Recognizing National Foster Care Month

Floor Speech

RECOGNIZING NATIONAL FOSTER CARE MONTH -- (House of Representatives - May 15, 2007)

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Mr. CARDOZA. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of House Resolution 263, a resolution recognizing May, this month, as the National Foster Care Month.

I want to begin my statement today by thanking subcommittee chairman, Mr. McDermott from Washington, for his outstanding support and work with us to bring this resolution to the floor. Chairman McDermott has dedicated virtually his entire life to the work of helping children that have been disadvantaged, and he deserves great praise and thanks for the hard work he continues to do in this Congress.

I also want to recognize Mr. Weller for cooperating with us today in bringing this resolution to the floor, and also for his thoughtful comments that he just prepared.

However, this resolution has a long and tortuous path to reaching the floor today. My staff's been working tirelessly with both the majority and the minority staffs of the Ways and Means and Judiciary Committees. Before this bill was able to reach the floor under suspension, I was forced to make substantive changes which severely, in my opinion, gut the force of this resolution.

Specifically, my original resolution, drawing upon the recommendations of the respected Pew Charitable Trust, made clear that we need more funds for the CASA Program, that we need more funds to better ensure that we have trained personnel working with foster children, and that we provide more resources to State agencies that deal with foster children.

In the interest of comity, I was forced to withdraw all these recommendations. Unfortunately, while of course I still support the thrust of the current resolution, without sufficient resources we will never fully tackle this problem.

I'd also like to just point out, and it's important history for us all to remember, that in the previous majority in the last Congress, we took, in my mind, unconscionable measures to reduce the funding to foster children.

On February 8, 2006, President Bush signed the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. The CBO estimates that this measure cut funds of $1.3 billion over 10 years to foster care and $2.1 billion over 10 years to Medicaid that would affect these children.

I stood up on the House floor on that day in December when it was being debated in this institution and fought against those cuts. I, at that time, called it ``Scroogenomics,'' because we were cutting the money for foster kids right before the Christmas holiday. And those concerns went for nought. The bill was passed anyway and signed into law, and foster kids continue to suffer because of that act.

I won't belabor the point too much at this point because I really want to focus on the needs today. But, Madam Speaker, I speak passionately about foster children because I have a very personal interest in this issue. Seven years ago I adopted two foster children. In fact, Madam Speaker, as an aside, I'm doing this resolution because they asked me to do it today.

Since then, I have advocated on their behalf and on the behalf of the adoption of foster children in the California State Assembly and now here in Congress.

The need is tremendous and the statistics are sobering. It is estimated that there are 800,000 children in foster care at some point during any given year. Moreover, children of color are disproportionately represented in foster care. African American children make up about 16 percent of the Nation's children, but make up 35 percent of the children in foster care. These children enter foster care at higher rates and remain in care longer, for longer periods than white children.

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.

Each year, about 20,000 children age out of the foster care system without ever being adopted, placed with grandparents or any other supportive adult. Oftentimes, these children have no connection whatsoever to any adult.

Several studies released in 2005 documented the special challenges facing these youths, especially in the area of mental health, education and employment. They are especially poorly prepared to be self-sufficient young adults.

These children are waiting. Speaking from personal experience, there is no greater joy in life than helping a child. My wife and I can attest to this every day.

Every child, no matter what their situation that they may be born to, deserves a chance to be raised in a stable and loving home. Innocent children should not be forced to bear the mistakes of their parents. We have a moral obligation to ensure that these children, no matter what background they come from, have a shot that is equal to the shot that every American has to the American dream.

This is a big problem that will require bold solutions. In order to save the next generation of children, we must rededicate ourselves to their welfare and to pledge to do whatever is necessary to nurture and protect them.

This resolution, by highlighting attention to their problems, is a necessary first step. But, Madam Speaker, other dramatic actions need to be taken. That is why I have introduced legislation to expand Medicaid coverage to children who age out of the foster care system, and I'm considering legislation to ensure that every foster child has a CASA representative, a court-appointed special advocate, the same type of court-appointed special advocate that saved my children.

These are urgent problems. They require bold solutions. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

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Mr. CARDOZA. Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, Mr. Weller. I know he cares passionately about these children, and while we sometimes disagree on the specifics, I know that all Members in this institution care passionately about foster children.

But the time to act is now. We need to do more to work on behalf of these children to eliminate the barriers that prohibit them from leading positive lives in society.

We must extend health care coverage to these young people until the age of 21. It's currently a voluntary program. Thirty-three States in this country do not offer health care all the way to the age of majority. We must, in fact, do more. And it is imperative. And frankly, if we can keep these young people out of a life of crime, out of falling into trouble, assisting them into becoming productive citizens, instead of the current situation where nearly 50 percent of children who age out of the foster care system end up homeless after 1 year, we can do better for our citizens and we can, frankly, probably save money to the taxpayers of the United States.

So, Madam Speaker, I urge adoption of this resolution. I urge my colleagues here today within earshot of my voice to redouble their efforts in helping this population of our citizenry that has become disadvantaged.

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