Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, children raised in loving and supportive households grow up to become more productive individuals, benefiting both the individual child and society at large. However, housing instability is linked to poor outcomes for children. Unsafe housing conditions and homelessness can threaten a child's safety. These conditions are often the reason for an investigation by the local child welfare agency, out-of-home placement, or a delay in family reunification.

Homelessness can also lead parents to voluntarily place their children in foster care while they search for housing. Families may also be separated because of shelter policies that exclude teenagers, especially boys. Further, youth aging out of the foster care system are particularly vulnerable to homelessness because they must make the transition to adulthood without support, financial or otherwise, from parents or other trusted guardians.

In Virginia, the Governor's office reported that as of September 2015 there were 5,140 total children in the Virginia foster care program. For fiscal year 2015, the average annual cost of foster care in Virginia was almost $47,000. Further, in 2013 Virginia had approximately 550 youth age out of the foster care system at age 18 without being connected to families. Nationally, over one-fifth of children who age out of the foster care system will experience homelessness at some time after age 18.

The Family Unification Program, FUP, an interagency collaboration between the Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD, and the Department of Health and Human Services to provide housing vouchers to youth aging out of foster care and families involved with the child welfare system. Some of these vouchers also include supportive services, such as money management skills, job preparation, educational counseling, and proper nutrition and meal preparation. Research has shown that housing vouchers, coupled with supportive services, promotes family stabilization and reduces youth homelessness.

While these vouchers have yielded some success, the connections between HUD and HHS are often inadequate to provide effective assistance. Further, no dedicated source of funding is available for the supportive services promised, and too often families and youth are left without the help they need.

That is why I am pleased to introduce with my colleagues Senator Collins, Senator Schatz, and Senator Murray, the Family Unification, Preservation and Modernization Act. This legislation modernizes and improves FUP vouchers, as well as creates and provides supportive housing for at-risk youth and families involved with the child welfare system. By utilizing a housing first model, similar to the one used to combat veterans' homelessness, this legislation will ensure safe and stable housing for youth and families. This bill also strengthens the connections between local public housing agencies and child welfare agencies to promote family stabilization and reunification, replaces the arbitrary 18-month time limit for youth vouchers with a more workable 36-month time limit, expands youth eligibility to those who are 18 to 24 who have left foster care at age 14 or older or will leave foster care within 90 days and are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, provides competitive grants for supportive services specifically targeted to FUP recipients, and promotes self-sufficiency by providing incentive payments to successful, data-driven interventions that improve outcomes.

My wife Anne and I have been long-term supporters in improving our child welfare system. When I served as Governor, we worked together to reform Virginia's foster care system. I am proud to introduce this commonsense, bipartisan legislation that will ensure family preservation and reduce youth homelessness.

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