RECOGNIZING NATIONAL FOSTER CARE MONTH -- (House of Representatives - May 15, 2007)
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Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, the month of May marks National Foster Care Month. The foster care system provides a safe sanctuary for children who are unable to live safely in their homes.
Its primary goal is to ensure their safety and well-being by providing them with critical services and working to find a safe and loving and permanent home. Over 500,000 American children are in the foster care system on any given day with over 100,000 of these children waiting to be adopted. They need our help, and I believe this is one place where every Member of the House can come together as one, committed to protecting these innocent children.
This morning, we, Mr. Weller and I, had a hearing in the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support to review the changes and the challenges that child welfare agencies encounter in achieving positive outcomes for children and families under their service.
The hearing identified a number of areas that need to be improved to strengthen children and families, which I am committed to addressing. The hearing also highlighted the commitment of some of our most selfless Americans on behalf of some of our most vulnerable children. Millions of Americans serve as foster parents, and, in doing so, have unselfishly opened their homes and their lives to children in need. These families are to be commended for working cooperatively with human service agencies and biological parents to strengthen the lives of these foster children.
We should also recognize the work of dedicated case workers, juvenile court justices, physicians and the advocates who have committed their lives to ensuring the safety and well-being of our most vulnerable children. These tireless workers should be commended for their work on behalf of children and families in crisis.
I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing May 2007 as National Foster Care Month and commending the dedication of foster parents, case workers, judges, service providers and advocates for their commitment to our Nation's most vulnerable children.
Madam Speaker, I would now ask unanimous consent to allow Representative Cardoza of California, who is the author of this resolution and a staunch advocate for improving the well-being of children in foster care, and actually an adoptive parent of a couple of kids from foster care, so he's done it at every level, to control the balance of my time.
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