Fair Access Foster Care Act of 2005

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

Mr. Speaker, this bill, the Fair Access Foster Care Act, makes a minor technical change designed to broaden the agencies that can recruit and reimburse foster families to include private welfare agencies. The CBO, Congressional Budget Office, concludes that this modification would impact only ``isolated cases'' within the child welfare system. So it is not any big step forward.

In short, we should not give the American people the false impression that we are actually facing the urgent and unattended needs for countless vulnerable children in this country, because we simply are not. ``Fair Access'' in the title still will not bring any access for over half of the abused and neglected children in America today. Over half of America's most vulnerable children are not merely left behind, they are left out of access, and that simply is not fair.

Make no mistake, we know how to fix it. We could start by investing in prevention, providing sufficient resources for States to work with families to prevent child abuse and neglect. We could start by investing in the people on the front lines; we would do something about the fact that the average tenure of a caseworker in the foster care system is less than 2 years.

We could start by investing in families. We could remove the obstacles in current law that prevent foster children from receiving Federal help if they are in the care of a relative because their parents' home is not safe.

We could start by investing in compassion. Thousands of children are among the victims of Hurricane Katrina, but we ignore pleas for help in spite of what we know to be true. Study after study shows that child abuse and neglect rises in the months immediately after natural disasters, particularly hurricanes; that is happening today in Louisiana. But Republicans and the administration pretend to be deaf and blind to the truth.

Mr. Speaker, I have a letter dated September 22, 2005, from the State of Louisiana. In it the State's Child Welfare Director asks the Bush administration for the same assistance that New York City received after 9/11, to meet the needs of abused and neglected children. And that is not all. The Governor of Louisiana has asked us to help them keep foster children in safe and stable settings and provide services like mental health treatment to counteract the trauma these children endured. Louisiana's leaders asked the administration to partner with them to prevent child abuse and to keep children and their families safely together.

Who can forget the President going down to Louisiana and saying, We will do everything we can to help the people affected by this disaster? Louisiana has asked us to be an extended family in a time of need, Americans helping Americans. But 6 weeks later, the Governor is still waiting for an answer to that letter.

Children remain vulnerable, without fair access, in fact, without any access. As bad as this is, the Republican leaders want their Members to make things even worse. Sometime soon, in fact, the notice on my BlackBerry says on Thursday, the House will consider what is known as the Budget Reconciliation Act. As it stands now, Republican leaders intend to cut resources dedicated to children in foster care.

Cut, let me say it again so the Members can remember it: Cut the resources for children. They intend to reduce the number of children in low-income families eligible for Federal foster care. They intend to reduce the reimbursement for the oversight of foster care for children who live with relatives. And the Republican leaders intend to cut case management and rehabilitative services provided to foster children through the Medicaid program. If they get their way, Republican leaders will take away hundreds of millions of dollars in services for abused and neglected kids and give it away in tax cuts for the rich.

Fair access is a false hope under this Republican leadership. They would like to zero out the problem as if all these kids who need us will simply vanish.

I am not going to let that happen. Not today, not tomorrow, not the day when the so-called budget reconciliation bill comes to the floor. It is a kid-buster bill, and America is better than that. Ask anyone in Louisiana. Ask anyone in America. It is time to fund some compassion. It is time to care for Americans. Americans, not Iraqis, not Afghanis, not anybody else, Americans who need us to help them.

We are making a technical correction today that will benefit a few kids, but Republican leaders need to make a titanic correction in reconciliation or we will all go down with the ship of state. A majority party that is deaf and blind to meeting the needs of our most vulnerable children is a party that has been in power too long.

Mr. Speaker, not even the very rich would fault you and us for putting the children first. Do it while they still have a future we can save.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Houston, Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett).

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

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from California (Mr. Herger) brought out a harmless little bill here today, and some may wonder why we have taken so much time to whale away on the Budget Reconciliation Act which is coming down the road.

The fact is that this issue of child welfare is an issue that we have absolutely neglected in this House, and we are talking about the whole issue of child care.

This one little bill here has the title, which is the part that offends me: ``Fair Access to Foster Care Act.'' Well, advertising like that would be out of order, because that is misrepresenting what this is about. This is a technical corrections bill. But the Republicans want to come out here, and everything is a PR piece: ``Fair Access to Foster Care.'' You do not intend to give to anyone. You are not giving it in this bill. You are not going to give it on Thursday in the reconciliation bill. There is simply no concern about foster children in this Republican leadership.

When they send people like the gentleman from California (Mr. Herger), a good, solid citizen, out here to defend this as ``fair access to foster care,'' people will say, well, I voted for the Fair Access to Foster Care bill, as though voting for a title meant something.

Mr. Speaker, this administration is 6 weeks without picking up a pen and signing a letter to help the kids in Louisiana. That is a President who is leaving people behind. That is a Congress who is leaving children behind. You are not going to get away from it with the Fair Access to Foster Care Act.

I urge all of my colleagues to vote for this bill. We will continue this discussion on Thursday when we have the Budget Reconciliation Act.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman for yielding me this time, and I remain very appreciative of his long-standing interest and support on these important issues dealing with children.

Let me thank the distinguished gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole) for his work on this issue and working, of course, as he has indicated, in a bipartisan way with his constituents back home.

I think it is important to note that those of us who are on this floor and our colleagues obviously have a great concern for our children. So this reporting of the truth about the calamity and the concern about the foster care system in America should not be taken personally. We should all be moving toward trying to improve the system. And I rise in support of the Fair Access Foster Care Act of 2005 simply because it is a procedural change that allows a broader response to the needs of our foster care children.

I happened to have worked in Houston with an outreach committee cochaired by myself and former Congressman Mike Andrews, who used to be a member of the Ways and Means Committee; and we worked on recruitment of foster parents, providing foster parents with more resources. And this was a decade or so ago. Unfortunately, in 2005 we have the same concerns dealing with our foster care system. It is, in fact, broken to a certain extent, and the Fair Access Foster Care Act of 2005 will at least provide the access to not-for-profits to be able to channel the care of foster children, therapeutic care, how important that is, counseling and psychologists and psychiatrists, to build these lives.

But we cannot, Mr. Speaker, deny the fact that more resources are not needed in recruitment, more resources are not needed to give foster parents relaxation, R&R, so that they can come back home to take care of these children. More resources are needed in keeping siblings together, and, of course, as my colleague from the great State of Washington said, more resources are needed to stand in the way of child abuse and neglect.

Might I cite for the Members an article that says ``Record High Numbers of Children Reported in Foster Care.'' This article reports the fact that these numbers are growing and growing and growing. Let me also say that we have seen over the course of 2 months one natural disaster after another: Hurricane Rita, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Wilma, and the terrible tornado in Kentucky and Indiana. In Hurricane Katrina alone, the statistics show that 35 percent of those impacted by Hurricane Katrina will be children.

One of the things that we fail to recite and repeat on the floor of the House, Mr. Speaker, 1,000-plus individuals died in Hurricane Katrina. Many of them are the parents of children now still living with relatives or children that are missing. And the very fact that we have ignored that dilemma shows that downstream we are going to be facing huge numbers of children needing foster care.

In my own congressional district, we have thousands of Hurricane Katrina survivors. Many of the family members are there taking care of other people's children or their relative's children.

So the foster care concept or the structure of foster care unfortunately is a safety net for children who are without any supervision or not having their needs being taken care of because of the family dissolution and other problems. This is an important step to fix the problem to add more people into the system, but this does not, Mr. Speaker, answer the total question of building a foster care system to aid those who suffer from neglect and helping out children in these terrible times.

Mr. Speaker, I speak today in support of S. 1894, the Fair Access Foster Care Act of 2005. Therapeutic foster care is foster care for children with special medical, psychological, emotional, and social needs. These children need comprehensive support and attention, requiring a great deal of commitment and sacrifice from foster care parents. Prior to the placement of a child, a potential therapeutic foster care parent must complete a certification process that involves a background check, a training program, and at least two homestudies.

Generally therapeutic foster care children are not permitted to attend daycare and require ``line of sight'' supervision. That is, therapeutic foster care children must be in view of the foster parents at all times, except when attending school and other approved activities.

Recruiting parents to provide therapeutic foster care is a never- ending job. There are always children waiting for a match to be found. Therapeutic foster care children stay in crisis shelters for the transition period, adding a great deal of stress to their lives.

Since 1992, IV-E funds from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have gone to partially fund both for-profit and nonprofit therapeutic foster care providers.

The problem we are facing is that recently, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS) realized that due to a technicality, for-profit agencies are not eligible to receive IV-E funds from HHS. In addition, other states have come to similar realizations and made arrangements to avoid noncompliance. Unfortunately, some states are not even aware of this discrimination. S. 1894 amends the United States code to allow all therapeutic foster care agencies to receive maintenance payments from the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

The Congressional Budget Office has indicated that any costs associated with this legislation would be insignificant. S. 1894 would amend the United States code to allow all therapeutic foster care agencies to receive maintenance payments from the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The Congressional Budget Office has indicated that any costs associated with this legislation would be insignificant.

In closing, there are over 500,000 children in foster care today. A large number of these children require therapeutic care. The business model of for-profit agencies should not prohibit Title IV-E maintenance cost reimbursement. Now is not the time to prevent highly qualified agencies from placing these children in safe homes.

Mr. Speaker, this bill provides very limited administrative flexibility, essentially just legalizing what a handful of States are already doing with foster care. But this tiny finger of flexibility given with one hand is taken away with both hands from the same abused and neglected children in the companion legislation that this same group of Republican leaders has so enthusiastically endorsed in our committee and which it plans to foist off on the American people this week.

So extreme is the Republican demand for tax breaks and more tax breaks and more tax breaks for those at the top of the economic ladder and the multinational corporations that will not pay their fair share of the tax burden that Republicans have demanded that the same abused and neglected children that they say they would help today, would be the ones to pay the tab for these tax cuts.

Those across America who realize that we need to be doing more for children who are physically or sexually

abused by a parent, or merely abandoned without food or support by a parent who is caught up in a drug habit, need to know that those kids need more help. They need to know that the companion legislation the Ways and Means Committee has approved for consideration in the full House this week would deny those children almost $600 million of federal support.

Most of this is taken from battered, abused, and neglected children who found a new home with a loving family member. Think about it: a grandparent who realizes their child has gone astray and they take their abused, neglected grandchild back into their family to try to give them a chance.

The only federal court, an appellate court, that has interpreted our existing federal foster care law in the case, Rosales v. Thompson, issued a decision that is so clear that the Bush administration chose not to appeal it to the United States Supreme Court. However, the Bush administration has said it will not apply the court's decision to the law in this country outside a number of Western States. Under the court's ruling, abused, neglected, and battered children who seek the safety and stability of a home with grandparents, or other relatives who are not formally licensed as foster caregivers are eligible to receive, quite wisely, federal foster care assistance.

The Republicans are now saying we should deny funding to these grandparents and other relatives that care. The would tear apart tens of thousands of families and disregard the very purpose of the Adoption and Safe Families Act, a Federal law that directs a preference be given to placements with relatives.

For some reason, after endless speeches proclaiming a concern for ``family values,'' the only families that count are those that are sitting up at the top of the economic ladder, while the families that have taken in an abused and neglected child are left behind. This companion bill is the so-called ``reconciliation'' which really ought to be spelled W-R-E-C-K, ``wreck,'' because it is a wreck for these tens of thousands of loving and caring families. It is speeding through this Congress and speaking volumes about how much ``family values'' really count up here.

To say that the Republicans would literally take food from the mouths of babes to fund tax breaks for the rich might sound like partisan rhetoric, but if you watch this Congress this week, that is exactly what you will see.

This very year, President Bush's Office of Management and Budget rated the federal child support program among the highest and most efficient programs in the Federal Government; and yet, in the same bill in which they plan to take away about $600 million from families caring for abused and neglected children, they plan to deny federal support for child support enforcement, as amazing as that might seem.

There has been a 75 percent increase in child support collections from deadbeat dads since fiscal year 1996, adding up to $21.2 billion, a big figure, but it translates, just like these monies for the foster families, into hundreds of thousands of small amounts that put food on the table and allow kids to have the clothes to go to school.

Apparently, the folks that are running this place, the Administration and the House of Representatives do not know what it is like to be a single mom out there trying to get kids through school or to be a single grandmother having to start a second family to care for a grandchild while trying to keep them out of trouble and struggling to put food on the table. A few hundred dollars a month--whether it is from a deadbeat dad or through this foster care program for abused and neglected families--can make a big difference. That little bit of money makes the difference between a child who has a future and a child who ends up just like the abused and neglected parent that placed them in this horrible situation.

And, in the same bill that is a companion to this, House Republicans go even farther than cutting off support for programs that address deadbeat dads and abused and neglected children, they also cut child care funding to the tune of about $500 billion. Those funds are cut from those who are struggling to get off welfare and will result in 270,000 fewer children of poor working families being able to get access to child care in the next 5 years.

This Republican reduction in our federal investment in children will cost us millions and billions of dollars in the long run, but, most importantly, it will deny too many children in this country the opportunity to achieve their full, God-given potential. It is wrong. And while this minor piece of uncontested legislation ought to be approved today, we need to reject this attempt by extremists in this Congress to place all the burden of their fiscal mismanagement on the most vulnerable people in our society.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 1894) to amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to provide for the making of foster care maintenance payments to private for-profit agencies.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 1894, the Fair Access Foster Care Act of 2005. This legislation has recently passed the Senate by unanimous consent.

S. 1894 makes a technical change that will ease the administration of payments to families who assist foster children. It does so by permitting the transmission of foster care maintenance payments through any agency that assists families caring for foster children in licensed settings. Current law prevents the transmission of these payments through private for-profit agencies.

As we have come to learn, public and private agencies that assist families who serve foster children play a pivotal role in promoting child safety and well-being.

While we allow States the flexibility to determine what agencies can best serve children, current law creates administrative burdens that deter the transmission of Federal funds through private for-profit agencies. This legislation would rectify that inequity, ensuring that all public and private agencies that assist families caring for foster children are treated in the same way.

Mr. Speaker, S. 1894 is identical to bipartisan legislation introduced by the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), and I thank him for his work on this legislation. The legislation is supported by the American Public Human Services Association and the Child Welfare League of America. The Congressional Budget Office has informally estimated that the cost of this legislation would be insignificant.

Mr. Speaker, everyone agrees our Nation's children's welfare system is in need of improvement. Unfortunately, this change will only relieve one small facet of a much larger set of administrative burdens that today too often get in the way of ensuring child safety. This legislation is an important step in the right direction, and we must continue to pursue broader reforms in our Nation's child protection programs.

I thank all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their support of today's legislation. I urge all Members to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

I thank the gentleman from Washington for his support for this legislation. I appreciate the concern expressed across the aisle, but the concern is not valid. It is important that we accurately explain the policy included in the spending reform bill, what it will do.

This legislative fix would not alter Federal eligibility for foster care and adoptive assistance. Instead, it would ensure that every State uses the same eligibility criteria for receipt of Federal payments. Promoting child safety and well-being must remain the goal of these programs. And Federal law must be applied evenly in all States. We are doing just that with this policy fix.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), who is the author of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments on the other side of the aisle. However, almost none of what was just discussed has anything to do with what is on the floor today. The bill before us is a good one and one every Member should support. Members will soon have a chance to support needed spending reforms to reduce deficits and help balance the budget. That should be a goal for all of us.

But what we hear today from the other side of the aisle is what we always hear: one, ``no'' on any savings in Federal programs; and, two, ``no'' on commonsense reforms; but, three, ``yes'' on raising taxes on the American people. Unfortunately, it is just the same old liberal wine in the same old bottles.

Mr. Speaker, the legislation before us today is an important step towards improving our Nation's child protection programs. It would ensure that all public and private agencies that assist families who care for foster children are treated in the same manner. It is good legislation and would help States focus their efforts on promoting child safety and well-being.

I would like to again thank my colleagues for their work in this area, and I urge all Members to support this legislation.

General Leave

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on subject of the bill now under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 1894, the Fair Access Foster Care Act of 2005.

This legislation makes a technical change to current law, which will allow foster care maintenance payments to any public or private agency that assists families who care for foster children. This will allow for-profit agencies to operate on the same footing as all other such agencies, but States will continue to decide which agencies to use based on their best judgment about what is in the interest of the children and the families they serve.

The Fair Access Foster Care Act will ease the administrative costs to States that already elect to work with nonprofit agencies, allowing the focus and the money to be concentrated on what really matters.

Speaking for my own State, in Oklahoma there are 15 agencies that provide therapeutic foster care. Five of these agencies operate under a for-profit business model.

Mr. Speaker, I will again note that this legislation does not require any State to contract with for-profit agencies. Individual State agencies charged with the oversight of custody children will continue to create their own rules for licensing child-placing agencies within the State. This legislation is identical to legislation I authored, H.R. 3008, so I am very grateful that this legislation was scheduled for consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I want to extend my gratitude to the gentleman from California (Chairman Herger), the gentleman from Washington (Ranking Member McDermott), and also to the staff of the Ways and Means Committee for guiding this bill through the legislative process.

And finally, Mr. Speaker, I want to extend my thanks to my friend, Dr. Laura Boyd of Norman, Oklahoma. Dr. Boyd and I belong to different parties and have even been on the opposite sides of each other in various campaigns over the years, but we have always had the ability to work together across the aisle when it counted.

Mr. Speaker, Dr. Boyd did a commendable job in raising awareness of this issue, and she was an effective proponent for this needed change in the law. She is a very big reason why we are at this point today.

I urge the Members to support the passage of this bill, S. 1894.