Q: What is National Foster Care Month?
A: Beginning with George H.W. Bush in 1989, the President of the United States has designated the month of May as National Foster Care Month. Initially, National Foster Care Month offered Americans an opportunity to recognize the selfless contributions of foster care parents. National Foster Care Month still serves as time to honor foster parents, but it also spotlights the needs of foster children. There are currently over 500,000 out-of-home foster care children and two million other foster children living with relatives. Most of these children are placed in the care of foster parents or relatives because of child abuse or neglect. Recently, I had the opportunity to meet with a group called Elevate, which is made up of 40 young people who have been or still are in the foster care system. Elevate is a support group for foster kids which teaches advocacy skills through public speaking, writing, artwork, and poetry. These students presented at the National Foster Parents Association Conference, which was held in Washington from May 23-27.
Q: What is being done to assist children in foster care?
A: During my work as a United States Senator, I have made strengthening both the foster care system and the child welfare system a priority. I helped draft the bipartisan 1997 “Adoption and Safe Families Act,” which emphasized permanency by requiring that each state formulate a permanent placement plan when children first enter the foster care system. Since its passage, many states have doubled their adoptions from foster care. In 2001, I used my position on the Finance Committee to enhance tax breaks for adopting, particularly adopting children with special needs. I’ve also worked to improve the coordination between the judicial branch and the state child welfare agency. In 2005, as part of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, I secured $100 million in new funding for court improvement and improved coordination with child welfare agencies. Most recently, I worked to see enacted S.3525, the Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006. This new law represents number of improvements to child welfare system. It reauthorizes the Safe and Stable Families Program, which targets help for vulnerable children and families. It also directs funding to help states meet a standard of monthly caseworker visits for 90 percent of children in foster care. An additional highlight of the act is its grants to improve the well-being of kids in foster care and increase the number of foster kids who are permanently placed after being in a home with methamphetamine or other substance abuse. During a Finance Committee hearing that I chaired last year, I highlighted how drug abuse affects the child welfare system by inviting testimony from Allison Bruno, a mother of two from Cedar Rapids. She talked about her struggle with methamphetamine, the impact it had on her children, and her eventual recovery. I hope that the new resources provided in the Child and Family Service Improvement Act of 2006 will help families by improving access to family treatment programs. There’s always more work to do, and I’ll continue my efforts to improve the child welfare system.