Beginning in 1988, the month of May has been observed as National Foster Care Month. The first Tuesday in May, which is today, has been recognized by many organizations as National Foster Care Day.
The designations of this month and day have been used as a time to raise awareness to the needs of roughly 370,000 American children that are in [foster care].
It is also a good time to commend the many organizations that serve children in the foster care system.
These children ought to have a safe, loving and permanent home. I applaud the organizations and the individuals who tend to the needs of these children day in and day out.
For decades, I too have worked to support the needs of people who experience the foster care system.
I found that to get a meaningful understanding of what the needs are, young people who experience foster care ought to have the chance to inform us.
So, in 2009, for the purpose I just expressed, I launched the bipartisan Senate Caucus on Foster Youth.
My work with the caucus has helped inform me of the many challenges that children in the foster care system face.
To give just one example, older youth that “age out” of the foster care system without a permanent place to call home or to call family to share life experiences with, often aren’t being set up for success.
These older [youth] desire and need permanent connection with an adult or family. They also need to be supported in ways that are beneficial to their long-term care independence.
Congress ought to continue to explore solutions that improve long-term outcomes for child care and foster care.
I’m committed to supporting the needs of children that experience foster care to help them achieve their full potential.
On this Foster Care Day, I hope others are encouraged to do their part to see that no child goes without the love, safety and stability that they deserve.
I got involved in the foster care issues because I hired a staff person by the name of Sarah Gesiriech, now about thirty years ago.
I didn’t hire her for anything dealing with foster care, but she came to me one day and said, “I’ve been adopted into this family in Urbandale, Iowa, and I’ve observed the foster care system through my life, and I know there needs to be a lot of changes to make sure that the foster care system serves more [of those] needs.”
So, as I usually do if a staff person comes to me with a special interest in something, I encouraged her to pursue that. Now that’s how I got involved in the foster care system.
Sarah Gesiriech worked on some reforms that we passed for the period of time she worked for me, and then she went on to work for nonprofit organizations since then.
We’ve been able to show some real progress because, 30 years ago, we had 700,000 kids in foster care, and I gave the figure of 370,000 still in foster care today. But those 370,000 need our help as much as the 700,000 did several decades ago.
I thank Sarah for getting me involved in this issue for the reforms that we’ve done, and she has the pleasure of today working on some of these issues in the White House under the auspices and directorship of the First Lady of the United States of America, Mrs. Trump.
I wish her well, I wish the First Lady well, and how[ever] I can help, I’d be glad to help.
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