The House Ways and Means Committee, Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, announced hearings on youth who age out of foster care. The hearing will take place on Thursday, July 12, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room B-318 Rayburn House Office Building, and will feature the testimony of many youth who left foster care with no family to call their own.
In announcing the hearing, Chairman McDermott (D-WA) stated, “When most children reach the age of 18, their parents continue to support and help them during their transition into adulthood. As the de-facto parents of foster children, we should do no less. We need to evaluate whether we are meeting that obligation, or whether we are simply showing these kids the door without sufficient support, resources and skills to succeed.”
NACAC is pleased to see this hearing take place and delighted that youth will be heard from directly. We encourage anyone who is interested in submitting written testimony to do so, by the deadline of August 2.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Key Foster Care Reform Legislation Announced
Senators Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) introduced the Fostering Adoption to Further Student Achievement Act (S. 1488) on May 24. This legislation would enable foster youth adopted after their 13th birthday to remain eligible for the same federal financial aid they would have received if they had remained in foster care. As Senator Coleman explained when he first sponsored the legislation in 2005, “Right now, if a teenager is adopted, he or she can lose out on some or all college financial aid depending on his or her adopted parents' financial situation, but if the teen stays in the system and 'ages-out' to 18 without being adopted, he or she is probably eligible for all available loans and grants given their personal financial situation…. The benefits of family and education should go hand in hand, not stand in opposition to each other. This bill would ensure that foster children don’t have to make an impossible choice between a family or an education.”
NACAC has met many former foster youth who had to make the terrible choice between having a permanent family and pursuing a college education. As a teenager, Sheila lived in foster care with her aunt. She knew that if she remained in foster care, she would receive financial assistance that would enable her to go to college. “I’m smart and very good with money,” Sheila explains. “If my aunt adopted me, I would lose my benefits. I mean adoption is great and everything, but you sacrifice a lot. It is crazy the way the system works.”
Passage of the Fostering Adoption to Further Student Achievement Act would ensure that youth like Sheila do not have to make these heart-wrenching decisions.
NACAC has met many former foster youth who had to make the terrible choice between having a permanent family and pursuing a college education. As a teenager, Sheila lived in foster care with her aunt. She knew that if she remained in foster care, she would receive financial assistance that would enable her to go to college. “I’m smart and very good with money,” Sheila explains. “If my aunt adopted me, I would lose my benefits. I mean adoption is great and everything, but you sacrifice a lot. It is crazy the way the system works.”
Passage of the Fostering Adoption to Further Student Achievement Act would ensure that youth like Sheila do not have to make these heart-wrenching decisions.
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