provide standard information needed to measure
performance.
Our 2004 report includes a recommendation that HHS develop
a standard reporting format for State plans and progress
reports and implement a uniform process regional offices can
use to assess States' progress in meeting the needs of youth in
foster care and those recently emancipated from care. These
recommendations have not been implemented.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement. I would be happy
to answer any questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Ashby follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Thank you.
Dr. Courtney.
STATEMENT OF MARK COURTNEY, PH.D., BALLMER CHAIR IN CHILD WELL-
BEING, SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Dr. COURTNEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am here to share
the findings of a study being conducted by my colleagues and I
in the States of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa of young people
aging out of foster care in those three States.
Our study involves three interviews with young people. We
interviewed 732 young people when they were 17 to 18 and still
in care in those three States back in 2002/2003. We followed up
in 2004 with about 82 percent of them when they were on average
about 19.5 years old.
The information I present today comes from those
interviews. We just finished last year interviews when they
were 21, but the Committee beat me to the punch, and we will
not be releasing those results for a few more weeks, but later
this Summer, we will.
Our study informs child welfare policy, I believe, in at
least three ways. First, it provides the first comprehensive
view of how foster youth are faring in the transition to
adulthood in the wake of the Foster Care Independence Act.
Second, it provides a natural experiment regarding the
effects of allowing young people to remain in care past 18.
Illinois allows youth to remain in care through their 21st
birthday whereas Iowa and Wisconsin generally discharge youth
around their 18th birthday and almost never after their 19th
birthday.
Third, our interviews include questions used in nationally
representative studies allowing us to compare outcomes of
foster youth to youth generally.
I will focus on four study findings I believe help inform
policy and practice.
First, although some of the young people we were following
are faring reasonably well, more of them are having significant
difficulties during the transition to adulthood.
I will give you a few examples. More than one-third had
neither a high school diploma nor a general equivalency degree
compared to one-tenth 19 year olds nationally. Whereas 57
percent 19 year olds nationally are enrolled in a two or 4 year
college, this was true for less than one quarter of the young
people we are studying.
Only about two-fifths of our study participants were
employed at age 19 compared to nearly three-fifths of their
peers, and even among those who were employed, 75 percent
earned less than $5,000 in the last year.
Foster youth in transition were twice as likely as other 19
year olds to report not having enough money to pay their rent
or mortgage or being unable to pay an utility bill. They were
one and a half times more likely to report having their phone
service disconnected.
Of the young people who had already left care--a lot of
them in Illinois stayed in care--14 percent had been homeless
at least once since leaving care and most of them had only been
out of care less than a year.
Compared to other 19 year olds, foster youth in transition
were more likely to report that health conditions limited their
daily functioning and reported more emergency room visits and
hospitalization.
About one-third of our participants suffered from mental
health problems, nearly half of the young women in our study
had been pregnant by age 19, that is twice the rate of their
peers, about one quarter reported having children, and while
both males and females were more than twice as likely as their
peers to have children, they were much less likely to report
being married or cohabiting.
Many of the young people in our study had experienced
trouble with the law. Thirty percent of the males and 11
percent of the females reported being incarcerated at least
once between 17 and 19. Many more had been arrested.
A second major study finding is that receipt of independent
living services during the transition to adulthood is arguably
spotty at best. We asked the young people questions about the
services they received between our first and second interviews
in areas of education, vocational training and employment,
budgeting, health education, housing, and youth development.
The only domain in which at least half of the young people
reported at least one service was education, and that was only
slightly more than half.
The third finding is that we found that a majority of young
people, and this is probably the most relevant to you, the
other ones might not sound that new to you, the majority of
young people would remain in care past 18 if given the
opportunity, and doing so appears to convey significant
benefits to young people.
Among study youth in Illinois, that is the State that
allows young people to stay in care past 18, the vast majority
remained in care past their 19th birthday and over half
remained in care past their 20th birthday.
About half of the young people remaining in care, however,
did not live in traditional foster homes or kinship foster
homes or group care. They had actually moved into some kind of
supervised independent living setting. Illinois has massive
investment in transitional housing.
Remaining in care past 18 was associated with increased
receipt of independent living services, better access to health
and mental health care, a double likelihood of being enrolled
in school and a triple likelihood of being in college, and a
one quarter reduction in the risk of pregnancy between ages 17
and 19. It was also associated with a decreased risk of some
forms of criminal justice system involvement.
Fourth, our study provides evidence and supports what the
young people said earlier of the need for practitioners and
policy makers to focus much more on the family relations of
foster youth given the importance of these relationships to
most if not all of these youth.
Over one-third of our study participants actually lived
with a relative at the time of our follow up interview with
them, and the vast majority, over 75 percent, reported feeling
very close to one or more members of their family of origin.
In summary, many of the young people are not doing well.
The glass is still less than half full with respect to the
independent living service provision. Most young people, at
least from what we can find, would choose to stay in care,
affiliated with a system, connected to the system, if they had
the choice, staying in care conveys significant benefits to
them.
Lastly, we really need to pay more attention to family
relations. I look forward to answering your questions.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Courtney follows:]
Prepared Statement of Mark Courtney, Ph.D., Ballmer Chair in Child
Well-Being, School of Social Work, University of Washington
Today I share with you the findings of a study being conducted by
the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago and
the state public child welfare agencies in Illinois, Iowa and
Wisconsin, following young people as they ``age out'' of the foster
care system. Our study involves three interviews with young people. We
interviewed 732 youth in 2002 and 2003 who were 17 or 18 years old and
still under the jurisdiction of the child welfare agency and followed
up in 2004 with 603 (or 82 percent) of these young people when they
were on average about 19 and a half years old. The information I
present today comes from these interviews. Reports from a third wave of
interviews conducted last year when the respondents were 21 will be
available later this summer.
Our study informs child welfare policy in at least three ways.
First, it provides the only comprehensive view of how foster youth are
faring in the transition to adulthood since the Foster Care
Independence Act became law. Second, it provides a natural experiment
regarding the effects of allowing youth to remain in foster care past
age 18; Illinois allows youth to remain in care through their 21st
birthday, whereas Iowa and Wisconsin generally discharge youth around
their 18th birthday and almost never later than their 19th birthday.
Third, our interviews include questions used in nationally
representative studies, allowing us to compare experiences of foster
youth to those of other young people. I will focus on four study
findings that I believe help inform policy and practice.
First, although some of the young people are faring reasonably
well, more of them are having significant difficulties during the
transition to adulthood. Few of them are obtaining the education
necessary to succeed in today's economy. More than one third had
neither a high school diploma nor a general equivalency degree compared
to one-tenth of 19 year olds nationally. Perhaps most troublingly,
whereas about 57 percent of 19 year olds nationally are enrolled in a
two--or four-year college, this was true for less than one-quarter of
the current and former foster youth in our study. Only about two-fifths
of our study participants were employed at age 19, compared to nearly
three-fifths of their peers; over three-quarters of those who had
worked in the past year had earned less than $5,000. Foster youth in
transition were twice as likely as other 19-year-olds to report not
having enough money to pay their rent or mortgage (12 percent) or to be
unable to pay a utility bill (12 percent) and 1.5 times more likely to
report having their phone service disconnected (21 percent). Fourteen
percent of those discharged from care reported having been homeless at
least once since leaving care. Compared to other 19 year olds, foster
youth in transition were more likely to report that health conditions
limited their daily functioning and reported more emergency room visits
and hospitalizations. About one-third of our study participants
suffered from mental health problems we assessed, including post-
traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, and depression. Nearly half
of the young women in our study had been pregnant by age 19, twice as
many as their peers. About one-quarter of the young people reported
having children. While both males and females were more than twice as
likely as other 19 year olds to report having a child, they were less
likely to report being married or cohabiting. Many of the young people
in our study had experienced trouble with the law; 30 percent of the
males and 11 percent of the females reported being incarcerated at
least once between our first and follow-up interviews. They were more
likely than other 19 year olds to report engaging in criminal behavior
and being victims of crime.
A second major study finding is that receipt of independent living
services during the transition to adulthood is arguably spotty at best.
We asked the young people questions about the services they received
between our first and second wave of interviews in six domains:
education; vocational training and employment; budgeting and financial
management; health education; housing; and services to promote youth
development. The only domain in which at least half of the young adults
reported receiving at least one service was educational support.
Third, we found that a majority of young people would remain in
care past age 18 if given the opportunity and that doing so appears to
convey significant benefits. Among study youth in Illinois, the vast
majority remained in care past their 19th birthday and over half
remained past their 20th birthday. About half of the young people
remaining in care lived in traditional family foster care, kinship
care, or group care, but about half moved on to various forms of
supervised independent-living. Remaining in care past 18 was associated
with increased receipt of independent living services, better access to
health and mental health care, a doubled likelihood of being in school
and tripled likelihood of being in college, and a one-quarter reduction
in the risk of pregnancy between ages 17-18 and 19. It was also
associated with a decreased risk of some forms of criminal justice
system involvement.
Fourth, our study provides evidence of the need for practitioners
and policymakers to focus more on the family relations of foster youth,
given the importance of these relationships to foster youth in
transition to adulthood. Over one-third of our study participants lived
with a relative at the time of their follow-up interview and the vast
majority of all the young people reported feeling very close to one or
more members of their family of origin.
I look forward to answering your questions and discussing the
policy implications of our study's findings.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Thank you.
Mr. Stangler.
STATEMENT OF GARY STANGLER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, JIM CASEY YOUTH
OPPORTUNITIES INITIATIVE
Mr. STANGLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Gary
Stangler. I am Executive Director of the Jim Casey Youth
Opportunities Initiative. We are a national foundation devoted
exclusively to the issue of youth aging out of foster care. We
were formed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation out of Baltimore
and Casey Family Programs out of Seattle.
We have been doing this work for 6 years and prior to this,
I was the Director of the Missouri Department of Social
Services under both Republican and Democratic Governors.
I was the Commissioner during the nineties when we did
welfare reform, with the passage of the Temporary Assistance to
Needy Families.
I would say that at that time, the creativity, the
innovation, the ideas that were bubbling up in the States and
that were promoted in the Federal Act is something that we have
not seen in Chafee.
As the GAO report just noted, the States have been pretty
slow to even spend the money that Congress made available. They
have been slow to exercise the Medicaid option.
I would say in my experience over the last couple of years,
this has really begun to change. I think the States lacked good
practice models. They lacked good notions of what to do with
this difficult population.
Since then, we have had Mark Courtney's research, Peter
Pecora's, Casey Family Programs, alumni studies, and I think as
GAO just noted, you have seen the States increasing the uptake
of the spending.
What I would argue is what we need for Congress to do to
capture the momentum we are just beginning to see over the last
2 years in the States in several areas. The first, Mr.
Chairman, you started by saying you have not met a foster kid
who did not want to go home or who did not want to stay
connected to their parents or family. I would say I have not
either, in the 25 years I have been doing this.
I have come to believe that the drive for family is hard
wired in us and that it should be national policy and a
national goal that no child leaves foster care that does not
have a connection to an adult, a supportive adult, preferably a
legal relationship, guardianship, kinship, reunification,
adoption, something that has a sense of forever and
unconditional support attached to it.
You heard it eloquently from the young people earlier. I
think the States are starting to make progress in this area for
a couple of reasons. One innovation is paying attention to what
the youth themselves have to say. We have largely ignored them
over the past years in child welfare practice and ignoring the
fact that they often knew who the family members were, who the
relatives were that could provide support and be a permanent
placement.
I think second we should for those kids who cannot be
reunited, that we need to move quickly on termination of
parental rights, but there are going to be kids who are going
to be considered--Tyler sat up here and said I was considered
unadoptable. There are going to be kids for whom adoption is
not an option.
For them, we need kinship care. We need guardianship. We
need Federal subsidies, and we need to extend Title IV-E
reimbursement to the States for foster care to 21. Stopping at
age 18 is arbitrary in my opinion, and as you heard eloquently
from them, we need to extend this to 21 on a voluntary basis,
but importantly, I think, with a clear right of return.
Again, citing Tyler. He thought he was going to be 18. He
thought he was going to be a grown up. He was going to be a man
now. He was going to go out there. He quickly found it ain't so
great out there and it's a little harder than he thought.
We need to allow kids to come back into care and for many
States after discharge, that is it, case is closed. There is no
right of return. We need to allow a right of return.
I believe all States should exercise the Medicaid option
under Chafee that Congress has provided. In the past 6 months,
I think you have seen Michigan, Florida, Washington State,
Missouri following now to exercise the Chafee option. I think
States are starting to move toward it. I think any incentive or
push that can come from Congress would be a good thing.
The progress with the education and training vouchers, this
is an area where the States had great difficulty. I think we
have seen great progress there through innovations in
marketing, in reaching out to kids.
I would cite a case in Northern Michigan where they
assigned a part time worker to exclusively work with this
population. She alone was able to triple the number of kids
moving to postsecondary education.
Finally, in the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities ten projects,
we have what we call an Opportunity Passport. It is a matched
savings account. We are just now getting data from 2,000 kids
who have had these matched savings accounts. What we are
finding is that foster kids can save. In our IDA, they can save
for a car or a security deposit on an apartment in addition to
the normal educational expenses, medical expenses.
Anthony Reeves mentioned that he was able to save a
security deposit. That is how he did it, with this Opportunity
Passport. It is a critical way to overcome the barrier of not
having the financial resources to buy a car, that allows you to
go to school and work in this country.
I think that is a critical necessity if you are going to do
that, and our data is beginning to show that not only kids can
save, but they can save for assets that lead to better economic
and educational outcomes.
I would urge the Congress as you explore other options a
demonstration project with IDAs that would include this. It may
be relevant to Mr. Stark's notion of a trust fund for foster
kids because anything that a kid can save whether it would come
from child support payments or other payments on his behalf
could be suitable for this kind of model.
I thank you for inviting me and I would be happy to answer
your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Stangler follows:]
Prepared Statement of Gary Stangler, Executive Director, Jim Casey
Youth Opportunities Initiative
Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Representative Weller, and members of
the Committee. Thank you for inviting me to testify today.
The Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative is a national
foundation focused solely on helping states and communities assist
older youth in foster care make successful transitions to adulthood. We
are a grantmaking foundation, supporting demonstration projects in both
rural and urban areas in 10 States from Michigan to Georgia to Maine to
California. Our strategies focus on improving the outcomes of
transitioning youth, outcomes that ultimately build into two key areas
that we know will help these young adults thrive: providing
opportunities to achieve economic success and helping them build
permanent relationships in their lives. We were created by the Annie E.
Casey Foundation and Casey Family Programs, the nation's two largest
foundations devoted to disadvantaged youth and their families.
Our foundation has been doing this work for six years, and I have
been involved in child welfare for 25 years. Prior to this position, I
was the director of the Missouri Department of Social Services,
appointed first by Republican Governor John Ashcroft and re-appointed
to office by Democratic Governor Mel Carnahan.
We have learned a great deal about older youth in foster care these
past several years. Out of more than half a million kids placed in
foster care due to parental abuse or neglect, more than 100,000 are
over age 16. Roughly 24,000 young people ``age out'' every year--that
means they are discharged from the child welfare system when they turn
18. In fact, the number of young people leaving foster care without a
permanent family is at an all-time high, according to a new report by
The Pew Charitable Trusts' Kids Are Waiting campaign and the Jim Casey
Initiative. Even though the total number of children in foster care has
decreased, the number who ``age out'' of the system has grown by 41
percent since 1998. In total, more than 165,000 young people aged out
of foster care between 1998 and 2005--nearly 25,000 in 2005 alone. At
the same time, that study also found that those young adults who ``age
out'' spent more time in the foster care system: nearly five years,
compared to the national average of 2\1/2\ years.
These young people, unlike mine or yours, lack a stable family
foundation from which they can move into adulthood. Many of these youth
have not had the typical experiences growing up that teach skills for
self-sufficiency, especially those youth emancipating from group care.
Suddenly, at age 18, they're on their own. As a result, they often have
trouble finding a place to live, finding and keeping a job, getting
health insurance, continuing their education, avoiding financial
trouble and making good decisions. For these youth, there are no
parents there to advise them or help them recover from the bad
judgments that teenagers are prone to make.
Imagine your old 18-year-old trying to make it alone. What state
your child lives in determines what choices and options are available.
In most states, there will be financial aid for college; in some states
a waiver of tuition at public colleges that mimics the absent parental
support. In a few states, there will be health insurance available
under Medicaid. For a limited number of youth, there will be some
financial assistance for a place to live.
With our own children, we don't tell them they can have college
help, but no health insurance. For many of us, our employer-based
health insurance covers our dependents into their twenties. And, most
important, we would be there to cheer their successes and console them
during the inevitable crises of growing up.
The picture for youth who have aged out of care is fairly bleak,
according to recent research at the Chapin Hall Center for Children at
the University of Chicago. Those who left foster care by age 18 were
nearly three times more likely than their peers to be out of work and
school. They were twice as likely to be unable to pay their rent and
were four times as likely to be evicted. Fewer than half had bank
accounts. Nearly half of the young women had been pregnant at least
once by age 19. Significant numbers were incarcerated or homeless at
some point.
Only half of youth in foster care finish high school, which is not
at all surprising considering that most youth are discharged at age 18,
an age when most kids are likely to still be in high school. Only 20
percent who are qualified for college actually go on to post-secondary
education. And only 5 percent of those in college finish their degrees.
Low educational attainment guarantees poor economic and financial
outcomes.
Clearly, this is one of our nation's most vulnerable populations of
young people, with high social costs for homelessness, unemployment,
and, for some, correctional costs. As you well know, in 1999, Congress
provided assistance for these young adults through the Foster Care
Independence Act. The act doubled federal funding to $140 million for
the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program, which provides
funds for states to help youth in foster care with life skills
training, education and employment supports, connections to adults, and
housing assistance. States are required to contribute a 20 percent
match for Chafee funds. Overall, the amount of funding available isn't
enough to provide a comprehensive array of services to all emancipating
youth. States find themselves patching together additional educational,
mental health, and job training services across various agencies, but
often, these services are not well coordinated. Many youth are left to
navigate multiple bureaucracies on their own.
During the years since passage of Chafee, states have had
difficulty taking advantage of these flexible funds. I was the Missouri
state director and chair of the National Council of State Human
Services Administrators during the years when welfare reform was
launched. At that time, new ideas and innovations were widespread, and
they led to significant improvements on a national scale. I have not
seen that kind of innovation and creativity with Chafee, until very
recently.
I believe that the difficulty for the states arose because states
lacked good practice models and good policies for helping this
population. With the research from studies like Mark Courtney's Midwest
Evaluation and Peter Pecora's alumni studies, we have a clearer picture
of the difficulties faced by this group of young people. And with
advances in helping youth connect to families and build for economic
success, this picture is beginning to change.
Part of this change is better understanding of what it takes to
improve the bleak outcomes. The Jim Casey Youth Opportunities
Initiative has five strategies that, we believe, taken together will
improve the outcomes in education, employment, health, housing,
personal connections, and community engagement for this population. We
are learning that actively engaging youth, increasing opportunities,
building community partnerships and resources, collecting the research
data and communicating effectively, and building public will to improve
state policy and practice must all take place for progress to be
achieved. As is the case for our own children, we weave together the
stability of permanent family and building the skills to be successful
in modern society.
This work has shown us repeatedly that what these young adults want
most is permanence. They want a family relationship--reunified with
their parents, safely living with relatives, legal guardians, or
adoptive families, but certainly living in a relationship that has a
strong sense of ``forever.'' For many of these youth, their closest
relationships are ephemeral, professional ones with social workers and
attorneys. This is not a family.
We no longer accept that teens in foster care do not need permanent
connections as they enter adulthood. On the contrary, we know that
preparation for adulthood is inextricably linked to permanence.
It should be national policy, and a nationally measured goal, to
ensure that every youth leaving foster care be connected to a family
for ongoing support.
In policy terms, the federal government should set this clear
expectation for the States. I also strongly support the recommendation
of the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care that the federal
government should provide financial incentives for all forms of
permanency: reunification, kinship, guardianship, and adoption.
In addition to this primacy on permanence, the federal and state
governments should:
strongly encourage the states to take advantage of the
option under Chafee to extend Medicaid to age 21;
extend Title IV-E reimbursement for foster care to age
21, including the right to return to foster care after discharge or
case closing; and
provide reimbursement to subsidize kinship and
guardianship.
These are the basic building blocks of health, safety, and
permanence, which are the goals for children taken into our custody.
If there is one clear finding that emerges from the Midwest
Evaluation, it is that those young adults who could remain in foster
care past age 18 until 21 had better outcomes. This is intuitively
obvious given what we understand about the importance of permanence.
But states have been very slow to extend foster care past age 18. Only
a handful have made progress in this area, largely due to the fact that
the federal government stops sharing in the cost. We need to extend the
availability of federal support and incentives for foster care to age
21 in all states with reimbursement from Title IV-E. This must include
the right to return to foster care after discharge or case closing. For
many teenagers, the need for such support becomes clear only after
being on their own for a period of time. We must allow them the
opportunity to return to foster care for critical supports.
States are beginning to innovate on ways to connect youth to
supportive family members. Perhaps the single most important
``innovation'' has been to listen to the youth themselves, who are
often the best resources on who might be appropriate family members.
Youth are often excluded even from the judicial processes that direct
their lives, many not even aware that they have legal representation.
The move to engaging youth directly in decisions that affect their
lives is an overdue and critical change in policy, practice, and in how
we approach casework training.
Recently, 60 Minutes featured a software service called Family
Finding, which searches public databases to identify extended family
members. Oklahoma has co-located child welfare and child support
enforcement staff to increase the potential connections to family. Many
jurisdictions are using intensive Team Decision Making practice models
to identify and prepare family members to support youth aging out.
Let me give you additional examples of state innovation. With most
youth emancipating at age 18, continuing their education is essential
to their chances of life and economic success. Congress created the
Education and Training Vouchers (ETV) to help address this issue, but
the states have been slow to take advantage of this federal support.
This has begun to change. In Michigan, only 127 youth received the
supports of the Education and Training Vouchers in FY2004. In fact,
Michigan had only been asking for half of the funds available to the
state. In FY2006, the number of youth had doubled to almost 300, and in
the first eight months of this year, already 220 youth have received
ETVs.
How did they do this? They accomplished this through significant
increase in marketing, plus lots of education by youth panels and
professionals targeted to Department of Human Services staff, college
financial aid officers, high school counselors, foster parents, court
staff, guardians ad litem, multi-agency state permanency task force,
and foster youth. Of course the efforts of all the Michigan Youth
Opportunities Initiative sites to get the word out had an impact.
In the ten-county area in the rural north of the state, having a
part-time education planner (10 hours/week for 10 counties) more than
tripled post-secondary enrollments in one year. This caseworker began
working with the youth in junior and senior years of high school to
help make sure they had a plan to graduate from high school, identify
financial resources, and fill out paperwork for financial aid and
applications.
Ashley, from northern Michigan, says: ``Without Kallie (caseworker)
I just wouldn't have gone to college. I probably would have stayed home
and taken a couple of classes from the community college but I didn't
ever think I could be a real student at a 4-year college. She helped me
believe that I could do it, but most of all helped me get through all
the paperwork I needed to do, like FAFSA and the things I need for ETV,
and applications just to get in. I just finished my freshman year and I
can't wait to go back in the fall.''
Arrica (Macomb County, near Detroit): ``For me, ETV has been a
major financial contributor to me being able to go to college. I will
be graduating from Oakland University next spring and it would not be
possible if it was not for the ETV. I no longer worry about being able
to pay for college, along with the Pell grant and TIP all my worries
are gone, now I'm able to focus on contributing to society in a
positive way and not focus on my past that may result in a cycle (of
foster care) for my family.''
Michigan is a good example of innovation to help kids continue
post-secondary education. The creative deployment of a part-time
caseworker tripled the number of youth continuing their education.
Michigan is not alone in helping youth continue their education.
Florida just eased restrictive polices to allow part-time school
attendance, and extended the age of assistance through the 23rd
birthday. Iowa just passed legislation greatly expanding the amount of
aid available, and extended it to private colleges and universities as
well as state schools. These innovations have also led to clearer
notions of what it takes to promote educational success for youth
lacking traditional family supports, such as the expenses of off-campus
housing, child care to attend school, and things as simple as where one
can go during school breaks when other young people head home to their
families.
And recently, the number of states exercising the option under
Chafee to provide Medicaid has increased. Yet still, fewer than half of
the states have taken advantage of this option and the matching funds.
But just this year, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Washington, and
Missouri have extended Medicaid to youth aging out of foster care to
age 21. In Colorado, the expansion included better coordination with
the state mental health services system.
States have also developed innovations recognizing the importance
of sibling connections. The disruption of sibling relationships is the
most frequently expressed concern by young people across the
Initiative's sites. In Maine, the local youth leadership board led the
successful effort to pass legislation for sibling visitation rights.
Iowa's legislature recently funded a demonstration project to promote
sibling relationships. Colorado just passed legislation creating a
statewide task force on permanence and foster care.
We must also continue to develop and support innovations and
promising ways to help these young adults achieve independence
successfully. Our goal must be to integrate family permanency and
preparation for adulthood, which is what we do as parents for our own
kids. Economic success in modern society requires post-secondary
education, financial literacy, and building personal and financial
assets.
We have several key components we believe will provide
opportunities for both economic success and permanence for these young
people. To date, the communities in our Jim Casey Youth Opportunity
Initiative have worked with more than 2,100 young people, ages 14 to
23, who have or will transition from foster care. One key component is
the Opportunity PassportTM which is designed to organize
resources and create opportunities for young people leaving foster
care. The Opportunity Passport? has three distinct elements:
A personal debit account to be used to pay for short-term
expenses;
A matched savings account, also known as an Individual
Development Account (IDA), to be used for specific assets, such as
education expenses and housing down payments/deposits.
Door openers, a host of opportunities to be developed on
a local basis. Examples include pre-approval for registration for
community college courses or expedited access to job-training or adult
education courses.
The Opportunity PassportTM helps participants learn
financial management; obtain experience with the banking system; save
money for education, housing, health care, and other specified
expenses; and gain streamlined access to educational, training, and
vocational opportunities.
Through the Opportunity PassportTM, young people are
trained in financial literacy: money matters, such as how to budget,
how to balance a checkbook, how to use credit wisely, how to avoid the
predatory lending system, and getting a loan that they can repay. All
Opportunity PassportTM participants have bank accounts,
compared to only half of young people who have aged out of care in the
Midwest Evaluation. Saving is encouraged with a one-to-one match in an
Individual Development Account, or IDA, that they can use to buy assets
that build future economic success, such as educational expenses,
housing, and cars to get to work and school, medical expenses or to
start a business.
The Opportunity PassportTM IDA differs from that in the
Assets for Independence Act (AFIA). This design provides match for the
purchase of cars and security deposits for rental apartments or houses,
not just down payments for home purchase. The security deposit is often
the barrier to being able to find a place to live. The match for their
savings for down payment or purchase of a car includes licensing fees
and insurance. A car is an absolute necessity to have a job and/or
continue going to school. Consider rural northern Michigan, or the
state of Maine, where transportation to school and work is nearly
impossible without a car. Transportation is no less a barrier in
Atlanta or Denver. Being able to save for a car is also a motivator to
continue saving, thereby learning money management skills.
We have seen a level of success: One in four of Opportunity
PassportTM participants have purchased assets with the most
common purchases being cars, housing and education expenses. To date,
these young people have saved more than $1.33 million and have bought
715 assets, including, 363 vehicles, 144 home or apartment security or
down payments, 119 education expenses, 45 investments, 23 medical
expenses and 21 starting businesses. That's actually more than low-
income adults who participated in the American Dream Demonstration, the
national IDA evaluation. In three years and with a two-to-one match,
those adults saved $1.31 million and bought 631 assets.
The Opportunity PassportTM has helped Bill Schramm, 21,
start a very successful DJ business in Traverse City, Michigan as well
as buy a 1985 Toyota and pay off some medical bills. In Nashville, it
has helped Dakota Irsik, 20, invest his savings to build a reserve
fund. And several young people in Atlanta, Detroit, and elsewhere have
used it to buy their very own homes. In some of those cases, our sites
work with the local United Ways who support IDAs and have funds under
AFIA. They are able to raise the level of match to 4-1 for home
purchases, an approved asset under the federal program.
I urge Congress to enact authorization for matched savings
accounts, or IDAs, for youth transitioning from foster care that would
include assets such as a car and security deposits for housing rentals.
Particularly in rural areas, there is no alternative to a car to get
work or school. And at least one research project, Wheels to Work, has
shown significant increases in income for people able to buy a car.
States also can support an IDA that would match savings, child support
payments made on behalf of the youth, and any other income for youth in
foster care, and use the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative model
of approvable assets for purchases with the match.
It is important to stress that our experience in 10 sites across
the country confirms the necessity to integrate connections and
permanence with financial and economic strategies. We conclude from our
data that a stand-alone IDA is unlikely to succeed. The ability to
build assets and manage financially is closely linked to connections
and supports.
As I mentioned earlier, a cornerstone of the work of the Jim Casey
Youth Opportunities Initiative is youth engagement and youth
leadership. All 10 of our sites have youth leadership boards. These
have proven to be remarkable and invaluable sources of connections,
peer support, and leadership development.
We firmly believe that youth voices need to be heard in decisions
affecting their case deposition and that youth engagement permeates
policy and legislative decision-making. Youth boards in Michigan and
Georgia have become national models that others seek to emulate. In
Michigan, for instance, the youth board published a set of policy
recommendations to policymakers, called Voices, and presented it to
Department of Human Services Director and key DHS staff. Youth board
members also met with their legislators as well as key committee
members and chairs. Governor Jennifer Granholm invited them to meet
with her and her Cabinet to present Voices. That meeting resulted in
top government officials volunteering to be mentors for older youth in
and out of care and in several departments giving priority to foster
youth for paid internships and summer jobs. The Michigan youth boards
from Detroit and the northern counties are now working on a second
edition, noting that 16 of their 21 recommendations have been achieved
or seen significant improvement. Georgia has produced a similar
document called Empowerment.
We need better data about what states are doing with their
independent living programs under Chafee. The Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) finally has proposed rules about this, that if
adopted may require states to report data next year to the National
Youth Transition Database. Still, the HHS proposal has shortcomings:
States will have to report on outcomes for 60 percent of youth who have
left care (or for all youth in small states). The challenges of data
collection are immense, but the penalties for noncompliance are
nominal. We are concerned that states will risk the penalties rather
than track down youth who have left care. Without this data, we have no
measure of how our funding, policies, and practices are impacting the
life outcomes for these youth. These long-awaited rules for a National
Youth Transition Database should be implemented soon.
To summarize, I would respectfully ask the Congress to adopt the
following recommendations to make major progress in improving the bleak
outcomes that we see in the population of young people aging out of
foster care:
1. It should be the national policy, and a nationally measured
goal, that every child emancipating from foster care have a connection
to a supportive family.
2. Federal financial participation should be available to the
states for kinship, guardianship, and adoption, and the financial
incentives to the states should be for all forms of permanence.
3. Reimbursement under Title IV-E should be available to the states
for foster care up to age 21, on a voluntary basis and with a clear
right to return to foster care.
4. All states should exercise the Medicaid option under Chafee for
youth emancipating from foster care to age 21.
5. Congress should recognize the progress made by the states by
continuing the Education and Training Vouchers, with incentives to the
states to recognize the flexibility needed for this highly vulnerable
population, allowing part-time school attendance, extending the age of
eligibility to 25 to allow for college completion, and recognizing the
unique needs of this population for housing, child care, and options
for housing during school vacations.
6. Congress should recognize the need for financial literacy and
assets for this population and authorize Individual Development
Accounts demonstration projects for youth emancipating from foster
care, including more flexibility to include cars and rental housing as
assets necessary to economic success and as incentives for
participation. Traditional youth IDAs have a poor record, and must be
altered for those lacking the support of family members.
There is momentum building among the states to implement innovative
strategies to improve the outcomes for this population. I urge Congress
to capture this momentum, and exert national leadership. Our knowledge
base on what we need to do has grown greatly the past few years, and
the opportunity to make substantial progress is at hand. The net
benefit, and the net savings, are measurable and within our reach.
Young people in transition display a remarkable spirit of
resiliency. They have a powerful drive for family--one that I believe
is hard-wired in our beings. They show it in every setting and in every
way. Resilience is amazing. Resilience based on stability and
permanence in their lives is priceless. And it is the base for the
success in life that we want to see for all our children.
Thank you very much for this opportunity to address the committee.
This concludes my testimony, and I welcome your questions.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Mr. Cobbs?
STATEMENT OF SAM COBBS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FIRST PLACE FOR
YOUTH
Mr. COBBS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
My name is Sam Cobbs. I am the Executive Director of First
Place for Youth. I would once again like to thank you for the
invitation to appear this prestigious body.
First Place for Youth is a community based social service
agency located in the San Francisco Bay area, whose mission is
to support youth in their transition from foster care to
adulthood by promoting choices and strengthening individual and
community resources.
First Place works to ensure that all foster youth have the
opportunity to experience a safe supported transition from
care.
Before I continue on, I would actually like for you to take
a trip down memory lane with me.
Please think back to your 18th birthday or your high school
graduation, whichever trip is shorter. Think back, what was
that like for you? Did your parents throw you a big party? Was
it a quiet day with a few family and friends? What presents did
you receive?
What was next for you? College? Taking a year off to
travel. How excited were you about what your future held? How
confident were you that you could do anything that you wanted
and that you had people who were a part of your life that would
help you accomplish it?
Now, put yourself in the shoes of transitioning foster care
youth and think about those days again. The same days that most
of us just thought about with feelings of happiness and
excitement are the same days that former foster youth describe
as having a huge knot in their stomach from anticipating a
pending doom, because it is on a foster youth's birthday that
we tell them happy birthday, and now get out and fend for
yourself.
A year ago I received a phone call from a young lady that
illustrates the conflict of emotions youth have leaving the
foster care system. The call from this young woman started on a
happy note because she had received news that she had enough
high school credits to graduate in 2 weeks. The call ended with
her in tears. She realized that her social worker would have no
other choice but to release her from their care and that she
had nowhere to go.
Cheryl, now a participant in the First Place program,
reported that she was so angry on her graduation night because
she had to pack her bags in preparation to move from her foster
home instead of hanging out with her friends and enjoying her
accomplishments.
Then she added that at least she had luggage. It was not
like the other friends exiting foster care that moved the year
prior who had to pack their belongings in black plastic bags. I
will come back a little later to tell you about that luggage.
As I have so often heard Karen Bass, an Assembly member in
the California State legislature say in regards to this issue
``It is not just wrong what we do to your foster youth in this
country, but it is morally unacceptable.''
At First Place, we pick up where our Government system
abruptly ends its responsibility for youth it once removed from
their families and homes and agreed to care for.
We provide critical services for transitioning youth for
the first time when they need it most, when they are attempting
to make the critical transition from adolescence to adulthood.
First Place provides support services that at their core
offers permanency, provides safe affordable housing, and the
opportunity for true self sufficiency through vocational and
education support.
``Permanency'' is a word that you will hear thrown around
as you research this issue. You may have a hard time
understanding what this word means in the context of
transitioning youth as I once did. However, I think I can spare
you a lot of time by telling you what I found when I stopped
reading the literature and started looking around me and
listening to the youth.
``Permanency'' to them means having their picture on
somebody else's wall in their house. ``Permanency'' means
having someone to call, not only when you need support, but to
also share important occasions in your life, like your wedding,
your graduation from college, or because you have just
spearheaded policies that will improve the lives of America's
foster youth.
Connecting young people to adults that they choose to be a
part of their life versus someone else choosing for them is a
critical element of the success of the First Place program.
However, if I had to give you the key ingredient to the
First Place secret sauce of success, it would be that for the
first time in these youth's lives, it is all up to them. They
now have the opportunity to take control of their own lives and
whatever happens from that day that they walk into our building
to a future where their potential is limitless, this is a very
important aspect to consider as you propose legislation and
move policy changes forward.
Please do not duplicate the ``luggage solution.'' Remember
my story about Cheryl? She recalls seeing other foster care
youth move their belongings out to the streets of our cities in
plastic garbage bags that were chosen because they were big
enough to fit the contents of their entire lives.
After independent living skills programs and child welfare
officials found out about this, they began to buy luggage for
youth who were leaving care. However, I contend they were
shortsighted and missed the point. Cheryl and other youth took
their luggage to homeless shelters when they left the system.
I ask that you not enact legislation whether or not it is
the extension of Title IV-E funding until age 21, which
provides critical support to foster youth at this critical
transition, but do it in a way that replicates what we do at
First Place, through an unique partnership with State, social
service, and private resources. We give the youth the chance to
practice being interdependent, to make mistakes that they can
learn from, and to have reference points and supporters to come
back to in the future.
Policy reform must seek to integrate youth in a positive
safe community that is diverse and does not relegate them to
the former foster youth compound.
Create a way that they are not only being cared for and
supported, but that there are also high expectations for them
that they can and will live up to.
We often talk in the field that foster youth are our
children and that we must treat them as we would our own
children. We must then have the same expectations for foster
youth that we have for our own children, in the unwavering
commitments all parents have to help their children achieve
their dreams and create a future where they are safe, healthy,
and feel valued by society in their community.
Our laws and how we allocate funds must reflect this widely
felt and often repeated commitment. By cutting them off from
meaningful support on the day they leave care rather than
contemplating a bright future that they are in charge of, they
are concerned with where they will sleep that night.
We know how to facilitate a successful transition for
youth. It is very cost effective. It costs First Place about
$20,000 a year to provide these services. I would hope that you
would do this not only because it is a financial savings, but
because we are morally obligated to support our youth.
Thank you. I am sorry I went over.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Cobbs follows:]
Prepared Statement of Sam Cobbs, Executive Director, First Place Fund
for Youth, Oakland, California
Hello. I am Sam Cobbs, Executive Director of First Place for Youth
and I would like to thank you for the invitation to appear before this
prestigious body today. First Place for Youth is a community-based
social service agency located in the San Francisco Bay Area whose
mission is to support youth in their transition from foster care to
adulthood by promoting choices and strengthening individual and
community resources. First Place works to ensure that all foster youth
have the opportunity to experience a safe supported transition from
foster care. Before I continue, I would like you to indulge me in a
trip down memory lane.
Please think back to your 18th birthday or your high school
graduation, whichever trip is shorter. Think about what that was like
for you. Did your parents throw you a big party or was it a quiet day
with just a few family and friends? What presents did you receive? What
was next for you--college or taking a year off to traveling? How
excited were you about what your future held? How confident were you
that you could do anything that you wanted and that you had people who
were a part of your life that would help you accomplish it? Now, put
yourself in the shoes of transitioning foster care youth and think
about those days again. The same days that most of us just thought
about with feelings of happiness and excitement are the same days that
former foster youth describe as having a huge knot in their stomach
from anticipating a pending doom. Because it is on a foster youth's
18th birthday that we tell them happy birthday and now get out and fend
for yourself!
A year ago, I received a phone call from a young lady that
illustrates the conflicted emotions youth leaving foster care face. The
call from this young woman started on a happy note because she had
received the news that she had enough high school credits to graduate
in two weeks. The call ended in tears because she realized that her
social worker would have no other choice but to release her from their
care and that she had no place to go. ``Cheryl,'' now a participant in
the First Place program, reported that she was angry on her graduation
night because she had to pack her bags in preparation to move from her
foster home instead of hanging out with her friends and enjoying her
accomplishment. Then, she added that at least she had luggage and was
not like her other friends exiting foster care that moved the year
prior and had to pack their belongings in black plastic bags. I will
come back a little later to tell you more about that luggage.
As I have so often heard Karen Bass, a Senator in the California
State legislature say in regards to this issue . . . ``It is not just
wrong what we do with to our foster youth in this country but that it
is morally unacceptable.'' At First Place we pick up where our
government system abruptly ends its responsibility for the youth it
once removed from their families and homes and agreed to care for. We
provide critical services for transitioning foster youth at the time
that they need it most--when they are attempting to make the critical
transition from adolescence to adulthood. First Place provides support
services that at their core offers permanency, provide safe affordable
housing, and the opportunity for true self-sufficiency through
vocational and educational support.
``Permanency'' is a word that you will hear thrown around as you
research this issue. You may have a hard time understanding what that
word means in the context of transitioning youth as I once did.
However, I think I can spare you a lot of time by telling you what I
found when I stopped reading the literature and started looking around
me and listening to the youth. Permanency to them means having their
picture on someone else's wall in their house. Permanency means having
someone to call not only when you need support but to also to share
important occasions in your life like your wedding, your graduation
from college, or because you have spearheaded policies that will
improve the lives of America's foster youth. Connecting young people to
adults that they choose to be a part of their lives versus someone else
choosing for them is a critical element of the success of the First
Place Program.
However, if I had to give you the key ingredient to the First Place
secret sauce of success, it would be that for the first time in these
youths' lives, it is all up to them. They now have the opportunity to
take control of their own lives and whatever happens from the day that
they walk into our building to a future where their potential is
limitless. This is a very important aspect to consider as you propose
legislation and move policy changes forward. Please do not duplicate
the ``luggage solution.''
Remember my story about Cheryl? She recalled seeing other former
foster care youth moving their belongings out to the streets of our
cities in plastic black garbage bags that were chosen because they were
big enough to fit the contents of their entire lives. After Independent
Living Skills Programs and child welfare officials found out about this
they began to buy luggage for youth who were leaving care! However, I
contend they were shortsighted and missed the point because Cheryl and
the other youth took their luggage to a homeless shelter when they left
the system. I ask that you enact legislation, whether or not it is the
extension of Title IV-E funding until age 21, which provides meaningful
support to foster youth at this crucial transition, but do it in a way
that replicates what we do at First Place through a unique partnership
between state social services and private resources: we give youth the
chance to practice being interdependent, to make mistakes that they can
learn from, and have reference points and supporters to come back to in
the future. Policy reform must seek to integrate youth into a positive
safe community that is diverse and does not relegate them to the former
foster youth compound. Create a way that they are not only being cared
for and supported but that there are high expectations for them that
they can and will live up to. We often talk in the field that foster
youth are our children and that we must treat them as we would our own
children. We must then have the same expectation for foster youth that
we have for our own children and the unwavering commitment all parents
have to help their children achieve their dreams and create a future
where they are safe, healthy and feel valued by society and their
community. Our laws and how we allocate funds must reflect this widely
felt and often repeated commitment. By cutting them off from meaningful
support, on the day they leave care, rather than contemplating a bright
future that they are in charge of, they are concerned with where they
will sleep at night and how they will support themselves. Nice luggage
does little to remedy the reality of many of these youths' futures. By
embracing these principles wholeheartedly First Place youth are
achieving positive outcomes:
80% of First Place graduates maintained permanent, safe,
affordable housing after exiting the program.
83% obtained employment at an average wage of $9.73 per
hour
100% of youth who are parents retained custody of their
children, ending the often intergenerational cycle of foster care
involvement
95% of young mothers did not have another child
94% of participants maintained health insurance and
sought out wellness care
70% enrolled in post-secondary education
We know what we need to do to facilitate the successful transition
of foster youth to adulthood. The financial costs to achieve these
outcomes are reasonable and should be seen by all of us as a bargain.
It costs about $20,000 a year for us to house and provide services to
former foster youth. We are able to do this in an area that has one of
the highest costs of living in the country. We truly believe that if it
can be successfully done here, it can be done anywhere. This cost is
minimal in comparison to the cost of long term shelter stays,
institutional care, public benefit use, and incarceration, which foster
youth who exit care without support are at higher risk for experiencing
than their peers. It is a wise and necessary investment that has great
returns in the creation of productive, educated, and responsible
citizens that contribute to our communities. You may be persuaded that
youth leaving foster care need and deserve support as they leave state
care because it is a financially sound and cost-saving decision. I hope
that you are also persuaded that we as a society are morally obligated
to provide support and opportunities to these youth who are our
responsibility and our most valuable resources.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Thank you.
Ms. Soltis.
STATEMENT OF JANE SOLTIS, PROGRAM OFFICER, ECKERD FAMILY
FOUNDATION
Ms. SOLTIS. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, Representative
Weller and Members of the Committee. It is my pleasure to be
here today.
The Independent Living Services Advisory Council is a
legislatively mandated council in Florida that advises the
legislature as well as the Department of Children and Families
on the status of independent living services. I am privileged
to Chair this Council.
The Eckerd Family Foundation, which I also represent, has
invested more than $20 million over the last 8 years in
Florida, North Carolina, and Delaware to enhance foster care,
juvenile justice, and education programs.
Youth aging out of foster care is one of the Foundation's
priorities. We have piloted a successful set of strategies
called Connected by 25 in Hillsborough County, Florida, and are
replicating this project in two other counties with our
partners, Jim Casey and countless other individuals, civic and
private funders.
I want to emphasize that this investment of private
resources is not designed to replace government's essential
responsibility for child welfare services, but rather to
enhance independent living services so that the outcomes for
these youth are improved.
In our Connected by 25, we have learned that when the
ordinary citizen is educated about the reality of life for
these young people, that they have been very responsive. They
see them as our children, that we should do no less for them
than we do for our own.
As a result, we have seen unprecedented public/private
partnerships developed within our community based child welfare
system, and we need to support those partnerships.
Private philanthropy has also risen to the challenge. This
is not just Government's problem. This is our problem, and we
all pay for the consequences of not addressing the problem
through costs to our quality of life, our prisons, entitlements
and ultimately our future.
It just makes good economic as well as good moral sense to
support and prepare these young people.
A word of caution, however. Private investors will expect
to see results or outcomes. They will expect a return on their
investment. They will expect real data in real time, and they
will expect policies to be driven by data. They will expect
that the public side of the partnership is doing its job and is
accountable for its responsibilities.
Data results and spending the taxpayers' dollars wisely,
especially on established effective programs, is in our best
interest here in Washington and at home.
We must have clear and measurable outcomes for the services
and funding provided, and everyone must be held accountable to
those measures.
The Foster Care Independence Act mandatory data collection
and performance assessment requirements must be a priority.
It is clear that educational achievement is one of the most
reliable predictors of future economic success. If you do not
finish high school, you do not go to college, you do not go to
technical school, and without that base, your earning potential
is severely compromises.
We know that without a high school diploma, foster youth
have limited access to Chafee and ETV or waivers that allow
them free tuition to a State school in Florida. We also know
there is an intricate web of factors that influence these poor
educational outcomes, stability, permanent families, and
transportation are a few.
When we asked a group of young people at Connected by 25 in
Tampa how to make a dent in their high school attendance and
completion rates, which were ten times worse than the normal
young person in that county, they were able to provide
solutions.
Give us one guidance counselor who understands the issues
of foster care and who will be there for us no matter which
school we are attending. If we have dropped out of school, give
us a place where we can get individual tutoring, work at our
own pace, open end hours that accommodate our work schedules
and on the bus lines.
The child welfare and the education systems listened and
saw a 200-percent increase in school attendance, graduation,
and enrollment in post-secondary education in 1 year. They
learned that $50,000 privately funded for the first year for a
dedicated guidance counselor is a modest investment for such
great outcomes, and have since embedded the position in their
system and expanded the strategy to middle school.
However, we need more aggressive and flexible support for
postsecondary education. Youth who age out of foster care need
to support themselves and attend school. They should ensure
that the use of Chafee and vouchers support part time
employment and part time school attendance more strongly.
Safe and affordable housing, we have already talked about,
and has been clearly identified as an issue. There are barriers
and rules that preclude access to safe and affordable housing
options.
We can identify youth aging out of foster care as a
designated special population eligible for all Federal housing
programs, Section 8. We can change the definition of
``homelessness'' to include foster care youth on discharge from
legal custody. We can remove all language that prohibits full
and part time school attendance if aged out of foster care.
We can increase the cap on Chafee funds for housing and
increase the amount of ETV for postsecondary students, and then
we can make sure that eligibility criteria is in language that
young people can understand because they are really sometimes
the only ones who are advocating for themselves.
We need to listen to the young people who tell us willingly
and publicly their stories and to help explain the solutions
that we need. They are our best hope for solutions.
Thank you very much for this opportunity. I would be happy
to answer questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Soltis follows:]
Prepared Statement of Jane Soltis, Program Officer, Eckerd Family
Foundation
Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee. It is my
pleasure to be here today.
The Independent Living Services Advisory Council (ILSAC) is a
legislatively mandated council of interested and committed volunteers
in Florida that advises the Legislature as well as the Department of
Children and Families on the status of independent living services in
Florida. I am privileged to chair this Council.
The Eckerd Family Foundation, which I also represent, is a time-
limited family foundation. Founded by Mr. Jack Eckerd and his wife Ruth
Eckerd it is committed to improving the lives of vulnerable and
disconnected young people so that they may become successful adults.
Eckerd Family Foundation has invested more than $20 million over the
last 8 years in Florida, North Carolina and Delaware to enhance foster
care, juvenile justice and education programs.
While there are a number of issues related to youth aging out of
foster care, I will focus my testimony on public-private partnerships,
the need for data and outcomes, education and housing. My esteemed
colleagues Gary Stangler and Mark Courtney can speak more articulately
about some of the other strategies that we all concur are key to
changing the outcomes for these youth.
Youth aging out of foster care is one of the Eckerd Family
Foundation's primary priorities and we have piloted a successful set of
strategies, ``Connected by 25,'' in Hillsborough County, Florida and
are replicating that project in 2 other counties of Florida with our
partners Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, the Annie E. Casey
Foundation, the Lumina Foundation for Education and countless other
individuals, civic and private funders.
The strategies of Connected by 25 include:
Advocating and supporting educational achievement
Facilitating and creating access to workforce development
opportunities
Providing financial literacy education
Encouraging savings and asset accumulation
Creating entrepreneurship opportunities
Accessing safe, stable and affordable housing
Ensuring that no child leaves our system without a
permanent connection or ``family''
The Stuart and Walter S. Johnson Foundations, private funders in
California, are implementing the same set of strategies in that state.
I want to emphasize that this investment of private resources is
not designed to replace government's essential responsibility for child
welfare services to children in the care and custody of the state, but
rather to enhance independent living services so that the outcomes for
these youth are improved. These children like any others in our country
have the skills, abilities and heart to be great citizens in our
communities. They must be given the guidance and support that allows
them to flourish.
As Chairman McDermott so aptly stated, ``as the de facto parents of
foster children we should do no less.'' In our Connected by 25 sites,
we have quickly learned that the majority of citizens believe that the
government is taking care of preparing these young people with the
supports, resources and skills necessary for economic self-sufficiency
and success. When the ordinary citizen is educated about the reality of
life for many of these young people, they have been quick to rise to
the occasion. They see this as a manageable number of kids that we
should be able to successfully help transition to adulthood and that
these young people are ``our children.'' That we should do no less for
them than we do for our own children. As a result of that public
awareness campaign, we have seen unprecedented public-private
partnerships with our community-based child welfare system.
Organizations such as the Rotary, Kiwanis, United Way, Junior Leagues,
100 Black Men, the Bar Association and faith-based communities have
come forward to partner in this effort. The private philanthropic
community has also risen to the challenge. This is as it should be.
This is not just government's problem . . . this is our problem and we
pay for the consequences of not addressing the problem through the cost
to our quality of life, our prisons, entitlements and ultimately our
future. It just makes good economic as well as good moral sense to
support and prepare these young people. This sort of public-private
partnership is one that needs to be encouraged and supported. The child
welfare system is not equipped to do this alone. Our collective
challenge is to stimulate more of these partnerships, invite others to
the table and consider incentives to ensure that they have a meaningful
seat at that table. It is also clear that youth must have a central
seat at the table and are viewed not as the problem but experts in
solution building.
A word of caution however. Private investors will expect to see
results or outcomes. They will expect a return on their investments.
They expect real data in real time. They will expect policy to be
driven by data. They expect that the public side of the equation or
partnership is doing its job and is accountable for its
responsibilities. As the background information on this hearing states,
``the impact on the outcomes for former foster youth is still uncertain
because an assessment and data collection system for the program has
yet to be established in final form by the Dept. of Health and Human
Services.'' At this time it appears that May 2008 is the target date
for the first collection of data.
States like Florida, Michigan and California, have taken the
initiative to address this unconscionable lack of accountability for
the public dollars they disburse. While there is no state that has
found the magic software or reporting system that captures everything
we want or need to know, those that are working to base their decision
on sound data and evidence of what works should be commended for their
efforts. The recent National Governors Association Institute for Best
Practices Policy Academy on youth transitioning out of foster care
served to highlight this issue.
Data and the collection and analyzing of outcomes should be driving
each state in the development and implementation of policy and practice
about what is working to change the results for these young people.
Mark Courtney and his work at Chapin Hall, Gary Stangler and the work
of the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative in their Opportunity
Passport and our own Connected by 25 sites in Florida and California,
and programs in other states, clearly demonstrate some workable
solutions. We need to cease putting dollars in programs that have
proven they do not work despite their best intentions, begin holding
public and private providers and our courts accountable for what we
know works and change the tides here. But as any private investor will
tell you, we need real data in real time and measurable results on
which to base those decisions. The Eckerd Family Foundation has
recently commissioned Child Trends to provide us and the policymakers
of the state of Florida the data on the numbers of the disconnected
youth in our state so that we have an accurate database on which to
craft system solutions.
Establishing and finalizing the Foster Care Independence Act of
1999, mandatory data collection and performance assessments
requirements for states should be a priority of the Congress, the
Administration and the Deptment of Health and Human Services. We must
have clear and measurable outcomes for the services and funding
provided and states as well as communities and providers need to be
accountable to those measures.
Economic success depends on education and we need to set our
expectations and sights as high for these young people as we do for our
own children.
It is very clear that educational achievement is one of the most
reliable predictors of future economic self-sufficiency. If you cannot
finish high school, you cannot get into college or vocational/technical
training. Without that base, your earning potential is severely
compromised. Most foster youth do not have the ability to hold part-
time jobs before they turn 18 and age out. Our licensing requirements
are an obstacle for foster families and group homes in this regard, and
we know that youth who work part time are much more likely to graduate
from high school, develop good work skills and ethics and are more
likely to acquire and maintain employment as adults.
We also know that without a high school diploma, foster youth have
limited access to Chaffee and Educational and Training Vouchers. They
cannot utilize the waivers that allow them free tuition to a state
school in Florida. We know that youth aging out of foster care have
poor high school graduation rates. We also know that there is an
intricate web of factors that influence these poor outcomes including
safety, stability, permanency, transportation and the ability to attend
their ``home'' school. These factors cross the systems of child
welfare, education, transportation and workforce. When we asked a group
of young people at Connected by 25 in Tampa, Florida how to make a dent
in their high school attendance and completion rates which were 10
times worse than the normal young person in the county, they were able
to provide a solution. Give us one guidance counselor who understands
the issues of foster care and will be there for us no matter which
school we are attending. If we have dropped out, give us a place where
we can get individual tutoring, work at our own pace, which is open at
hours that accommodate our working schedules and is on the bus line.
The child welfare and education systems listened and saw a 200%
increase in school attendance, graduation and enrollment in
postsecondary education in one year. The child welfare system and the
school system have learned through this privately funded pilot idea
that $50,000 for a dedicated guidance counselor/educational advocate is
a modest investment for such great outcomes and have since embedded the
position in their system and have expanded the strategy to middle
school.
However, we need more aggressive and flexible support for post
secondary education.
Youth who age out of foster care need to support themselves
economically and attend school. States should ensure that the use of
Chaffee and Educational Training Vouchers support part-time employment
and part-time school attendance more strongly.
Safe and affordable housing continues to be a primary issue for
many of the youth. Most are forced to leave their foster home or group
home placements on their 18th birthday.
Can you imagine your child worrying about where they will sleep at
18 years of age? We know in Florida that 40% of former foster youth
experience homelessness within 18 months of leaving foster care. And we
know that without housing, former foster care youth cannot access
education, employment or training services.
While federal funding from the Foster Care Independence Act has
given us the ability to wrap our hands around many of the services
required for this population, there are barriers and rules that are
forcing many of our youth to slip through our fingers.
The reality is that most of the 18 year olds we are talking about
are in 11th and 12th grade in high school. As you know, most youth from
intact families can expect ongoing support well into their early
twenties; however, for foster care youth the legal obligation for
continued services ends at age 18.
Our work is not about entitlement, but investment in our foster
youth. It is our call to action to create a continuum of care services
on the federal, state and community level. As part of this call to
action, we are requiring safe, affordable and stable housing options.
We can remove barriers by advertising and informing on every level
of the eligibility of foster care youth for these programs.
Communicating eligibility criteria in language a young person can
understand, because often they are the only ones advocating for
themselves--the only ones trying to find a way for themselves.
Together we can identify youth aging out of foster care as a
``designated special population'' eligible for all federal housing
programs.
Section 8: Foster Youth will be eligible for Section 8
housing immediately upon discharge from foster care, even if the youth
is single and a full-time student. Eligibility will continue as long as
the youth is eligible to receive Chaffee funds and/or Educational and
Training Vouchers (ETV).
The definition of ``homeless'' for all federal programs
should include--foster care youth upon their discharge date from legal
custody.
For all federally funded housing programs: Remove all
language that prohibits full and/or part-time school attendance if the
youth aged out of foster care--legal custody of the state at the age of
emancipation.
Increasing the cap on Chaffee funds for housing:
Currently no more than 30% can be used on Room and Board--Increase that
amount to 50% for youth still in high school or obtaining their GED.
Increase the amount of ETV for postsecondary students
from $5,000 to $7,500.
Youth across the nation who have aged out of care, through
California Youth Connection, Foster Care Alumni Assn, or our own
Florida Youth Shine, have demonstrated a willingness to volunteer, to
give back and help fix the problems for those younger. They willingly
publicly tell their stories in an effort to help explain the solutions
needed. Their resilience and caring in the face of all that has
befallen them should serve as an inspiration. We ask you to expand
provisions empowering the youth and supporting them in becoming their
own best advocates, for their futures and for the success of those who
come after them.
Thank you very much for this opportunity. This concludes my
testimony and I would be happy to answer questions.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Thank you. Thank all of you for your
testimony.
One of the interesting things that I picked up from
listening to this is this whole question of permanency and how
you deal with that. I would like to hear first of all if any of
you have any knowledge about a State that is doing the best job
in all the factors around this issue of aging out, what State
it is and what kind of things they have in place.
Also, your ideas about if a kid is 15 or 16 and is out of
control, as one of these young men suggested, it is hard to
adopt. Older kids are hard to adopt. Everybody knows that. The
statistics are very clear.
Adoption may not be the issue. Perhaps a court appointed
guardian ad litem forever. What is the mechanism by which you
tie a kid to somebody? Some of them found voluntary ones. Some
found family members. What are the mechanisms or what are the
programs people are using to try to give that connection. Is it
just the program itself that you are tied to, such as the Jim
Casey Foundation or to the Eckerd Foundation, so you go back to
whoever your contact was there?
I would like to hear the best practice States and then
whatever you think about this whole business of giving kids
permanency.
Dr. COURTNEY. Mr. Chairman, two things. One is I do not
think any State is doing the best at all of these things in
terms of permanency and preparing kids for adulthood.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Give me the range. Give me the ones
that are doing good in this and the ones that are doing good in
that.
Mr. STANGLER. I would say the State that is doing very well
in permanence, including identifying family members and using
things like family finders and team decisionmaking, et cetera,
Michigan and Iowa would be two States I would put up there in
that regard.
In terms of preparation for adulthood, many of the things I
have talked about, in terms of economic success, I would look
at Colorado. I would look at Florida. Those would be the
States. Connecticut. Those would be the States that I think are
doing a good job. Maine has greatly lowered the number of kids
in foster care by finding permanent families along the lines
you have talked about. Oklahoma is co-locating child welfare
and child support enforcement staff to identify families for
these kids.
There are a number of innovations going on. Those are the
ones I would throw out.
Ms. SOLTIS. I will just add that often times there are
adults in communities who hear about this, who get educated
about these issues, and they may not have the capability of
adopting, but they certainly may be interested in becoming
guardians, being that support, being connected to them.
They cannot sometimes financially afford to send another
young person to college and unfortunately, our laws in the past
have dictated that if you are adopted, then you sometimes do
not qualify for some of the educational vouchers that we have
made available, so you have to choose between adoption or the
tuition assistance.
There are people who are willing to become guardians and
become that person, that permanent connection. I think we need
to support and provide incentives for that as well.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Is that in a legal way?
Ms. SOLTIS. It can be.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. A guardian? It could be court
appointed?
Ms. SOLTIS. It could be court appointed. Often times if you
talk to the young people, they can tell you the important
people in their life. It might be a coach. It might be a
friend's mother. It might be a whole series of people. It is
not the traditional foster family that we think about.
Mr. COBBS. Mr. Chairman, I would also like to respond and
just tell you a little bit about a pilot program that we are
running for the State of California, where we are really trying
to attack this issue of permanency for those young people who
are 18 and transitioning out of the foster care system.
Very simply what we have done is we have asked them who is
that permanent connection. We ask the question if you were in
trouble, if you needed someone to call, if you were sick and
you needed someone to bring you soup over to your house, who
would that person be.
They come up with answers. We go to that person and ask
would you be willing to allow this young person who is
transitioning to stay in your household, and we will help
facilitate that relationship, work out the rules of that
relationship.
We have had some success. What we found is that the only
reason these community supporters will not step up is because
they have not been asked to step up.
We do not recruit people, special appointments. We go to
the young people and say who are these people. We have not been
turned down when we have gone to coaches and community leaders
and people in churches and things like that that the youth have
also identified.
Dr. COURTNEY. I guess I would like to maybe reframe your
question in the following way. I think the question for me is
how do we get States to do all these wonderful things that
people are talking about. Why do we think States would actually
do these things if they are no longer legally responsible for
these young people.
Which is what happens when we say they age out at 18. That
is really what we are talking about. We are saying the State
child welfare agency is no longer legally responsible for the
care and supervision of that young person.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Let me just stop you there. Mr. Stark
asked a question of me, the answer to which I did not know.
What did we do when adulthood was 21? Did we age out at 18 then
or did we take them all the way to 21?
Part of bringing down adulthood to 18 was we aged them out
quicker.
Dr. COURTNEY. I think that is right. It was a long time
ago, but I think that is right.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Is that correct?
Dr. COURTNEY. That predated--the Federal child welfare
program really grew out of the welfare program before 1980. It
was not as clearly legislated as it was after 1980. Yes, that
is basically what happened.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. At 18, we really dumped kids. We gave
them the vote and we said they could go to war and they could
be on their own when they were 18.
Dr. COURTNEY. We abdicated our responsibility as parents.
That is right. Essentially, legally, what we do is we say we
are going to remove you from your home--it was interesting. You
have taken us from our home. We did not really want that, so do
not abandon us. That is essentially what we do. We take on the
parental role and unlike any parent these days, we essentially
end that at 18.
I think the challenge for the handful of jurisdictions that
do maintain and allow young people to make the choice to stay
in care--Illinois being the most obvious one, but the District
of Columbia does that. Puerto Rico does that.
There are a handful of jurisdictions that do it. They have
had to struggle with what does it mean for us to be a parent
after 18, between 18 and 21. It is different, obviously.
Permanency, you do not want to give up on permanency, but
you have more young people for whom it is less likely but still
possible.
The courts are involved. This was driven in Illinois by the
courts. The courts basically found themselves in a position
where the statute allowed them to ask the child welfare agency,
``wait a minute, you are coming here and telling me you are
going to discharge this young person, they have no money to
their name, they have not graduated high school, they have a
mental health problem, and you are asking me to say we are not
going to be their parent any more.''
The courts over time basically refused to do that. What has
happened over the last 15 to 17 years is the State has become a
parent.
I guess I would just frame that question. I think it is a
crucial policy question. It is very difficult for me to see how
just kind of tweaking a program that gives money to States
without actually building some accountability in, and re-
thinking the notion that we going to parent them after age 18,
what that really will accomplish. It allows the States--it
gives them some money. They may or may not do something.
I think there are some interesting things going on out
there but somebody in the room, I will not mention his name,
actually said, who was a former child welfare administrator if
I am not legally responsible for them, they are pretty low on
my list of priorities, compared to all the kids under 18 who I
have to care for.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Mr. Weller? I have gone beyond my
point.
Ms. ASHBY. I cannot help you in terms of a specific State.
I think these individuals are correct. There probably is no one
State that has all the answers.
What I wanted to say was it seems to me the issue is the
supports that are in place to help the youth themselves and to
help the families that have the youth in their households as
they turn 16/17 years old, prior to aging out. Even if the age
were raised to 21, would we not have the same issues, but 3
years later?
What is needed for all young people, and I have a 25 year
old son who I am still talking to and telling him what he
should be doing, what people need are various types of support.
Certainly, young people who are in the situations of the young
people we heard earlier need a number of different types of
services.
Whether or not this means more money, I do not know. What
we need to do is be able to assess the situation in terms of
what services are available. Speaking just for the Federal
Government, there are lots of services offered in terms of
housing and substance abuse services and health services, but
the issue seems to be how does an individual get access to
those.
How do you know about them in the first place.
The young lady who was here earlier said she was in her
second year of college before she found out about the education
and training vouchers. That should not be.
Her guidance counselors in high school or her social worker
when she was in care should have told her. We would not expect
for her to know enough to seek out that information. There were
a number of individuals who should have been in her life that
could have told her about that.
We have services available but people do not know about
them. We do not know whether we have enough because no one has
really evaluated the services that are there.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. I am going to stop and let Mr. Weller
have 10 minutes.
Mr. WELLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As the one who
controls the gavel, you certainly have all the time you wish,
particularly since there are only two of us here. I appreciate
your generosity.
I also want to thank our panel for your patience and what I
thought was wonderful testimony by the young people this
morning. Of course, being interrupted by the vote.
I appreciate your patience and those who stayed in the
audience as well in attending.
Ms. Soltis, you had talked about the challenges and
benefits of foster kids in finishing high school, getting a
high school degree. What are the challenges that you see in the
ability of these young people to be able to finish high school?
The young man from Illinois said he had gone to eight
different schools by the time he finished high school.
What are the challenges?
Ms. SOLTIS. For some people, eight is not a lot, let me
tell you. There are young people who will tell you they have
been to 30 and 40 schools in their time in foster care.
Mr. WELLER. I have been told it takes a child about 6
months to get acclimated if that is an accurate figure.
Ms. SOLTIS. In many places, we still have a situation where
a young person changes placement and then they have to change
their school. The school may be on a different kind of
schedule, they have different expectations, they have different
kinds of blocks versus scheduled times for classes.
Every time they move, that becomes an issue. We have heard
many times from young people in foster care that when they
change a school, their records do not necessarily always go
with them. Their birth certificates, their health certificates,
their Social Security cards, all of that information, and often
times that precludes them from starting right up in that school
system.
Transportation is sometimes an issue. If they want to stay
in the school they are in, getting there is certainly sometimes
not a possibility.
The McKinney/Vanto Act allows kids who are in homeless
shelters to hopefully stay in the same schools that they are in
when they become homeless. That is not the case for kids in
foster care. That could be changed very easily.
Mr. WELLER. How can we change it? I have seen as we have
seen, regardless of demographic background, that young people
or any citizen of our country who has a high school diploma has
a much better opportunity for life as well as economic
advancement.
Specifically, what changes would you suggest?
Ms. SOLTIS. I think the example of Connected by 25 where no
matter what high school that young person in foster care was
in, we know who those young people in foster care are, no
matter what high school they were in, they had one guidance
counselor who made sure their records transferred. Sometimes it
was really just going to the systems and saying this young
person is really attached in this school, part of clubs, let us
find a way to keep them, maybe getting bus transportation, to
let them stay in their own schools.
If they are staying in their own schools, then they are
more likely to finish.
Mr. WELLER. Mr. Cobbs, do you agree with that assessment
about if they stay in the same school, the more likely they are
to finish and do better? Is that your perspective as well?
Mr. COBBS. Yes, that is my perspective as well. We actually
have a portion of our program at First Place that does exactly
what they are doing in Florida, where we assign a social
worker, not within the school system, but to follow that young
person.
We have had tremendous success from that program.
Mr. WELLER. What type of initiative would you suggest that
we in Congress should consider that would help or allow that
child to stay in the same school, where they have friends and
involvement in clubs and involvement in communities and have
peers and mentors that they have developed relationships with?
What specific recommendation would you make?
Mr. COBBS. I think some specific recommendations that I
would make would be to go a little bit deeper. I think starting
with allowing young people and requiring that they have the
ability to stay in the same school. Sometimes when it is
legislation enacted or that is a policy, then people will
follow that.
I also think, she mentioned the moving around and how young
people move. In the State of California, the average foster
care kid moves nine times. If it is just nine times, that is
probably nine different schools.
What happens is even though in California it is part of the
legislation that says this young person can go to school, but
if you move 50 miles, you may be in the same county, but if you
move 50 miles from where your old school is, then I do not care
how many bus transportation vouchers they gave you, eventually
that transportation back and forth to school is going to be
burdensome for you.
I think placing young people who are in foster care in
their communities and working hard on permanency and keeping
them where they are placed at, then we will begin to see some
better outcomes toward education. If they are in the same
communities, they are going to be going to the same schools.
That is the way that I would begin to kind of approach that
issue.
Mr. WELLER. Others on the panel, do you agree it is in the
best interest of the child to find ways to keep them in the
same school system?
Mr. STANGLER. I would say it is important to try to keep
them in the same school system, but the underlying issue is the
real problem. Even if you are in the same school, if you are
moved to eight different sets of strangers in that area, your
schooling is going to suffer regardless.
I think my recommendation would be we have to address the
permanency issue to stop the moving around to really change the
outcomes.
Dr. COURTNEY. I think an elegant solution would be to have
HHS actually implement the well-being parts of the Adoption and
Safe Families Act 1997 (P.L. 105-89)--remember, they set up
outcomes for permanency and safety and they have yet to
promulgate any with respect to well-being, the most obvious
well-being outcome, along with health perhaps, would be some
measures around education.
It seems to me as a nation we should know whether kids in
foster care are attending school, whether they are moving,
there are some simple outcome measures you could ask States to
track. We are not doing that. If you do that, then they know
what they need to do in order to get kids educated, but they
are not held accountable for the basic outcomes.
Mr. WELLER. Not necessarily creating a new program, they
just need to implement the one they have already been directed
to create.
Dr. COURTNEY. Exactly.
Mr. WELLER. Do you agree with that, Ms. Ashby?
Ms. ASHBY. That is what I was going to say. Part of the
Foster Care Independence Act was a data system that would
record services to children, outcomes, characteristics of youth
aging out, and that has yet to be implemented.
HHS still has not put forth any regulations, for example,
to collect data from States. Several States have data. There is
no mechanism for that data being populated into the data system
that was envisioned and actually mandated by the law.
Dr. COURTNEY. The irony of my study is it came from those
three States wanting to get ahead of the curve back in 2000 to
sort of pilot really how States would collect data.
A number of States, Michigan, for example, were going to
participate but waited because they wanted to see what the
Federal Government was going to put out in terms of
regulations. They are still waiting.
Implement the law that is there and we would get a long
way.
Mr. WELLER. Congress' job on oversight, is it not, Mr.
Chairman? I have another question I want to ask Ms. Soltis.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. You are suggesting another hearing.
Mr. WELLER. I know you like hearings. I do, too, Mr.
Chairman.
[Laughter.]
As we look at hearings, we may want to look at strategies
to keep kids in school and give them the opportunity to stay
within the same school system if they can, recognizing there is
a geographic issue. To me, that would be a worthwhile hearing.
Ms. Soltis, we discussed earlier and Mr. McDermott raised
the issue of the idea that many have advocated today about
extending foster care to the age of 21, beyond the age of 18.
My State is one of those which already does it.
Every State and union currently has the option today, do
they not, to provide or give children the opportunity to stay
within the foster system until age 21; is that correct?
Ms. SOLTIS. I believe they have the option. There are very
few that--I am not sure how many do. I am not sure that often
times young people are aware that they can do that. It is a
difficult issue when someone is 18.
Gary, you might be able to talk more articulately about
which States allow that.
Mr. WELLER. I think there are 17, that I was told, that
currently have implemented programs where it is very clear you
can stay within the foster care system until age 21; is that
correct?
Mr. STANGLER. I do not know the exact number, Mr. Weller. I
would say it is a handful. I would say fewer than I can count
on my hand that actually do a good job of extending that
option.
The States are all over the place on this. You have the
court issues involved in terms of does the State law allow the
court to retain jurisdiction after age 18.
It is a more complicated answer than I could probably give
you off the top of my head.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. I think the fact is that there is no
Federal money for them to grant but there is the option to use
Medicaid, which is partially Federal money. I think the States
have that option. Is that a correct analysis of it?
Ms. ASHBY. That is correct. That is the 17 States you
mentioned. Seventeen have adopted what is known as the Chafee
option for Medicaid. Five others, as we understand it, are
planning to do that, and there may be one within the last week
or so that has done so.
As I understand it, the State legislatures have to meet in
the other five States to finalize this. The remaining 28 States
have other options, such as SCHIP or something else where these
youth can get medical services.
Mr. WELLER. The Chairman has been generous with the time
for me. Let me just ask in very simple terms, could each of you
just tell me why have the States not exercised, those who do
not allow foster care until age 21, why have they not exercised
the option when they clearly have the authority today? In
simple terms.
Mr. COBBS. Money. The Federal Government shares all the way
up to age 18 and then stops. I would say that is the biggest
thing. As Mark pointed out, the fact that they have no legal
responsibility past age 18. It is hard to make a case for why
you should spend money.
Dr. COURTNEY. They go hand in hand. You do not get Federal
reimbursement unless the court has jurisdiction, except for
short voluntary placements.
They are tied in Federal law right now up to age 18. After
18, you cannot get Federal reimbursement. You can actually look
at the history. A number of States that used to have statutes
that allowed young people to stay in care until 21 actually
moved them back when the Federal reimbursement stopped, so
their legal jurisdiction ends at 18.
You need both. Some States did it voluntarily. That is what
Illinois did. Illinois law allows it, and the courts weigh in
and decide whether it is in the best interest of the youth.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Give us the explanation for how it
happened in Illinois. Somebody brought a lawsuit. Who was it,
on whose behalf, and what agency? How did it happen?
Dr. COURTNEY. My understanding--I used to think that, too.
Illinois has done this for a long time, way back to the
19eighties. My understanding is the statute was not definitive
with respect to when. There was no end date. The statute says
``with just cause,'' you could keep kids in care after 18
through 21, and the question was what is ``just cause.''
What happened over time was an evolution toward the best
interest standard. In other words, you cannot kick somebody out
if it is clearly not in their interest and they want to remain
in care.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Who brought the suit? Did the State?
Dr. COURTNEY. I do not know there was a specific lawsuit. I
think the statute was there and over time, the courts became
more active. The Department used to go and say we want to
discharge this young person and the courts would say okay. In
Cook County, the Public Guardian's Office, which is the
defender of the kids, all the kids have attorneys, started to
go to court and say wait a minute, make a case for this. Why do
you want to discharge this person, they are going to be
homeless tomorrow if you discharge them.
The judges started acting within the statute in keeping
young people in care. It is still the case in Cook County, it
is 85 percent of young people in care at 17.5 are still in care
at 19.5. Downstate, it is more like half and half. Half and
half is still far in excess of anywhere else in the country.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. It is on the State buck or the county
buck?
Dr. COURTNEY. It is a State run system, so the State is
paying for all of that.
Mr. WELLER. You have to be a little sensitive to too much
litigation. Catholic Charities used to provide foster care
services in Cook County. They folded their tent and left that.
They were one of the largest providers and was a loss as a
result of litigation.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Can I ask finally the question that is
laying here on the table without an answer, why has HHS not
implemented this piece of legislation?
You people are part of the system. You must at least be
able to give me a guess. I am Irish and I was raised in
Chicago. I have an idea. Tell me what is your best guess?
It is simply no interest or if we found out the data, we
would then have to do something about it?
Ms. ASHBY. I have done several studies, as you know,
involving child welfare.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. You chuckle to yourself when you see
the new letter coming over from Congress saying would you
please look at the foster care system. You have done it enough
times. They see you coming.
Ms. ASHBY. We have made numerous recommendations. The
result, I will have to say, the result is usually the same. I
am hesitating here because this is not a GAO answer. It is not
a GAO answer.
In order to get things done, you have to have people that
care, and the whole idea of people in States who will not do
things to help young people because they are not required to,
well, these are not the people who should be in those
positions.
At HHS, the people I have worked with in child welfare,
they just do not seem to be very proactive in terms of feeling
they have much, if any, responsibility. It is a State issue,
they will tell you. They do not want to burden the States. That
is quite often their answer. Or they just allow the slow----
Chairman MCDERMOTT. Gathering data is burdensome?
Ms. ASHBY. If they require the States to do certain things
in order to collect the data and collect it in certain ways
that are consistent across the States.
They sort of allow these slow mechanisms of bureaucracy to
not work and years go by.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. The Congress changes and the Chairmen
change, and the appropriators change, and it never happens.
These kids are really forgotten, is what you are saying. They
know they are like school administrators who know this class is
going to be gone at graduation and we will have another bunch.
They will be gone shortly. That is basically what you are
saying.
Ms. ASHBY. That is part of what I am saying, but at the
same time, it is hard for me having sat here this morning and
hearing the stories of these young people and having gone out
to States on site visits and met with people involved in the
child welfare system to believe most people, if they really
understood the situation, understood the issues, (and there
were some people that were being hurt, because these children
are innocent) that they would not do all they could to make
things better.
Maybe the people in Washington at HHS need to get out in
the field and see what is going on. I do not know.
Chairman MCDERMOTT. I want to thank all of you for coming
and staying through the break. Although there are two Members
here, this is an issue that many Members are concerned with. We
are working on Iraq over on the Floor. It is a little bit of an
explanation why people are not here, but I want to thank you
for giving us some ideas.
I want to ask one other question. How many people in the
audience are foster kids or were foster kids once?
[Show of hands.]
We have a few. I would hope that you would as you watch
feel free to talk to us about what kinds of things you have
ideas about, how we might change this.
I realize sitting here, I did a lot of this. I did child
dependency questions in courts and I did decisions in divorces,
who should get the kids and all that kind of stuff.
I did it, but when you are on the ground doing it day to
day a lot more about it than you do when you sort of drift away
up to some other level.
You can be very useful to us by giving us information. I
hope that you will not consider the 15 minutes you spent
talking here as being the sole contribution you can make to
this.
Thank you all for coming.
[Whereupon, at 1:37 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
[Submissions for the Record follow:]
Statement of Child Welfare League of America, Arlington, Virginia
The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA), representing public and
private nonprofit, child-serving member agencies across the country, is
pleased to submit testimony to the Subcommittee on Income Security and
Family Support. CWLA commends the Subcommittee and its members for
focusing on the issue of youth transitioning out of foster care to
adulthood. We appreciate the Subcommittee's continued focus on youth.
This hearing is an important follow up a to your hearing on June 19, on
disconnected and disadvantaged youth.
Many issues confront young people as they transition from foster
care to adulthood. Aside from the challenge of becoming independent,
they face higher levels of unemployment, no health insurance, substance
abuse and homelessness and many other serious obstacles. These young
people leave care not because they have been reunified with their
families, have been adopted, or found another form of permanency, but
simply because there is an age limit on federal funding.
Youths Leaving Foster Care Due To Age
Certainly there is no group of America's youth more deserving of
Congress' attention than those in foster care or those who leave foster
care after turning age 18. Every year 20,000-25,000 young people exit
the foster care system.\1\ These young people leave care simply because
there is an age limit on federal funding. While some states may extend
this support beyond age eighteen and the Chaffee Independent Living
Program offers limited funding for transitional services to these young
people, all too often the end result is that foster children find
themselves on their own at age eighteen.
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\1\ Children who aged out of foster care are captured by the AFCARS
emancipation data element. Children who exit care to emancipation are
those who reached the age of majority; CWLA, Special tabulation from
AFCARS.
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Barriers to a Secure Adulthood
Adolescents constitute a major segment of the youngsters the child
welfare system serves. In 2005, 29 percent of children in care were 15
years of age or older.\2\ Most youth enter out-of-home care as a result
of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Others have run away from home or
have no homes. Young people transitioning out of the foster care system
are significantly affected by the instability that accompanies long
periods of out-of-home placement during childhood and adolescence.
These young people often find themselves truly ``on their own,'' with
few, if any, financial resources, no place to live, and little or no
support from family, friends, and community. The experiences of these
youth place them at higher risk for unemployment, poor educational
outcomes, health issues, early parenthood, long-term dependency on
public assistance, increased rates of incarceration, and homelessness.
The resulting harm to the youth themselves, their communities, and the
society at large is unacceptably high.
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\2\ Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS)
data submitted for the FY 2005, 10/1/04 through 9/30/05.
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Housing Needs
Young people aging out of the foster care system need economic
security and affordable, safe and stable housing. The 2000 Census
reported that nearly 4 million people between the ages of 25 and 34
live with their parents due to economic realities--jobs are scarce and
housing is expensive. This phenomenon has been identified as
``adultolescence'', an extended period of adolescence during which it
is has become common and expected for young people to live with their
parents. Unfortunately, youth in foster care do not always have the
option of turning to their families for financial support. Former
foster youth are often prematurely confronted with the harsh reality of
the gap between the wages they earn and the cost of housing. As a
result, young people aging out of the foster care system are becoming
homeless at disconcerting rates.
Twenty-five percent of foster youth stated they have experienced
homelessness at
least one night within 2.5 to 4 years after exiting foster care.\3\ In
fact, three in ten of the nation's homeless adults report foster care
history.\4\
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\3\ Cook, R. (1991). A national evaluation of Title IV-E foster
care independent living programs for youth, phase 2. Rockville, MD:
Westat.
\4\ Roman, N.P., & Wolfe, N. (1995) Web of failure: The
relationship between foster care and homelessness. National Alliance to
End Homelessness.
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Education Needs
Similarly, the correlation between out-of-home care and low
academic performance has been documented nationwide. For children in
foster care, schools should offer an opportunity at continued stability
while most of that child's life is being turn inside out. In addition
to the abuse and neglect they experience, these children must deal with
the consequences of being removed from their homes and communities.
This often times includes separation from siblings and may include
making several moves from home to home. For these children and youth
their lives now include dealing with a child welfare agency and court
system.
Schools should be safe havens for children during times of
transition and instability, but poor coordination and communication
between schools, agencies and other parties may result in added
instability and at times, no school at all. With no federal law to
ensure school stability and access to supportive services for children
in foster care there is often as much movement among schools as there
is in living arrangements.
There are many challenges for these children. A child who moves to
a different home may all of a sudden find they are now in a new school
district. This all too often means they must wait for a transfer of
school records before a new school allows them to continue their
education. In some instances, a child may have to wait for a transfer
of medical records to document they meet any health care requirements
such as immunizations. All of these barriers mean a delay in meeting
their education needs, and these foster children are being left behind
not just in education, but in the stability they vitally need. These
children and youth not surprisingly fall behind academically,
cognitively, and socially. They often need to repeat courses and are
unable to access the support services that could improve education
outcomes.
Although all children are entitled to education services under
federal, state, and local laws, the specific educational needs of
children and youth in care often go unmet. The rate at which foster
youth complete high school (50%) is significantly below the rate at
which their peers complete high school (70%). The rate at which
college-qualified foster youth attend postsecondary education (20%) is
substantially below the rate at which their peers attend postsecondary
education (60%).\5\ However, it is important to note that 70% of former
foster youth express the desire to attend college.\6\ The impact on
future earnings is enormous. The census Bureau reports college
graduates make $24,000 more per year than those with high school
diplomas.\7\
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\5\ Wolanin, T. (2005). Higher education opportunities for foster
youth: A primer for policymakers. Washington, DC: Institute for Higher
Education Policy.
\6\ McMillen, C., Auslander, W., Elze, D., White, T. & Thompson, R.
(2003). Educational experiences and aspirations of older youth in
foster care. Child Welfare, 82, 475-495.
\7\ Census Bureau data underscore value of college. (October 2006).
Available online at http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/
archives/education/007660.html. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau.
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Health Needs
In addition, for young people leaving foster care, lack of health
care poses a substantial challenge. According to a recent study,
approximately twenty-five percent of foster care alumni or adults who
had experienced foster care later experienced post traumatic stress.
The general population by comparison experienced post traumatic stress
at a rate of four percent.\8\ Earlier this year at a briefing conducted
by CWLA and sponsored by the Subcommittee Chair, Representative Jim
McDermott, Dr. David Rubin, MD, MSCE, Director of Research and Policy,
Safe Place, Center for Child Protection and Health Children's Hospital
of Philadelphia, indicated that only half of children with behavioral
problems in foster care receive services, up to one-third of children
failed to receive appropriate immunizations, and one in eight were not
receiving preventive care.\9\
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\8\ Pecora, P.J., Kessler, R.C., Williams, J., O'Brien, K., Downs,
A. C., English, D., White, J., Hiripi, E., White, C. R., Wiggins, T., &
Holmes, K. (2005). Improving family foster care: Findings from the
Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study. Available online at http://
www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/NorthwestAlumniStudy.htm. Seattle,
WA: Casey Family Programs.
\9\ CWLA briefing, May 21, 2007. Sources: GAO, 1995; Burns et al.
JAACAP, 2004; Rubin et al. Pediatrics 2004; Hurlburt et al. J Gen
Psychiatry 2004; Harman et al. Arch Ped Adol Med 2000; Halfon et al.
Pediatrics 1992 MD MSCE
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The Chafee program allows states to extend Medicaid coverage to
former foster children between ages 18 and 21. Despite Medicaid's
tremendous advantage for youth in foster care, only 17 states had
implemented the extension as of December 2006.
Given the high rates of physical and mental health problems
extensively documented among children and youth in foster care, access
to health services is a critical factor as young people transition to
adulthood. Because most children and youth in foster care are covered
by Medicaid, use of the expansion option would allow a state to readily
facilitate the transfer of a youth's Medicaid eligibility from one
category to another without any gap in coverage as they exit foster
care. Medicaid coverage should continue for all youth in foster care
until at least age 21.
Keeping medical records up to date and accessible is another
challenge for young people involved with child welfare. Advances have
been made in electronic record keeping, but more are needed.
Legislative Recommendations
Support Through Age Twenty-One
The 110th Congress has an opportunity to make significant progress
in improving the lives and outcomes for this segment of disconnected
and disadvantaged youth. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) introduced the
Foster Care Continuing Opportunities Act, S. 1512. This legislation
would simply amend the current law that defines foster children to age
eighteen. States would have an option to extend this to age twenty-one.
This extension would allow these youth more time to appropriately
prepare for transitioning to adulthood. It is imperative that youth
work in partnership with their caseworker to create an effective plan
for transitioning out of foster care. An effective transition plan
focuses on the development of independent living skills, including
securing housing, developing a financial plan, obtaining and
maintaining employment, continuing education, and creating social
networks and connections.
In an effort to close the gaps that allow so many youth to fall
through the cracks, it is necessary to have effective collaboration and
coordination. Creating connections, developing effective transition
plans and integrating services will prevent the intersection of foster
care with homelessness, health issues, incarceration, unemployment,
pregnancy and early parenthood. Instead, these partnerships along with
a solid transition plan, will allow these resilient youth to become
thriving, productive, and contributing members of society.
Support Independent Living
For youth transitioning out of foster care, expanding eligibility
for critical support for independent living services will ensure a
successful transition to independence and self-sufficiency, and reduce
the numbers of young people who become homeless, unemployed,
incarcerated, and/or at high risk of becoming victims and victimizers.
To accomplish this improvement and expansion, funding for the Chafee
Foster Care Independence Program needs to be increased significantly.
McKinney-Vento Homelessness Assistance Act/Education Reform
The reauthorization of the McKinney-Vento Homelessness Assistance
Act as part of the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
Act provides an opportunity to better address the needs of children and
youth in foster care. McKinney-Vento provides access to essential
federal education protections and rights for children and youth who are
homeless. Children and youth who are eligible for McKinney-Vento have
access to supports for school success that many children involved in
child welfare lack: school stability or immediate enrollment if
stability is not possible, school staff charged with ensuring their
prompt enrollment, and more. While these protections currently apply to
a subset of children involved in foster care, the current definition is
not clear and states provide coverage differently and in a limited way
for children in foster care. The reauthorization of McKinney-Vento
provides an opportunity to ensure these protections are available to
all children in foster care, with special accommodation for the needs
and family dynamics that face children in foster care.
Funding for Tuition Vouchers
The Education and Training Voucher (ETV) program provides
assistance of up to $5,000 per year for the cost of attendance at an
institution of higher education for youth who age out of foster care or
are adopted after age 16. Funding for this program has never reached
the amount requested by President Bush--$60 million--which itself is
not enough to meet the need. The ETV program began receiving funds in
2003 and was set at $42 million, and has been increased slightly in
subsequent years. The benefits of a college education are significant.
Funding for the ETV program should be expanded to at least the level
proposed by the President.
Further improvements to the ETV program are needed, including
requiring technical assistance for states to make sure the funds are
fully utilized. Also, it should be required that any ETV funds not used
in one state be transferred to other states' ETV programs rather than
being returned to the federal treasury.
Access To Health Care
The Medicaid Foster Care Coverage Act of 2007, H.R. 1376, has been
introduced by Representative Dennis Cardoza (D-CA-18). This bill
addresses a critical issue for young people leaving foster care, lack
of health insurance. As stated previously, given the high rates of
physical and mental health problems, access to health services is a
critical factor as young people transition to adulthood. While some
states have taken the option to extend Medicaid coverage to age 21, we
agree with the growing number of advocates that the best way to assure
this coverage is simply to require Medicaid coverage for these former
foster youth.
Studies have revealed that when compared to the general population,
in addition to severely lower rates of graduation from college and
employment and higher instances of homelessness, foster care alumni
experienced a disproportionate amount of both physical and mental
health issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder and major
depression. Compounding this problem is the fact that 33% of foster
care alumni lack health insurance--a rate almost twice as high as the
general population.\10\
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\10\ Pecora, P.J., Kessler, R.C., Williams, J., O'Brien, K., Downs,
A. C., English, D., White, J., Hiripi, E., White, C. R., Wiggins, T., &
Holmes, K. (2005). Improving family foster care: Findings from the
Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study. Available online at http://
www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/NorthwestAlumniStudy.htm. Seattle,
WA: Casey Family Programs.
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Current law does provide mechanisms by which to cover this
vulnerable population with the support needed as they leave the care of
the child welfare system. Some states, for example, have implemented
the Chafee option to extend Medicaid to youth aging out through the
Foster Care Independence Act of 1999. Strides have been made, but
because young people who age out of the system often lack financial
resources and a place to live, and have little or no support from
family, friends, and the community there is much more work to be done.
By extending Medicaid coverage to former foster youth until the age of
21, we would be guaranteeing a critical piece of the equation that
would help them make a successful transition to adulthood--
comprehensive health care.
In addition, actions over the past several years have undercut the
state's ability to use Targeted Case Management services (TCM). CWLA
has great concerns about these actions and we feel it undercuts access
to care to the entire child welfare population. This is not a cost
saving issue, but is rather an issue of access to health care. We are
also concerned about future regulatory action that may restrict state
Medicaid systems use of rehabilitative services. We urge Congress to be
vigilant and in fact to take action to stop any regulations that
overreach and have the effect of restricting access to care by youth
and all children in foster care.
Data Collection Needs
Congress should provide the resources necessary for the
implementation of the National Youth in Transitions Database. This new
initiative is a tremendous opportunity to provide valuable information
that will inform future improvements in services to young people. The
funds for this implementation should be a priority for Congress and
should not come at the expense of existing services or supports or
reduce services to adolescents receiving Chafee and ETV funding.
Support for Kinship Care
Finally, CWLA would be remiss if we did not highlight one
legislative solution which is showing growing bipartisan support,
kinship care. Kinship care is an important permanency option for child
welfare systems. In some instances, support for these grandparent and
other relative families can provide a vital support for these youth. In
1997, the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) was adopted by this
Subcommittee and many of the members of this Congress voted for it. It
recognizes kinship placements as a critical permanency option. We now
have bipartisan bills in both houses, S. 661 in the Senate and H.R.
2188 in the House, to extend Title IV-E funding to these kinship
placements. CWLA strongly believes that extending Title IV-E support in
this way can play a vital role in assisting young people leaving the
foster care system and can help before they reach the age of eighteen.
CONCLUSION
CWLA appreciates the opportunity to offer our comments to the
Subcommittee in regard to youth transitioning out of foster care. As
this Subcommittee moves forward, we look forward to a continued
dialogue with its members and all Members of Congress. We hope this
hearing serves as a building block for future efforts that will create
the means for reforms that result in increased successful transitions
for these youth.
Statement of Everychild Foundation
The Problem: The ``Transition Cliff''
Many children with abuse and neglect histories never
reunite with their families or find alternative permanent homes; this
population of abused children graduate or ``emancipate'' from the child
welfare system
Children who emancipate from the foster care system face
disproportiately higher rates of:
Unemployment
Lower Educational Attainment
Incarceration
Dependence on public assistance
Substance abuse
Non-marital childbirth
Other high-risk behaviors.\1\
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\1\ http://www.covdove.org/Inside/Statistics.htm, Covenant House
California Statistics (retrieved February 2006).
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The lack of a ``safety net'' for these former foster
youth--now young adults--means that they truly struggle to ``make ends
meet'' often ultimately becoming a more burdensome and larger cost to
society than if a much smaller, up-front investment had simply been
made to better prepare and advise them during transition and the years
preceding it.
One shocking statistic best explains how the system has
failed them: over 70% of all State Penitentiary inmates have spent time
in the foster care system according to the May 12, 2006 Select
Committee Hearing of the California Legislature. (This includes group
homes and informal out of home placements/arrangements.)
The public knows little or nothing about the difficulties
facing this group of young adults.
The population of emancipated foster youth face unique
challenges such as:
Lack of stable or affordable housing leading to
homelessness
Lack of employment opportunities
Lack of medical care / coverage
Mental health problems
Early or unplanned pregnancies
When provided with information about the poor prospects
for this population, most people say that the age at which the average
young person is completely on their own is 23; 1/3 of respondents say
it is 25 or older.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ http://www.financeproject.org/Publications/
foster%20care%20final1.pdf
This presentation includes a compilation of recent statistics (by
no means exhaustive) to illustrate the significant ramifications of
failing to assist these young adults.
Our position is that there are steps that the government and community
can take to help ensure that these youths make a smooth
transition and become productive member of the community.
The direct public expense of not doing so is enormous, according to
various experts the authors queried who work closely with
emancipated foster youth. consider these typical annual costs
they cited:
Housing an emancipated foster youth in a program
providing support services (mental health, educational and vocational
counseling, job placement, financial literacy and life skills training,
mentoring) such as Hillsides in Pasadena--$20,000--$25,000.
Incarceration for the same young adult--between $55,000
and $115,000 (depending upon the type of facility), according to the
State's Safety and Welfare Remedial Plan filed in April of this year.
Residence in a mental health facility--$215,000.
The Basics:
Nationally, about 20,000 youth aged 16 or older make the
transition from foster care to legal emancipation each year.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ http://www.casey.org/MediaCXenter/MediaKit/FActSheet.htm, Child
Welfare Fact Sheet published by Casey Family Programs (based on data
from a period ending September 30, 2001).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2004, 4,255 children
emancipated from foster care in California.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ Child Welfare Service Reports for California (2005). Retrieved
in February 2006 from University of California at Berkeley Center for
Social Services Research Website. URL: http://cssr.berkeley.edu/
CWSCMSreports/. See also, http://calwv.org/jjds/chap6.html, Juvenile
Justice in California, Part II: Dependency System, Chap. VI, Prepared
by the League of Women Voters of California, July 1998.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Of these 4,255 emancipating youth 1,402 were located in
Los Angeles.
Children who emancipate from the child welfare system are
unlikely to find safe, affordable housing.
Within 2-4 years of emancipation, 25% of emancipated
youth have been homeless for at least one night.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ April 2003 Press Release from the Office of the Governor of
California, reprinted on http://www.buildingc3.com/item.asp?id=196. See
also Finessa Ferrell, Life After Foster Care, http://www.ncsl.org/
programs/pubs/slmag/2004/04OctNov_Fostercare.pdf (2004).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In California, 65% of youth leaving care do so without a
place to live.\6\
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\6\ Issue Brief, Ensuring Access to Healthy Young Adults Program
for Transitioning Youth, citing a California Department of Social
Services 2002 Study: Report of the Housing Needs of Emancipated Foster/
Probation Youth; California Department of Social Services. (2002)
Report on the Survey of the Housing Needs of Emancipated Foster/
Probation Youth. Independent Living Program Policy Unit, Child and
Youth Permanency Branch.
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Nearly 40% of transitioning youth will be homeless within
eighteen months of discharge.\7\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ U.S. General Accounting Office. (1999) Foster Care:
Effectiveness of Independent Living Services Unknown. (GAO/HEHS-00-13).
Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. See also, Juvenile
Justice in California Part II: Dependency System, 1998, http://
calwv.org/jjds/chap6.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Los Angeles and Alameda counties, 50% of emancipated
youth will be homeless within six months.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ Covenant House of California statistics available at http://
www.covdove.org/Inside/Statistics.htm (2004).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Without housing, youth are less likely to complete their
education, find employment, and gain access to health care, all of
which jeopardize their ability to make a successful transition to
independence.\9\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ Los Angeles County Economy and Efficiency Commission. (2002) A
Review of Emancipation Services. Los Angeles, CA: Author. Available
online at http://eec.co.la.ca.us/pubfiles/cntyops/
0202_EmancipationServices.htm.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Studies found that between 44-77% of emancipating youth
have completed high school as compared to 93% of non-foster care youth
\10\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Research shows that only 1% to 5% of foster youth ever
graduate from college.\11\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\11\ Finessa Ferrell, Life After Foster Care, http://www.ncsl.org/
programs/pubs/slmag/2004/04OctNov_Fostercare.pdf (2004).
Employment Problems: Children who emancipate from the child welfare
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
system are unlikely to find employment opportunities.
Studies show that approximately 51% of youth are
unemployed within 2-4 years of emancipation.\12\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\12\ April 2003 Press Release from the Office of the Governor of
California, reprinted on http://www.buildingc3.com/item.asp?id=196. One
study showed that 23% of California former foster care youth were
unemployed within a 13-month period.
According to the California Department of Social
Services, as of December 2001, about 50% of emancipated foster youth
were not employed.\13\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\ http://www.familiesforchildren.org/statistics/htm.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
If employed, former foster care youth earn significantly
lower wages than their low-income peers.
aOne study found that emancipated foster youth earned an
average of $6000 per year, which is well below the national poverty
line of $7890.
Over a three-year period, no more than 45% of these
foster youth reported earnings in any one quarter.
The Impact of Failing Our Emancipated Youth: The Cost of Benefits
and Incarceration
The State must bear the following significant economic
and other costs of youth who end up incarcerated: \14\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\14\ See http://www.lao.ca.gov/1995/050195_juv_crime/kkpart6.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Criminal justice costs (i.e., operation of criminal
justice system in terms of police, prosecution, courts, probation,
incarceration, parole etc.)
Medical costs borne by the government
Property damage
Loss of productivity to society
Loss of work time by victims, their families and the
offender
Loss of property values in areas of high crime
Pain and suffering of crime victims and society
The Impact of Failing Our Emancipated Youth: The Cost of Benefits
and Incarceration
40% of former foster youth are a cost to the
community.\15\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\15\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The cost to the community occurs within 2-4 years of
emancipation because 40% of emancipated youth have been on public
assistance or incarcerated by that time.\16\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\16\ April 2003 Press Release from the Office of the Governor of
California, reprinted on http://www.buildingc3.com/item.asp?id=196.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Several studies reveal that girls who emancipate from
foster care are far more likely (approximately 3) than their
peers to have a child by 19.\17\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\17\ See http://www.teenpregnancy.org/resources/reading/pdf/
Fostering_Hope.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Approximately 50% of females in the foster care system
receive AFDC/TANF Medi-Cal within one to six years of emancipation. In
contrast, approximately 6% of all females age 19-29 in California
received TANF in 1999.\18\
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\18\ Youth Emancipating from Foster Care in California: Findings
Using Linked Administrative Data, July 31, 2002, Summary of Findings by
the Research and Evaluation Branch, Research and Development Division
of the California Department of Social Services.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Statement of Job Corps Partnering with the Foster Care System
This statement is submitted on behalf of the Job Corps program
which, as authorized by the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998, is
charged with providing education and training for economically
disadvantaged youth ages 16-24, who face multiple barriers to
employment. One such group is homeless, runaway, or foster care youth
(section 144(3)(C), Subtitle C). The most recent data from the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) show that over 500,000
American children live in foster care. Each year, it is estimated that
between 19,000 and 25,000 of these children, ages 18-21, ``age out'' of
the foster care system, and are forced to live on their own.
Job Corps is an open entry, open exit residential national
education and training program. The program has been in existence for
43 years and serves approximately 60,000 youth annually. There are 122
Job Corps centers located in 48 states, the District of Columbia, and
Puerto Rico. Job Corps is legislatively mandated to maintain a capacity
of approximately 44,000 youth. Currently Job Corps has approximately
4,000 slots annually that go unfilled in the program. This presents an
unparalleled opportunity for both the Job Corps program and emancipated
foster care youth. For eligible foster care youth, Job Corps can
provide transitional housing, job training, primary health care, and
referrals to community organizations and state agencies.
Job Corps has been actively involved with making connections with
the foster care system and is ideally suited to service foster care
youth in need of additional education and training. Job Corps Outreach
and Admissions offices have been directed to access the foster care
system in their area by connecting with state agencies and programs.
Each Outreach and Admissions operator has been provided with a state by
state directory of Foster Care programs which includes state
coordinators, child welfare Youth Advisory Boards (YAB) and resources
to educate Job Corps staff on the various assistance programs in their
area. Currently Job Corps has approximately 166 foster care students
enrolled in the program and is actively engaged in efforts to increase
foster care youth enrollment.
In addition to educating Job Corps staff on partnering
opportunities with the foster care system, outreach and admissions
providers educate eligible foster children about Job Corps. The program
has also tried to ease the transition of current students who were
foster children upon separation from the program. Foster children that
separate from the Job Corps program, who are eligible for placement
services; have a special case note placed in their electronic file,
which helps their career transition specialist work to obtain
additional federal funds and grants for assistance with independent
living, known as the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independent Living
Program.
To date Job Corps has strengthen its relationship with the foster
care system by accomplishing the following:
Established a relationship with Casey Family Programs
Casey Family Programs presented at the Job Corps National
Conference, November 6, 2006
Job Corps had an exhibit at the Casey Family Programs
Conference, Oct 29-31, 2006
Job Corps released a Program Instruction Notice,
September 8, 2006, providing guidance to the Job Corps field on
connecting to the Foster Care system
Presented at the Independent Living Conference in Indiana
in June 2007
Scheduled to speak at the September 2007 It's My Life
Conference
Job Corps continues to explore new ideas to better connect to the
foster care youth system. Job Corps' future plans to better connect
are:
Continue developing and strengthening the partnership
with Casey Family Programs and other foster care organizations
Develop a Technical Assistance Guide for Job Corps field
staff
Develop a list of best practices and model programs to
replicate
Continue to conduct and expand outreach activities to all
foster care youth
Explore MOU possibilities between DoL & HHS
Over the years, Job Corps has helped to guide more than two million
youth to opportunity and success. As a result of our commitment to
achievement, training, and education, Job Corps has helped young
Americans establish their place in the workforce and become
contributing citizens in their communities. Job Corps stands ready to
work with the foster care system, Congress and local communities to
provide assistance and program services to emancipated foster care
youth.
Statement of Kevin Drollinger, Epworth Children and Family Services,
St. Louis, Missouri
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee:
As the Executive Director of Epworth Children and Family Services
in St. Louis, Missouri, I am pleased to see Congress addressing the
critical issues facing foster care youth around the country. For more
than 100 years, Epworth has provided a wide array of services to at-
risk youth and their families--first as an orphanage in the late 1800s
and now providing education, therapeutic services, intensive and day
treatment programs, and transitional living, independent living, family
support and crisis shelter services.
In our region, the critical issues facing youth about to age out of
foster care are widely apparent. As of March 2007, the Missouri
Department of Social Services reported 9,818 children in the state's
foster care system. Of those, an estimated twenty-two percent--just
over one out of every five children--are age 16 or older. Paralleling
national statistics, these teens face monumental challenges as they
become emancipated adults. Half of all foster teens in the St. Louis
region age out of foster care either homeless or become homeless in
later life. Less than half possess a high school diploma or its
equivalent and more than 80 percent of former foster care females
become pregnant and have children before the age of 21.
While we help many of these teens navigate the complex foster care
system and develop the daily living skills needed to become
contributing adults in the community, they often express feelings of
frustration and isolation, not knowing where to turn for guidance and
further resources. Many have changed temporary homes, residential
treatment centers or group homes multiple times, have transferred to
several schools throughout the course of their education (and even
throughout a single school year), and are passed from one case manager
and therapist to another throughout their time in foster care. These
teens, expected to be fully independent and thriving after leaving
foster care at age 18 or even 21, are faced with the difficulties of
finding jobs and a place to live, understanding basic finances, and
obtaining regular medical care.
In December 2004, nine visionary philanthropic organizations came
together to see if pooled resources and collaborative efforts could
``re-invent'' the wheel and provide foster teens with centralized
resources and guidance to help them acquire the daily living skills
necessary to thrive as adults. With an initial investment of $600,000
over three years, these organizations then brought together nonprofit
organizations such as Epworth and began to identify the gaps in
services for older foster teens.
After working for more than 18 months, the St. Louis Aging Out
Initiative debuted in late 2006, with Epworth serving as the lead
service agency. The initiative establishes a youth-friendly,
centralized resource center for older foster teens where they can learn
about the many resources available and talk with teen peer advisors
about their concerns. Starting with teens as young as 16 years old, the
Center will provide guidance up to age 25. Referral information is
available via on onsite computer and individual services are provided
monthly in groups and individual meetings. The Center also operates a
24-hour helpline. With a positive youth development approach of
``nothing about us, without us,'' the Center also has a Youth Advisory
Board and encourages foster youth to collectively determine the
services needed and how to best address concerns. Among the goals
identified--to assist the majority of youth involved in the Center to
obtain a GED or high school diploma; to create ``Life Binders'' for all
participants that include important documents such as a birth
certificate, immunization records, family and personal medical history,
and school transcripts; and to educate youth so that they are adept at
self-advocacy skills that enable them to self-direct their own care and
placement, secure a job or enrollment in post-secondary education; and
handle personal finances.
National literature and research shows promise for this approach.
If true independence is measured by age 25, instead of age 16 or 18,
foster youth have a better chance to thrive. By linking and
prioritizing the services that foster youth desire and need, we provide
a critical service to the community at large.
Our local approach to this national issue has already sparked
national attention. In July 2007, we were awarded a $500,000 matching
grant from the prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to further
establish the Aging Out Project. Efforts already are under way to link
more service providers into the Center so that foster youth have an
increasing number of resources to help them become independent.
Through the St. Louis Aging Out Initiative, our eyes are on
education, employment, and independent living. We also have worked with
other social service organizations throughout Missouri and advocated
for expansion of healthcare benefits for older foster care youth.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (AFCARS
Report, 2005a), fewer than one-third of all states offer former foster
youth ages 18 to 21 access to Medicaid coverage. In July 2007, Missouri
Governor Matt Blunt signed a bill expanding healthcare coverage to
Missouri foster care youth up to age 21. Now efforts are under way to
have all states pass similar measures.
Federal and state governments spend significant monies on
supporting foster care youth until age 18. The notion that these teens,
who have been through so much in their lives already, are able to
magically become adults with no support, is simply not realistic.
Stronger mentor programs, improved transferability of educational
services and records, and collaborative community efforts such as the
St. Louis Aging Out Initiative should be encouraged across the country.
And because national and local statistics already document the
challenges facing older foster teens, comprehensive programs to help
improve graduation levels and teach sustainable daily living skills
should be encouraged and supported.
As Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA), Chairman of the Subcommittee
on Income Security and Family Support noted in mid-July, federal and
state governments function as ``de-facto parents of foster children.''
It is prudent that Congress as well as state leaders regularly evaluate
whether or not these children need guidance even after they are
emancipated from state care. Congressman McDermott says a concerted
effort should be made to determine whether programs meet ``that
obligation, or whether we are simply showing these kids the door
without sufficient support, resources, and skills to succeed.''
If we are to believe in the initial premise for bringing children
into state custody--for their safety, health, and stability--then all
of us should be mindful of our duty to support them into adulthood.
It is our experience at Epworth as well as in the start of the
Aging Out Initiative, that foster youth do, indeed, need support,
resources and skills development after age 18. The sad facts are that
foster youth who are not supported and guided as they find their place
in society become new entrants into social welfare system as adults.
With Congress focusing on the ``no child left behind'' axiom in
education, it is just as important to focus on the ``no child left
behind'' in foster care. As de-facto parents, we should do our utmost
to ensure they have the chances and resources they need to find their
own individual strengths and thrive.
I thank you for this opportunity to add my written comments to the
oral testimony given to the subcommittee on this crucial foster care
issue.
Headquartered in Webster Groves, Epworth Children and Family
Services has offered therapeutic and education services for at-risk
youth and their families since it was founded more than 140 years ago.
Originally a Methodist-founded orphanage based in Warrenton, Mo.,
Epworth has grown to offer a full array of services, including
intensive residential and day treatment services, educational programs,
and individualized and family therapy. The organization also operates
acclaimed transitional living and independent living programs and has a
24-hour youth emergency service hotline and shelter for teens. Epworth
is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare
Organizations (JCAHO) and is a charter member of the Missouri Coalition
of Children's Agencies (MCCA). In 2000, Epworth was the first social
service agency in Missouri to be honored with the Missouri Team Quality
Award.
Kids Are Waiting: Fix Foster Care Now
July 12, 2007
Dear Chairman McDermott, and Members of the Subcommittee:
The Kids Are Waiting: Fix Foster Care Now campaign thanks you for
the opportunity to submit this written statement for your July 12, 2007
hearing's record, on the subject of services and outcomes for children
who age out of the foster care system. Kids Are Waiting (KAW), a
project of The Pew Charitable Trusts, is a national, nonpartisan
campaign dedicated to ensuring that all children in foster care have
the safe, permanent families they deserve by reforming the federal
financing structure that governs our nation's foster care program. The
campaign applauds the Subcommittee on Income Security and Family
Support for your dedication to our nation's abused and neglected
children. This hearing--indeed the series of hearings you are holding--
contribute greatly to identifying the areas in need of reform, as well
as providing the essential forum in which to consider meaningful
solutions.
At the heart of supporting teens who age out of the foster care
system, must be a determined, relentless effort by policy makers,
service providers, and community members to find a safe, permanent,
loving family for each of them. In the case of the 24,000 teens who age
out each year, never was it more true, that ``an ounce of prevention is
worth a pound of cure.''
As the Members of the Subcommittee are aware, there are more than
513,000 children in foster care. Each year, thousands are exited from
the system to face life on their own without the benefit of belonging
to a permanent family. Tragically, despite an over all decrease in the
number of children entering foster care in recent years, the number of
teens aging out is increasing.
In May of this year, KAW, in partnership with the Jim Casey Youth
Opportunities Initiative, published a new report on the very topic the
subcommittee is addressing today. ``Time for Reform: Aging Out and On
Their Own'' reports a 41% increase in the number of teens aging out of
foster care from 1998 to 2005--more than 24,000 for the last year in
which government statistics are available.\i\
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\i\ Kids Are Waiting and Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative.
Time for Reform: Aging Out and On Their Own. May 2007. Accessed July
11, 2007: http://kidsarewaiting.org/reports/files/AgingOut.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Outcomes for youth who age out of foster care are grim, and
transitions to adulthood and independence are often rocky. As our
report details:
One in four will be incarcerated within the first two
years after they leave the system.\ii\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\ii\ Mark E. Courtney, Amy Dworsky, Sherri Terao, Noel Bost,
Gretchen Ruth Cusick, Thomas Keller, and Judy Havlicek. Midwest
Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth: Outcomes at
Age 19, Chapin Hall, 2005.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Over one-fifth will become homeless at some time after
age 18.\iii\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\iii\ Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study, Casey Family Programs,
1998.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Approximately 58 percent had a high school degree at age
19 compared to 87 percent of a national comparison group of non-foster
youth.\iv\
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\iv\ Courtney, M.E. & Dworsky, A. (2005).Midwest evaluation of the
adult functioning of former foster youth: Outcomes at age 19. Chicago:
Chapin Hall Center for Children.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Of youth who aged out of foster care and are over the age
of 25, less than 3 percent have their college degrees \v\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\v\ Pecora, P.J., Kessler, R.C., Williams, J., O'Brien, K., Downs,
A.C., English, D., White, J., Hiripi, E., White, C.R., Wiggins, T., and
Holmes, K. (2005). Improving family foster care: Findings from the
Northwest foster care alumni study. Seattle, WA: Casey Family Programs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
compared with 28 percent of the general population.\vi\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\vi\ National Census Bureau. ``Educational Attainment in the United
States: 2004.'' Accessed April 12, 2007: http://www.census.gov/Press-
Release/www/releases/archives/04eductableA.xls
Despite the good intentions and sometimes valiant efforts of most
social workers, judges, foster parents and others, the reality remains
that the foster care system is plagued with issues that conspire to
keep children in the system too long, and away from the permanent,
loving families they deserve.
As today's hearing points out, much more needs to be done to ensure
that adequate support is in place for those who may age out of the
system without a permanent family. A number of policies have been
identified to better serve young adults who age out of foster care,
including: extending foster care and Medicaid eligibility up to age 21
for all youth and providing services under the Chafee Foster Care
Independence act to all youth who leave care, not just youth aging out
between ages 18 and 21.
While KAW appreciates the enormous importance of benefits to help
foster youth transition successfully to adulthood, our campaign's main
focus is to highlight the urgent need for reform of federal financing
policies, namely Section IV-E of the Social Security Act. Current
policies are far too complex and outdated. All too often they work
against what's best for children and families. These rules can prevent
case workers and other professionals from connecting children and
families with the services to help them stay together, to keep children
from entering care in the first place.
Under the current financing structure, 61% of all federal money
allocated for child welfare services is mandated to be used for out-of-
home foster care payments and related administrative and training
costs. This leaves less than 40% of federal funds available to assist
states in providing essential services tailored to meet the needs of
their communities--services such as foster care prevention, family
reunification, foster and adoptive parent recruitment, subsidized
guardianship and post-placement services.
Federal policies should make certain those who do enter the system
don't grow up in foster care. No child should age out of the system on
their own. Congress can be part of the solution. By changing the way
the federal government pays for services, we can help states prevent
some children from entering foster care, while helping others leave the
system more expeditiously to families that have been reunited, or, when
that is not possible, to new families through adoption, or sometimes
permanent guardianship.
In 2004, the national, non-partisan Pew Commission on Children in
Foster Care recommended a reliable federal financing system with both
increased flexibility and accountability as a means to prevent children
from languishing in foster care. New federal financing policies,
combined with recently enacted state court improvements, would provide
professionals who serve children and families with better tools to help
more families stay together, ensure children in foster care exit the
system for safe, permanent families, and reduce the number of youth who
age out each year.
Specifically, KAW promotes the following policy options,
recommended by the Pew Commission, to address the problem of growing
numbers of youth aging out of our foster care each year:
1. Establish a federal foster care financing system that States can
rely on to be sufficient and flexible. Today's federal IV-E financing
incentives favor foster care over other services that could keep
families together, reunify them quickly and safely, and, when that is
not possible, help children leave foster care to join safe, permanent
families through adoption or guardianship. Addressing the inflexibility
of current federal IV-E funding is critical to ensuring that case
workers and other professionals can deliver services that are tailored
to meet the needs of each child and family they serve. For example,
services such as family counseling or referrals for drug treatment
programs can both prevent the need for foster care or help some
children reunify with their families.
With more flexible funds, states and tribes could help find more
children permanent families through activities such as increased and
improved foster and adoptive parent recruitment, or help new permanent
families be successful when reunification is not possible by providing
more post-placement supports.
2. Help more children leave foster care by supporting federal
guardianships for relatives and other caregivers. In most states,
relatives and others who become permanent, legal guardians for a child
in foster care lose federal financial assistance and services once the
child exits foster care (some adoptions receive federal support).
Although some relatives decide to adopt their kin, adoption is not a
viable option for others. For example, it may not be appropriate to
terminate parental rights for a parent with significant disabilities
who physically cannot parent, but wants to remain in the lives of the
children who love her. Or an older youth who maintains close ties with
his or her birth parents may not want those parental rights terminated.
An estimated 20,000 children living in long-term arrangements with
relatives today could leave foster care if federal foster care funds
could be used to support guardianship. Legislation to address support
for relatives has been introduced in the 110th Congress: The Kinship
Caregiver Support Act (S. 661/ H.R. 2188).
3. Reward states for reducing the number of children in foster care
and achieving all forms of permanence. States should be rewarded for
reducing the number of children in foster care, rather than punished by
losing federal funds for case workers. Under the current system, states
lose money for caseworkers when the caseload declines. States should be
allowed to reinvest savings from safely reducing their foster care case
loads into their child welfare programs.
4. Make all children eligible for federal foster care support. The
link between eligibility for federal foster care support under Title
IV-E to eligibility for the now-defunct Aid to Families with Dependent
Children program should be removed. Social workers should be focused on
helping children find safe, permanent families, rather than wasting
hours chasing down paperwork related to a parent's eligibility for a
program that hasn't existed for 10 years. Native American children
under the jurisdiction of a tribal government are also not eligible to
receive the benefits of Title IV-E, since tribes are not eligible to
apply for this federal program. Tribal governments should be allowed to
apply for Title IV-E funds directly and operate the program for
children under their care.
Each day we wait for foster care financing reform, 67 additional
children leave the system, entirely alone, because we have failed to
find them families they can count on. Foster children are America's
children. They deserve our best efforts to provide them with loving,
supportive families, for a happy and safe childhood, and a brighter
future.
We reiterate our gratitude to the Chairman and other Members of the
Subcommittee for their leadership on behalf of children in foster care.
The KAW campaign stands ready to be of assistance to you and your staff
as foster care financing reform solutions are considered during this
session of the 110th Congress.
Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Cole
Campaign Director
Statement of North American Council on Adoptable Children,
St. Paul, Minnesota
As Chairman McDermott stated in an announcement of today's hearing,
``When most children reach the age of 18, their parents continue to
support and help them during their transition into adulthood. As the
de-facto parents of foster children, we should do no less. We need to
evaluate whether we are meeting that obligation, or whether we are
simply showing these kids the door without sufficient support,
resources and skills to succeed.''
We absolutely have an obligation to support youth who age out of
foster care. But first and foremost, we have a responsibility to ensure
that they have a permanent family who will be there to help them with
their transitions and with the joys and challenges of their young adult
and adult lives. If we are able to ensure that more children can leave
foster care quickly and safely to join permanent, loving families--or
to provide preventive supports and services that can keep families
together and prevent children from entering foster care in the first
place--then we will have fewer young people who age out of foster care
on their own.
Youth who age out of care face enormous challenges. Pennsylvania
resident Jessica has a sadly typical story. Jessica's mom was a drug
addict and prostitute whose boyfriends abused Jessica. As a young teen
she entered foster care and was placed in a group home. ``No one ever
talked about adoption,'' Jessica remembers. ``I wanted a family and I
would have considered adoption, but no one ever asked.''
``The scary part was when I turned 18,'' explains Jessica. ``I had
nowhere to go. They told me, ?When you turn 18, basically, you're
done.' '' Jessica adds, ``When I left, I was unprepared to be on my
own. I didn't know anything about finances. I had gone to independent
living classes, but I couldn't remember anything.'' Jessica spent
several years working and drinking, and soon became pregnant. It wasn't
until Jessica's daughter's paternal grandparents took her under their
care as a young adult that she finally had the family she needed and
deserved.
We at the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC)
believe that, of the many barriers that keep children and youth from
achieving permanence, the following are some of the most significant.
First and foremost, the federal child welfare financing system relies
too heavily on funding and placing children in foster care rather than
investing in preserving and rebuilding families or better supporting
new permanent families for children who cannot return safely home.
Below we detail four ways to invest in families to prevent youth from
aging out of care: (1) implement federally supported guardianship; (2)
provide support to birth families; (3) increase access to adoption
assistance; and (4) fund post-permanency support.
Over the past three years, NACAC has worked with youth from across
the country to tell their stories about experiences with the foster
care system. The stories about what these youth have endured have
guided our thinking and understanding about the federal solutions that
would work best to ensure that no youth leaves care without the
connections that they say make a difference in their lives and their
futures. In general, the system at every level--local, state and
federal--should do a better job of listening to and respecting the
voices of youth and their ideas about ways to improve their individual
and collective situations. We've had the privilege of working with some
of the most resilient youth imaginable, yet we know that there are
countless others who have no voice and no future. The following four
recommendations would go a long to change the trajectory of bad
outcomes of youth aging out of care.
Implement Federally Supported Subsidized Guardianship
About one-quarter of foster children are cared for by grandparents
or other relatives.\1\ Right now, almost 20,000 of these children
cannot return to their birth families and have been with their
relatives for at least a year.\2\ These stable, loving kin families
could provide a perfect permanent family for many foster children, but
the children remain stuck in foster care simply because adoption is not
the right choice for their family. These youth will age out of foster
care unless we offer them a better permanency option.
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\1\ Generations United. (2006). All children deserve a permanent
home: Subsidized guardianships as a common sense solution for children
in long-term relative foster care. Washington, DC: Author.
\2\ Children and Family Research Center. (2004). Family ties:
Supporting permanence for children in safe and stable foster care with
relatives and other caregivers. Urbana-Champaign, IL: School of Social
Work, University of Illinois at Urban-Champaign.
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Illinois resident Rob knows firsthand the value of guardianship.
Placed in foster care due to his mother's mental health, he and his two
sisters eventually ended up in a subsidized guardianship placement with
his aunt. One of the first children served through Illinois'
guardianship waiver, Rob found safety, stability, and love with his
aunt while maintaining ties to the mother he loves. For Rob,
guardianship was a lifesaver that should be available to more children
and youth. He explains, ``I was able to find my miracle through
subsidized guardianship, but other foster children are not so lucky.
The federal government should provide funding to states for children
who leave foster care to live permanently with grandparents, aunts,
uncles, or other guardians. In many cases, if relatives choose to
become legal guardians rather than foster parents, they lose federal
foster care assistance, which pays for things like food and clothing.
That just isn't right.''
California resident Anne is raising her two teenaged grandsons, who
will soon age out of care. She would love to become their legal
guardian, but relies on the support she gets in foster care. One of the
boys has moderate hearing loss, sensory motor integration problems,
difficulty in school, and Asperger's syndrome. The other was sexually
abused and remains angry and traumatized today. Although she is
committed to caring for the boys forever, Anne doesn't want to adopt
them because they are--and will always be--her grandsons. Guardianship
under California's KinGAP program wasn't a good option because the boys
would lose the extra supports and services that meet their special
needs. So, they remain in foster care, and the family contends with
ongoing court visits and caseworker oversight. ``I would have loved to
have taken the boys out of foster care and become their guardian,''
explains Anne. ``But I could only have done that if the boys would have
been able to continue to receive support for their special needs. I
couldn't have afforded to pay for all those services on my own.''
Subsidized guardianship allowed Rob to leave care with a place to
call home, both legally and emotionally. Unfortunately, Anne's
grandsons will not experience this legal permanency and will transition
to adulthood knowing that they spent their teenage years as foster
children. All children deserve the option of federally supported
guardianship so they do not have to age out of care without legal
permanency.
Recommendation: Federal waivers have proven the efficacy of
subsidized guardianship. In the nine years since Illinois implemented
its guardianship program, 9,596 children have left foster care to
legal, supported guardianships.\3\ While waivers allow states to
experiment with needed innovations, they are merely temporary
solutions. We now need subsidized guardianship to be an approved
permanency option, included in the Title IV-E program like adoption
assistance. Children in stable foster placements with relatives and
other committed caregivers would benefit from greater federal support
for guardianship, allowing children to leave care, eliminate costly
caseworker visits, and reduce unnecessary court oversight. A federally
supported guardianship program--such as the one proposed in the Kinship
Caregiver Support Act--could help almost 20,000 children leave foster
care to a permanent family right now. Thousands more could be served
each year in the future.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ Personal communication with Leslie Cohen. (March 2007).
Children and Family Research Center.
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Provide Support to Birth Families
Many youth who age out of foster care return to their birth
families--the only families they have ever known. For a significant
proportion of children and youth in foster care, a return home is the
right permanency option. Their families, however, often need supportive
services to address the issues that brought them into the child welfare
system in the first place. The Green Book states: ``It is generally
agreed that it is in the best interests of children to live with their
families. To this end, experts emphasize both the value of preventive
and rehabilitative services and the need to limit the duration of
foster care placements.'' \4\ Federal funding does not reflect this
priority--90 percent of federal funding can be used by states only
after Title IV-E-eligible children have entered foster care or been
adopted.\5\
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\4\ U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means.
(2004). 2004 green book: Section 11,--child protection, foster care,
and adoption assistance. [Online]. Available: http://
frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/
multidb.cgi?WAISdbName=108_green_book+2004+Green+Book
+%28108th+Congress%29&WAISqueryRule=%28%24WAISqueryString%29+AND+%28rept
type %3D%24sect+OR+repttype%3D%24sect1+OR+repttype%3D%24sect2%29&WAIS
queryString
=duration+of+foster+care+placements&WAIStemplate=multidb_results.html&
Submit.=Submit &WrapperTemplate=wmprints_wrapper.html&WAISmaxHits=40.
[Retrieved May 7, 2006.]
\5\ In FY 2006 the appropriation for Title IV-E foster care and
adoption assistance programs is $6.48 billion while the funding for
Title IV-B Parts 1 and 2 (Safe and Stable Families Program) is only
$721.7 million.
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Since so much federal funding is for children who have entered
care, states do not have sufficient resources to invest in birth family
support and reunification. In recent years, we have seen the percentage
of foster children who reunite with their birth families go down--from
62 percent in 1998 to 54 percent in 2005.\6\
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\6\ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2006). AFCARS
report #10 (Preliminary FY 2005 estimates). [Online]. Available: http:/
/www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/tar/report13htm
[Retrieved February, 2007].
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This lack of support can translate into slow or non-existing
support to struggling birth families, and certainly contributes to
youth aging out of care. Michael of West Virginia was separated from
his brothers and sister and moved more than 18 times during six years
in care. At 18, Michael aged out of foster care with no permanent
family, as did one of his brothers. His sister was adopted and his
youngest brother remains in care. Michael reflects, ``In my opinion,
foster care destroyed our whole sense of family in the end. We can't
sit down together and feel like we are siblings. It becomes more like,
`Oh, I know that person' but it's not like, `Oh, he's my brother.' ''
Now 21, Michael wishes the state had done more to help his mom keep
the family together: ``If the state had invested the same money they
spent putting us in all those placements into weekly visits with our
mother and had given her skill lessons, it might not have escalated to
us needing to go into permanent foster care.''
Stephanie from Washington State was placed in foster care because
of her mother's addiction to drugs. Recalls Stephanie, ``It was hard
not knowing if I was safe, walking the streets at midnight because my
mom was worried somebody was after her, having to look after my little
brother because my mom was on house arrest, trying to find something to
eat.''
While Stephanie and her brother were in foster care, Stephanie's
mother received extensive services. She participated in in-patient and
out-patient drug treatment, self-esteem classes, anger management,
parenting and nutrition classes, AA meetings, Bible study, daily
shelter meetings, and group and individual counseling.
Once Stephanie was reunited with her mom and brother, her life got
better: ``I became more outgoing, I was more comfortable with myself,
and my grades improved. I was in plays and musicals at church.''
Stephanie says, ``If I could wish for anything it would be that our
family could have gotten help sooner. I don't know what life would have
been like if I had stayed in foster care or been adopted, but I know if
I didn't have my family around me--my mom, my brother, my grandparents,
and my cousins--I would be devastated. My family means everything to
me.''
Kelly of Maryland is the mother of three young children who are
thriving today. Life was not so good five years ago: Kelly was addicted
to drugs and her children entered foster care as a result. After
struggling to kick her habit, Kelly found a program that helped her put
her life back together. Kelly explains, ``I had everybody pulling for
me as far as my social worker and my counselors at the program trying
to help me get immediate Section 8 housing.'' She continues, ``They
also funded my counseling, and they got me parenting classes. Life in
recovery is so good and so wonderful,'' Kelly says. ``Honestly, I don't
have any desire to go back to that way of life. I'm grateful for my
life today.'' Today, Kelly works with other birth parents to ensure
that they can be reunified with their children
Kelly and Stephanie, sadly, are not typical in that their families
were able to receive the comprehensive services they needed in order to
be safely, permanently reunited. A recent survey of child welfare
administrators found that substance abuse and poverty are the most
critical problems facing families being investigated for child
maltreatment.\7\ In some areas, substance abuse is an issue for one-
third to two-thirds of the families involved in child welfare.\8\
Unfortunately, only 10 percent of child welfare agencies report that
they can find drug treatment programs for clients who need it within 30
days.\9\ Almost no drug-addicted parents can access drug treatment
programs with a mother-child residential component, and few are able to
participate in comprehensive programs that address issues of parenting
and housing along with substance abuse. For families dealing with
poverty and housing issues, support is also hard to come by. As the
National Center for Child Protection Reform notes, ``Three separate
studies since 1996 have found that 30 percent of America's foster
children could be safely in their own homes right now, if their birth
parents had safe, affordable housing.'' \10\
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\7\ National Center on Child Abuse Prevention Research. (2001).
Current trends in child abuse prevention, reporting, and fatalities:
The 1999 fifty state survey. Chicago: Prevent Child Abuse America.
\8\ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1999). Blending
perspectives and building common ground: A report to congress on
substance abuse and child protection. Washington, DC: U.S. Government
Printing Office.
\9\ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1999). (See
complete citation above.)
\10\ National Coalition for Child Protection Reform. (2004). Who is
in ``the system'' and why [Online]. Available: http://www.nccpr.org/
newissues/5.html [May 7, 2006].
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Investing in at-risk families has been shown to work. Indiana had a
federal IV-E waiver through which counties provided community- and
home-based alternatives that sought to reduce foster care usage. The
waiver demonstration showed that such investments work: 45.6 percent of
children assigned to the waiver group never entered placement compared
to 38 percent of children in the control group, and 77 percent of
children in out-of-home care in the waiver group reunified with a
parent compared with 66 percent of children in the control group.
Also using a IV-E waiver, Delaware demonstrated that investing in
substance abuse treatment had positive outcomes for children: the
project's foster children spent 14 percent less time in foster care
than similar children who did not participate in the waiver, and total
foster care costs were reduced.\11\ Certain counties in North Carolina
used a federal child welfare waiver to cut down on out-of-home
placements by investing in court mediation, post-adoption services,
intensive family preservation services, and other interventions.\12\
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\11\ U.S. General Accounting Office. (2002). Recent legislation
helps states focus on finding permanent homes for children but long-
standing barriers remain. Report to Congressional Requestors. [Online].
Available; http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02585.pdf. [Retrieved May 7,
2006].
\12\ Usher, C., Wildfire, J., Brown, E., Duncan, D., Meier, A.,
Salmon, M., Painter, J. & Gogan, H. (2002). Evaluation of the Title IV-
E waiver demonstration in North Carolina. Chapel Hill, NC: Jordan
Institute for Families, University of North Carolina.
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Recommendations: Currently, for every dollar that the federal
government spends on family preservation and post-permanency support,
nine dollars are spent on IV-E children who are in foster care or who
have been adopted from care. The federal government must significantly
increase its investment in Title IV-B Parts 1 and 2, and provide states
with increased flexibility in how they spend federal child welfare
monies. Many of the foster children aging out of care today can attest
to the fact that if the state had spent more money on keeping their
families together, they could have saved on costly and unnecessary
foster care placements.
In addition, if states successfully reduce the use of foster care,
they should be able to reinvest saved federal dollars into preventive
and post-permanency services to ensure that more families--whether
reunited, adoptive, or guardianship--can stay together. Currently, when
states reduce the number of IV-E eligible children in foster care, the
federal government reduces its payment to the state. We recommend that
the federal government provide states with an amount equal to the money
saved in Title IV-E maintenance payments, training, and administration.
this would provide an incentive to keep or move children out of care,
while also beginning to address the vase imbalance in federal funding.
Protect and Expand Adoption Assistance
Adoption from foster care can be a bright light for the future for
many of the young people who otherwise would have aged out of care.
Between 1998 and 2004, more than 330,000 foster children were adopted
into loving, caring families. But adoption is not the end of the story.
Children who have been abused or neglected--and bounced from foster
home to foster home--do not emerge unscathed. The government has a
moral obligation to make a long-term commitment to adoptive and
guardianship families who take into their homes foster children who
have languished in care for far too long, many of whom are older and
have multiple special needs.
Adoption assistance (or subsidy) is one critical support for
families who adopt children with special needs from the foster care
system. Subsidies help strengthen these new families and enable many
foster parents to adopt children already in their care by ensuring that
they do not lose support as they transition to adoption.
Michigan resident Vernard adopted his son Alex when he was three.
``Alex had been in 10 placements before I got him,'' says Vernard.
Because of Alex's diagnosis of reactive attachment disorder and other
special needs, Vernard recalls, ``I made absolutely sure I received
adoption medical subsidy prior to the adoption, because I knew
accepting even a minimum amount of subsidy would be in Alex's best
interest. I knew that if Alex required residential treatment or out-of-
home placement--due to his multiple placements, and the neglect and
physical and sexual abuse he experienced--there was no way I could
afford $300 to $400 a day or even trained respite support.'' Alex
receives a $300 monthly subsidy, but during their first four years
together, Vernard spent more than $850 per month to meet Alex's needs,
including four different therapies to help Alex.
Currently, the federal government shares in a portion of adoption
assistance costs only for children whose birth family income is below
the 1996 Aid to Families with Dependent Children income standards. In
contrast, states are obligated to provide protection to every abused or
neglected child, regardless of family income. Unfortunately, a funding
system that ties adoption assistance to outdated income guidelines has
resulted in a system in which far fewer children are eligible for Title
IV-E federal support. In 1998, 53 percent of foster children were
eligible for federal support, but by 2005, the percentage had dropped
to 46 percent--or 35,000 fewer Title IV-E eligible children. This
number is projected to decline by another 5,000 per year.\13\ The loss
of IV-E eligibility often translates into the eventual loss of IV-E
adoption assistance eligibility.
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\13\ Kids Are Waiting. (2007). Fix the Foster Care Lookback.
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As a result of this declining federal support, states and
localities must share a greater burden for foster care and adoption. In
some states, this has severely limited the amount of funding that can
go to prevention or adoption support. Recent state legislation
demonstrates the need for rapid federal action on this issue. In 2005,
as allowed by federal regulations, Missouri enacted legislation that
would have instituted a means test for state-funded adoption assistance
agreements and would have ended more than 1,000 existing adoption
assistance agreements. Although a federal district court found the law
unconstitutional on May 1, 2007, other states may follow Missouri's
example in an attempt to save funds. Such short-sighted policies will
relegate more children to foster care, rather than helping them leave
care to a permanent family.
A recent study by Barth et al. suggests that such adoption
assistance cuts are not cost-effective: ``[C]uts in subsidy amounts
could reduce the likelihood of adoption and ultimately increase costs
for foster care.'' \14\ In contrast, a new study suggests that a small
increase in adoption assistance would result in increased adoptions,
again saving money by reducing higher foster care costs.\15\
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\14\ Barth, R., Lee, C., Wildfire, J., & Guo, S. (2006). A
comparison of the governmental costs of long-term foster care and
adoption. Social Service Review, 80 (1).
\15\ Hansen, M., & Hansen, B. (2006). The economics of adoption of
children from foster care. Child Welfare, 85(3)
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In the long run, adoption--even well-supported adoption--saves
money and ensures that young people don't age out of care without a
place to call home. The Barth et al. study demonstrates that the 50,000
children adopted each year save the government from $1 to $6 billion,
when compared to maintaining those children in long-term foster care.
Savings result from reduced administrative costs, medical courts, court
expenses, compared to the costs of seeking adoptive families and
providing adoption assistance.\16\
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\16\ Barth et al. (2006). (See complete citation above.)
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Recommendations: Since 1988 NACAC has advocated for an elimination
of the link between birth parent's income and eligibility for Title IV-
E adoption assistance. It makes no sense to tie a child's eligibility
to the financial status of parents whose parental rights have been
terminated. State and federal assistance should be required to ensure
support after adoption for every abused and neglected child--not just
every child born into a poor family. As proposed by Senator Jay
Rockefeller, the Adoption Equality Act of 2007 would extend Title IV-E
adoption assistance to every child with special needs adopted from
foster care. The House should pass a companion bill. Such legislation
would also save states money currently spent on costly income-
eligibility determinations. The savings could then be invested in
supporting families after permanency or preventing foster care
placements in the first place.
Adoption assistance is designed to help an adoptive family meet as
child's needs without creating an undue financial burden on the family.
Therefore, a program in which the federal government provides support
to all children with special needs adopted from foster care must
maintain the federal prohibition against using the adoptive family's
income to determine eligibility.
Fund More Intensive Post-Permanency Support
Adoption from foster care can ensure that young people do not age
out of care without a permanent and loving family. Unfortunately, some
youth who age out of care today are coming from disrupted adoptive
placements that did not receive enough support. Adoption assistance is
a necessary support for children adopted from foster care, but it is
often not enough. As Babb and Laws detail, children adopted from foster
care face a variety of special needs: mental illness, fetal alcohol
spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, emotional
disabilities, attachment disorder, as well as physical
disabilities.\17\ Groze and Gruenewald agree that ``[f]amilies face
enormous challenges and strains in adopting a special-needs child.''
\18\
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\17\ Babbs, A., & Laws, R. (1997). Adopting and advocating for the
special needs child: A guide for parents and professionals. Westport,
CT; Bergin & Garvey.
\18\ Groze, V., & Gruenewald, A. (1991). Partners: A model program
for special-needs adoptive families in stress. Child Welfare, 70 (5),
581-589.
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While adoptions doubled from 1997 to 2004, the federal investment
in post-adoptive services failed to keep pace. More people are adopting
more children, and the children are often older, have been in care
longer, and face daunting special needs. The Center for Advanced
Studies in Child Welfare notes that older children and children with
disabilities are at highest risk for adoption disruption.\19\ Few
states or counties have the comprehensive services necessary to meet
parents' needs as they raise children who have been abused and
neglected and have resulting physical and emotional special needs. We
at NACAC have met far too many families who are deeply committed to
their adopted children, but are unable--or barely able--to meet their
children's mental health needs.
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\19\ Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare. (1998). CASCW
practice notes # 4: Post-adoption services. [Online]. Available: http:/
/ssw.che.umn.edu/img/assets/11860/PracticeNotes_4.pdf [Retrieved: May
7, 2006].
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In 1998, Pam and Tom from Louisiana adopted two-and-a-half-year-old
Danielle from foster care. Because of the horrible abuse she had
suffered, Pam explains that by age four Danielle ``was doing things
like biting the upholstery leather out of my van, growling at me,
destroying furniture, and trying to hang herself with a clothes hanger
in the closet.''
Danielle was on a waiting list for mental health services for more
than six years. A few months ago, Danielle was admitted to a
psychiatric hospital and was diagnosed bipolar-manic and psychotic. ``I
am willing to do whatever it takes to care for my children,'' says Pam.
``But I know now I can't do it alone.'' Danielle's adoption subsidy is
not nearly enough to cover her expenses. The family could use a trained
personal care attendant, in-home therapy, family therapy, and short-
term respite care. Unfortunately, due to lack of funds, many of these
services are not currently available through Louisiana's adoption
assistance program.
Corvette of New York adopted nine-year-old Malik from foster care.
``He hallucinates and sees spiders even though there are no spiders,''
says Corvette. When Malik starts to see spiders, he panics and loses
control. Not long ago, Malik needed to be admitted to hospital in-
patient treatment for more than two weeks. Corvette has a deep, abiding
love for Malik, but knows love isn't enough to heal his past hurts and
meet his special needs. She relies on Medicaid, monthly adoption
assistance, and other services to provide medication, therapy, a
medical school setting for Malik, training for her, and more. These
services enable her to keep Malik at home, which is considerably less
expensive than the residential treatment he might otherwise need.
Post-adoption and post-permanency supports cut down on the risk of
disruption and dissolution. Most adoptions succeed, but as many as 10
to 25 percent of public agency adoptions of older children disrupt
before finalization, and a smaller percentage dissolve after adoption
finalization.\20\
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\20\ National Adoption Information Clearinghouse. (2006).
Postadoption services: A bulletin for professionals. [Online].
Available: http://naic.acf.hhs.gov [Retrieved May 2006].
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Recommendations: Funding of Title IV-B must be increased, and the
new funding should cover post-permanency support. Currently, good post-
adoption programs are providing basic information, support, training,
and other services to families in many areas. It is not enough. More
resources are needed for adoption-competent mental health services and
case management programs that will ensure that children with difficult
histories and current mental health and behavior problems do not
needlessly return to foster care or devastate their new families. If we
want adoption and guardianship to be truly permanent, and to prevent
children from aging out of care with no permanent family, we must find
the resources to provide in-depth, sometimes intensive support to these
permanent families. It is far more economical--not to mention better
for children and families--to provide these services now to ensure that
children don't return to foster care.
Conclusion
Much needs to be done to provide supportive services to youth who
are leaving foster care with no connection to a family. The government
that has taken responsibility for them must continue to meet its
obligation to ensure that these youth are ready for life on their own,
and to provide supportive services for those youth who are not yet
ready. But the best way to ensure that youth are going to make it
successfully into young adulthood is to make sure that they have a
permanent, legal family of their own. As we all know, families are
there for youth long after age 18, and can do much more than a
bureaucracy ever could to help youth handle the stresses of their lives
to come.
It is time to reform the federal child welfare financing system to
facilitate the achievement of the goal we all have for children and
youth--that they have a safe, loving family to be there for them
forever.
Statement of Patricia K. Jennings, Roswell, New Mexico
I am a mother of 5, the wife of State Senator Tim Jennings (D), Co-
Chairman of Senate Finance Committee and Chairman of Tax and Revenue
Stabilization Committee, an advocate for people with disabilities, and
the Executive Director of the New Mexico Medical Insurance Pool and
past-chairman of the National Association of Comprehensive Health
Insurance Programs (NASCHIP). I authored the Pool legislation in 1987
when I could not purchase health insurance coverage for my oldest
child, Courtney, who has Down's Syndrome. I have also lobbied the New
Mexico Legislature and successfully lowered the school age to three for
children with disabilities prior to the federal legislation passing. I
have assisted in writing IDEA regulations and have been very involved
in policymaking for the past 29 years.
In my spare time, I volunteer as a mediator between families of
children with disabilities or at-risk needs, and the state or other
systems. In 1991, the Roswell Independent School District requested
that I assist them in negotiating with a very difficult family with an
extremely difficult child. That is when I met the cute little second
grader named Josh. However cute he might have been, Josh was in no way
like the typical second grade boy. He had serious behavior and learning
issues and acting out included trying to stab a bus driver with a pair
of scissors he had hidden in his socks. Negotiations between the family
and the schools had failed, so the schools and family agreed that I
would serve as the treatment guardian for Josh, and I was appointed by
the courts by Judge Chip Johnson.
After a few months, the family finally agreed to place this
extremely troubled child into the Children's Psychiatric Unit at the
University of New Mexico Hospital. After months of work, Josh was
released to a therapeutic foster treatment center in Albuquerque. While
there, he was sexually abused by another young boy in the center. It
was quite a while before anyone learned of this, though, and he had
already moved into another setting before we found out. Josh was moved
to a therapeutic foster treatment home in Belen, much to his parents'
dismay. However, the setting was the best part of Josh's troubled life
to this day. After many months, the provider and the therapeutic foster
family began inquired about the possibility of adopting Josh. Everyone
who knew Josh and his family were in full agreement that the worst
possible outcome for Josh's success would be for him to return home,
ever. With the parent's horrible emotional treatment of Josh, and
refusal to get any assistance from anyone in order to learn more
appropriate ways to parent, there was no hope for Josh's future within
the family.
This simple inquiry caused the biological parents to begin to
threaten and constantly harass the provider agency until the agency
decided to remove Josh from the therapeutic treatment home in Belen to
another provider in Roswell where Josh's family lived. This was against
the wishes of the therapists, the foster family and myself, but the
agency wanted to wash their hands of this very difficult family. The
new foster family had to participate with visitation schedules with the
biological family, which was extremely disruptive to Josh's progress
and the therapeutic foster family was not able to work with Josh. His
behaviors worsened.
Eventually, the second therapeutic foster family failed and Josh
had to be moved to yet another setting. He was never placed in a family
with children. Josh was also now being educated in a building separate
from all other children. He was well known to the school system as the
most dangerous child in Roswell.
As Josh became older, his contacts with other children gave me
concern that he would act out sexually toward another child if given
the right opportunity. A psychological evaluation was ordered for Josh
to determine his potential for sexually abusive behaviors toward other
children. The psychologist determined that he posed no threat to others
in that regard. However, I disagreed, and Josh was receiving therapy to
address these concerns.
Within a few weeks of the evaluation, Josh was at a therapy session
at a counseling office where the secretary's seven or eight year old
son was playing in the waiting room while waiting for his mom to get
off work. Josh was the last patient and the two boys ended up alone
together in the men's restroom where Josh proceeded to sexually assault
the young boy.
Josh was arrested and eventually placed in the New Mexico State
Hospital in a program that I had recommended to the Judge. It was
another excellent placement for Josh where he truly learned more
appropriate behaviors and responded well with not only the staff, but
with other boys from across the state that were very similar to Josh.
He was there for a number of years, which was the only stable
environment he had experienced since leaving his family's home at
seven.
Shortly before Josh's eighteenth birthday, the hospital released
him back to his parents. This was done with no notice to the schools,
the mental health system in Roswell, or anyone else. Once a child lands
in the criminal justice system, the rest of the systems in a state that
are designed to work with such a child are completely disregarded.
Josh's family had not lived with Josh for over eleven years. He was
quickly thrown out of the house and onto the streets of Roswell. He had
nothing but the clothes on his back. I had no notice that any of this
had occurred. I was with my children when we saw Josh on the street one
day. We stopped to visit and see how he was doing. We were appalled. He
was thin, hungry, dirty, sick and depressed. My children begged me to
take him home, but I could not risk their safety for Josh.
My husband and I have tried for 4 years now to get help for Josh.
We have him in an apartment and on SSDI and Medicaid. He can not work
without intensive supported employment services, which he is not
eligible for. He did not qualify for the Developmental Disabilities
Waiver because his IQ is about 70, too high to be determined DD. His
learning disabilities and inability to read or write well enough to
fill out a job application still did not help him to qualify. We have
accessed independent living centers, the Division of Vocational
Rehabilitation, the Children Youth and Families Department, the
Department of Health and the Human Services Department. No one can
help.
Today, Josh remains in a little run down apartment. We have
provided him with furniture and the necessities of living. He can not
work, has no friends, walks for miles to get anywhere and is frequently
beaten and robbed of coats, bikes or whatever he is in possession of.
We at least have him in a place that is safe. He comes by our office
and we take him grocery shopping and deliver him and his groceries to
his apartment. We provide him with phone cards for his cell phone so he
can call us if he needs us. We have tried to get him to get
appointments with the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, but he is
unable to remember to keep his appointments. He needs someone with him
to help him do the day to day living tasks, although he can manage to
heat up food and clean his apartment to some degree.
Josh is the perfect example of why we need services for those who
age out of the foster care system. He is a young man waiting for the
next tragedy to happen to him. Our community has invested so much in
this young man during his pre-eighteen years with high dollar therapy,
therapeutic foster care, hospitalizations, and education. One could say
it has been successful since he has never killed anyone and is not now
in jail. That was what we most worried about when Josh was little. He
has not abused a child since turning eighteen, and maybe he won't ever
again. He has not stolen or injured anyone that we know of. But the
state has failed Josh. He has potential, just as my daughter with Down
Syndrome. With supported employment and assisted living, Josh's life
after his sentence to the state hospital could have turned out
completely different. He could be gainfully employed, healthy and most
of all, not a danger to himself or others in this community.
In a recent trip to China, our delegation asked to see a home for
children who have no families. We found that China is taking care of
these children until they are gainfully employed. They do not release
them from the ``welfare house'' until they have been educated and in a
job where they can support themselves, and they must have a roof over
their head. This is vastly different than here, where we release them
to fend for themselves.
I think we in the United States of America can and should do
better. If you need ideas on what to do, I would be happy to provide
some.
If you have any questions or wish to discuss this further, please
feel free to contact me. I truly wish I could have been there in
person, but I did not know about this hearing until tonight when I was
reviewing schedules regarding risk pool funding. Thank you for this
opportunity to submit this information on this very critical issue.
Statement of Seattle University's Fostering Scholars Program,
Seattle, Washington
The Fostering Scholars Program at Seattle University welcomes the
opportunity to submit written testimony for the Committee Hearing on
Children Who Age Out of the Foster Care System.
Seattle University
With just over 7,000 students, Seattle University is the largest
independent university in the Northwest. With a 29 percent student of
color population, it is also one of the most diverse universities in
the West. Seattle University is guided by its mission:
Seattle University is dedicated to educating the whole person, to
professional formation, and to empowering leaders for a just and humane
world.
Through its Fostering Scholars Program, Seattle University supports
one of the most underrepresented and underprivileged groups in higher
education--youth who age out of the foster care system. In Washington
State, where only three out of ten foster youth graduate from high
school before emancipating from foster care and only 25 percent of
foster youth enroll in a postsecondary program immediately after high
school (Washington State Department of Social and Health Services
(DSHS) Performance Report, 2005), the need for higher education to
improve its outreach to and support of these students is obvious. By
developing an integrated program of support for former foster youth at
Seattle University, the Fostering Scholars Program works to improve the
prospects of foster youth, and to transform the poor outcomes we often
witness from children emancipating from our nation's foster care
system.
Foster Youth and Higher Education
The nation's support of the growing population of youth in foster
care is lacking by any measure and as a result, thousands of young
people are not reaching the educational and life outcomes that they
each deserve. The sobering statistics on former foster youth employment
confirm the narrow scope of opportunity that awaits undereducated
youth. In a recent study, within one year of emancipation, 43 percent
of former foster youth were employed and 45 percent were looking for
work. Of those employed 47 percent were making wages at or below the
poverty line. The prospects for this group do not improve with time: at
four years after emancipation, 50 percent of former foster youth were
unemployed. (Foster Youth Transition to Independence Study, Office of
Children's Administration Research, DSHS, 2004).
Despite these grim statistics however, there are many indications
that these young people intrinsically understand the value of
education. Their educational aspirations do not mesh with their record
of low academic achievement. In one survey, researchers found that
despite little promotion of college in the foster care system, more
than half of all Washington foster youth surveyed had plans to obtain
either a bachelor's or associate degree (Foster Youth Transition to
Independence Study, Office of Children's Administration Research, DSHS,
2004). Nationally, foster youth face a similar predicament: high
aspiration coupled with the reality of low achievement. Seventy percent
of the 20,000 young adults who emancipate from foster care each year
want to go to college. If we do not change the way we support the
ambitions of former foster youth, the vast majority of our most
vulnerable young people will never have the benefit of a college
education.
Why Former Foster Youth Need Extra Support to Attend College
It is well documented that because they experience high rates of
school instability and other risk factors associated with school
failure (such as early childhood maltreatment and neglect and learning
disabilities), foster youth often perform poorly in school and are
rarely well prepared for college. As Burley and Halpern documented in a
2001 study of foster youth in Washington State, compared with non
foster youth twice as many foster youth repeated a grade, changed
schools during the year, or enrolled in special education programs
(Educational Attainment of Foster Youth: Achievement and Graduation
Outcomes for Children in State Care, Washington State Institute for
Public Policy, 2001). Of those foster youth exiting care in 2004, 35.4
percent received some type of special education services (DSHS
Performance Report, 2005).
In addition to academic needs, foster youth also have unique
social, emotional health needs. In their ten-year study of 479 foster
care youth and review of 659 case records, Pecora and his colleagues
report that a disproportionate number of former foster youth have
clinical levels of depression, social phobia, panic disorder, post-
traumatic stress disorder, or drug dependence. Overall, former foster
youth are twice as likely as youth not in foster care to have mental
health problems (Pecora et al, 2005).
Beyond the academic and health related barriers to obtaining a
college education, there are several other unique barriers that arise
for foster youth who aspire to attend college. For example, it is not
uncommon for students who have aged out of foster care to become
discouraged or drop out when their on-campus residence or dining
facility closes for the holiday or summer break and they are left with
nowhere to go. Understanding and addressing this and other complexities
of a foster youth's life is critical for institutions of higher
education who seek to promote college success for former foster youth.
Fostering Scholars Program
In June, 2006, Seattle University welcomed its first seven
Fostering Scholars and will welcome four additional Scholars in 2007.
Once on campus, scholarship recipients receive year-round room and
board; full tuition and fees; health insurance; personal support; a
program of cohort and leadership development; work-study jobs; access
to tutoring, therapy and counseling as needed; and the benefit of an
emergency fund. Students also receive guidance from the Fostering
Scholars Director in accessing the myriad of student development
programs on campus, ranging from Office of Multicultural Affairs
programs to intramural sports and from student academic support
services to community service opportunities. While enrolled at Seattle
University, Fostering Scholars are expected to make progress toward a
degree and the attainment of life and leadership skills needed for
independent and fulfilled living.
Private donations and a generous grant from the Stuart Foundation,
a national leader for children and youth, make these program components
possible. Additionally, Seattle University's partnerships with state
leaders in foster care advocacy, Treehouse and the College Success
Foundation, are critical to the program's success. In order to create
viable options in higher education for former foster youth, Seattle
University is committed to forging community and governmental
partnerships to help prepare foster youth for attending and graduating
from college. Seattle University recognizes how important educational
access is for all young people today, and is committed to making the
college dream possible for the most vulnerable of our youth--those
exiting the foster care system. The Seattle University Fostering
Scholars Program urges Congress to affirm its commitment to children
and youth in care by strengthening and expanding programs, such as the
Education and Training Voucher (ETV), aimed at supporting the college
aspirations of youth aging out of foster care.
Thank you for the opportunity to submit a written statement on
behalf of Seattle University's Fostering Scholars Program.