Kids Are Waiting
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KAW E-Updates

Kids Are Waiting E-Update December 2007

Kids Are Waiting

  • Important new legislation to change the way foster care is financed was introduced in Congress.
  • Recent national reports and briefs provided fresh insights into the foster care system and identified areas that still need to be addressed.
  • Year-end events in Washington, D.C. highlighted the need for foster care finance reform.
  • New Web sites showcase the experiences of youth who have lived in foster care and advocate for reform from the viewpoint of those whose lives have been shaped by the system.

The Kids Are Waiting campaign will continue to promote the need for broad reform of the foster care system into 2008. We know that meaningful change will only happen if there are sustained calls for reform from the communities and individuals touched by the foster care system, so we invite you to join us in helping make those reforms a reality. More than 500,000 children are waiting for safe, permanent families. How much longer must they wait?

Foster Care Reform Legislation Introduced in 2007

The Tribal Foster Care and Adoption Access Act of 2007 (S. 1956/H.R. 4688):

The Tribal Foster Care and Adoption Act would help Indian Tribes better address the needs of Native American children in foster care by allowing direct access to Title IV-E federal foster care and adoption assistance funds. Currently, only those Indian Tribes that have developed a special contract with a state can receive federal reimbursement for providing child welfare supports and services. Without access to reliable federal funding, Tribes will continue to struggle to provide the full array of programs needed to help keep families together and reduce the need for foster care.

This measure was introduced by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) with strong bipartisan support. Original co-sponsors include Senators Pete Domenici (R-NM), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Gordon Smith (R-OR), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), John McCain (R-AZ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Carl Levin (D-MI). A companion bill was introduced in the House by Representative Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) and bipartisan members of the House Ways and Means Committee, including Representative Dave Camp (R-MI) and Ranking Member Representative Jerry Weller (R-IL) and Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). The Senate version continues to add cosponsors with Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) joining his Montana colleague Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) in support of the bill.

The Adoption Equality Act of 2007 (S. 1462 / H.R. 4091):

The Adoption Equality Act would open doors to adoption for thousands of children in foster care by allowing all special needs children in foster care to receive federal adoption assistance payments. This measure was introduced by Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), a long time champion of children in foster care, and is supported by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX). Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN) sponsored a companion bill in the House with the support of bipartisan colleagues.

The Partnership for Children and Families Act (H.R. 4207):

Introduced by Representative Shelley Berkley (D-NV), the Partnership for Children and Families Act strengthens the federal/state partnership for both adoption assistance and foster care maintenance by eliminating the outdated income eligibility restriction for IV-E that prevent all abused and neglected children from being eligible for federal foster care support. The legislation also makes improvements to ensure that all children with special needs in foster care are eligible for adoption assistance. In addition, the bill would allow states to reinvest savings related to safely reducing the days children spend in foster care in other child welfare services, such as those that help children and families prevent the need for foster care in the first place.

The Kinship Caregiver Support Act (H.R. 2188 / S. 661):

The Kinship Caregiver Support Act will enable thousands of children in foster care to leave the system to join permanent loving homes by giving states the option to use federal IV-E funding to support relatives who become legal guardians of children they have been caring for as foster parents. The bill also establishes the Kinship Navigator Program to help relative caregivers learn about and access existing programs and services. Bill sponsors Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) continue to gain support in the Senate for this legislation, with co-sponsorship reaching 22 in the Senate. House bill sponsors Representatives Danny Davis (D-IL) and Tim Johnson (R-IL) also continue to grow support for their bipartisan bill, with a total of 34 supports so far in the House.

Reports and Briefs

A Matter of Justice for American Indian and Alaskan Native Children

American Indian and Alaskan Native children are overrepresented in the nation's foster care system at more than 1.6 times the expected level according to a new report released by the National Indian Child Welfare Association and Kids Are Waiting. Time for Reform: A Matter of Justice for American Indian and Alaskan Native Children reports that tribal governments lack direct access to some of the largest sources of federal child welfare funding. As a result, many tribes are unable to provide preventive supports and services or culturally appropriate programs that might help keep families together, keep children out of foster care or limit the amount of time they spend in care before exiting safely for permanent families.
Successes for Children and Families: It's Time to Build on What Works in Child Welfare

Successes for Children and Families: It's Time to Build on What Works in Child Welfare released by the North American Council on Adoptable Children highlights nine programs that are successfully applying innovations in their foster care programs to improve outcomes for children in care. These includes efforts that help children stay out of foster care in the first place, return safely to their birth families, or exit foster care through adoption or guardianship. In its recommendations, the report details the need for increased flexibility of federal funding to help states maintain, enhance, or create such innovative programs to ensure that children have the permanent families they need.

Hoping for a Family for the Holidays

More than 340,000 of the half million children and youth in foster care will spend the holidays without permanent family, according to a brief by FosterClub and the Kids Are Waiting campaign. The brief, titled Hoping for a Family for the Holidays, found that while some children in foster care spend the holidays with relatives or other adults committed to them, two-thirds of foster children will be with unrelated foster families, or in group homes or institutional settings. On average, children living in foster care spend nearly 29 months in the system - which means at least two holiday seasons without a permanent family. Reform of the federal foster care system would enable more children to spend the holidays and the rest of the year with safe, permanent families.

Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth

Foster youth allowed to remain in care past age 18 are more likely to go to college than those who exit at 18, according to a study released by Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago last week. The Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth, which is the most comprehensive examination of youth leaving foster care since the passage of the 1999 Foster Care Independence Act, found that extending care might also increase earnings and delay pregnancy. The study, which follows a sample of youth in Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois as they transition from foster care to adulthood, found that compared to adolescents not in foster care, youth aging out of the child welfare system are faring poorly as a group.

Recent Events

Adults Who Spent Part of the Childhood in Foster Care Stage Thanksgiving Dinner with their 'Parents' on Capitol

On Wednesday, November 21, Foster Care Alumni of America hosted a Home for Thanksgiving dinner on the steps of the nation's Capitol. More than two dozen adults from across the United States - all of whom spent at least part of their childhood or adolescence in foster care - gathered at the U.S. Capitol to recognize that, this year, more than half a million foster children will spend the holidays without a permanent family. When children are removed from their parents and placed in foster care, the government assumes the role of parent. "I'm 21 now and I can't remember a time when I was in foster care that we really celebrated Thanksgiving," said Foster Care Alumni of America member Eshawn Peterson of Tucson, Arizona, who spoke at the event. "I have felt so incomplete during the holiday season, especially since the people I care about most, my six sisters, were separated from me for so long."

Event Honors American Indian Children Involved in Child Welfare, Senator Max Baucus

Tribal leaders and American Indian/Alaska Native parents and youth from across the nation joined child welfare advocates and federal policy-makers at Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian Dec. 11 to recognize AI/AN children and families involved in the U.S. foster care system. Hosted by the National Indian Child Welfare Association, the National Congress of American Indians and the Kids Are Waiting campaign, the event acknowledged the struggles faced by the more than 500 federally recognized tribes in meeting the needs of children and families in their care, and Congress' role in providing the funds necessary to provide vital programs and services.

The event also honored Senator Max Baucus, D-Mont., for his leadership role in recognizing the needs of AI/children in foster care. In August, Baucus introduced the bipartisan Tribal Foster Care and Adoption Act of 2007 which would both grant tribes direct access to federal foster care and adoption funds and create accountability measures to ensure that tribes meet the needs of the children in their care.

Stocking Stuffer Reception Draws Attention to Need for Foster Care Finance Reform

Federal policy makers, legislative staff, child welfare advocates, and others joined former foster youth from across the country to stuff holiday stockings and send holiday cards to children currently in the foster care system at a Congressional reception sponsored by FosterClub. More than 300 stockings filled with gifts and treats will be distributed by FosterClub to youth still in foster care. Former foster youth from California, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee and Wisconsin gathered together to show the more than half a million young people still in the foster care system that they have not been forgotten.

Participants noted that although foster care is a necessary safety net for many children and caregivers may do their best to make the holidays a happy time, children who spend the holidays in foster care often feel especially lonely, isolated and unwanted. By changing the federal structure for how child welfare services are financed, more children could spend the holidays - and the rest of the year - with safe, permanent families.

New Web sites Showcase Youth Voice/Need for Reform

Two new Web sites showcase the experiences and insights of young people who have been in the nation's foster care system and make the case for reform in their own words.

  • The My Story Project, created by the Public Children Services Association of Ohio features video of former foster youth sharing their experiences and emphasizing the types of system reforms that can make a difference for the children and young people in foster care today.
  • Band Together , a project of FosterClub , is a comprehensive advocacy site designed by former foster youth for current and former foster youth, parents and others to mobilize and call for reform of the foster care system. Young people are banding together to make a difference for their peers who have suffered abuse, neglect, or abandonment.