Improving Services for Older Youth in Foster Care Act

Mr. Speaker, last week's shooting in Alexandria left our friend and colleague Mr. Steve Scalise badly wounded. Two brave U.S. Capitol Police officers and a young congressional staffer were also injured. We continue to pray for their quick and their full recovery.

I know that other Members, other staff members, their friends, their families have been affected by this, too. Too often, after a shooting or some other traumatic event, we focus on those injuries that are physical, the ones we can see, while forgetting about those injuries we can't see.

I continue to practice psychology in the Navy at Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, where I work with veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and traumatic brain injury. These veterans come back from witnessing traumatic events while in combat, and some have come close to committing suicide. These brave men and women fight every day against the horrific images that replay in their minds. The wound is invisible; the damage is often long term. They can and do recover with help.

Since last week, I have thought about other groups who witness trauma in their homes and in their neighborhoods. These are the forgotten ones: young kids in Chicago who have become desensitized to the sound of a gunshot or the sounds of police sirens throughout the night, victims of sexual assault on college campuses and elsewhere, children who witness domestic abuse, and youth in foster care.

Most youth in foster care have traumatic family histories and life experiences, including their removal from the birth family, resulting in an increased risk for mental health disorders. A recent study published in Pediatrics found that children placed in foster care were three to five times more likely to suffer from mental health problems such as depression and attention deficit disorder than children who were never in foster care.

Another study revealed that PTSD was diagnosed 60 percent of the time in sexually abused children and 42 percent of the time in physically abused children. A staggering 18 percent of foster children have never been the primary victim of abuse, yet they still suffer from PTSD probably because they witnessed domestic or community violence.

The American Academy of Pediatrics Healthy Foster Care America initiative identifies mental and behavioral health as the ``greatest unmet health need for children and teens in foster care.'' And since most of these kids are not receiving mental health treatment, their problems carry on into adulthood.

Adults who formerly were placed in foster care, known as foster care alumni, have disproportionately high rates of emotional and behavioral disorders; 21.5 percent of foster care alumni suffer from PTSD compared to just 4.5 percent of the general population.

Each year more than 20,000 young people age out of foster care without being ready to live independently. Discharged from care without social support or assistance, these youth are at higher risk for drug use and mental illness, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress, and others. Too often they experience higher rates of unemployment, homelessness, and dependence on public assistance programs.

A lack of a comprehensive mental health screening of all children entering out-of-home care and the need for more thorough identification of youth with emotional and behavioral disorders contribute to these dismal statistics. As well, insufficient youth access to high-quality mental health services highlights our Nation's shortage of providers, in that half the counties in America have no psychologists, no psychiatrists, no clinical social workers, or workers who are licensed as substance abuse providers.

Given the evidence from studies indicating that children in care have significant developmental, behavioral, and emotional problems, quality services for these children are an essential societal investment.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud that the House yesterday took up legislation to address this important issue. H.R. 2847, the Improving Services for Older Youth in Foster Care Act, expands and improves the John H. Chafee Independence Program, which helps current and former foster care youth achieve self-sufficiency. Specifically, the bill will widen the age range of foster youth who can receive assistance under the program.

I am proud to support this bill and will continue to shed light on those who suffer from trauma, who, as a consequence, suffer from either PTSD, depression, or other emotional sequelae. These bills we voted on will continue to give our foster children both help and hope.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my legislation, in conjunction with Representative Faso, to support the education and advancement of foster youth. I want to thank the Representative for his leadership on this issue. I also want to thank Chairman Brady and Ranking Member Neal for their leadership on behalf of the Nation's foster youth.

I do think it is very remarkable, as several other speakers have said, that today we are bringing forward five bipartisan bills to improve the Nation's foster care system. Each one of the bills addresses a serious challenges or gap in that system.

H.R. 2847, the Improving Services for Older Youth in Foster Care Act, allows States to expand the Chafee Grant Program to foster youth up to the age of 23. Currently, the program ends at 21. The Chafee Grant Program provides educational grants and other services to help young people transition into adulthood and become independent.

In May, as part of National Foster Youth Shadow Day that is organized by the National Foster Youth Institute, I had the opportunity to meet a young woman named Doniesha Thomas. Doniesha is from Los Angeles, and spent 20 years in foster care before she aged out. She described her foster home as abusive, and eventually she had to move several times.

Against tremendous odds, Doniesha has continued to persevere and is currently a college student at Los Angeles Trade Tech College, majoring in the administration of justice and minoring in paralegal studies.

Doniesha is just one of a small number of foster youth who actually make it to college. This is despite nearly 70 percent of foster youth expressing a desire to attend college. Those, like Doniesha, who are accepted and attend college face another hurdle, which is graduating. Currently, only 3 percent of foster youth who attend college graduate. Programs like Chafee are designed to help foster youth advance in college, trade school, and employment.

During National Foster Youth Shadow Day, I had the opportunity to speak to many other young people, and several of them described challenges that they face after--well, if they were lucky to graduate high school, where they attend college and then something happens; either they run out of resources or their housing falls through and they have to leave college, so their college is interrupted.

That is why this legislation is so important, because it allows for the flexibility; if the young person is not able to complete college in 4 years, they do have a couple of other years.

One of the things that many people don't realize is that when young people age out of the foster youth system--which typically is at 18, sometimes is at 21, depending on the State--that many times we literally put these young people on the street. They are 18 years old. They are in their foster home. They are given a bag, typically a large- sized trash bag, with all of their belongings, and they are put out on the street left to fend for themselves. With today's economic challenges, there are no 18-year-olds that can fend for themselves without a safety net.

If we think of middle class children, transitioning into adulthood is typically what happens at college. They go to college and they have housing. But if they have any challenges, they can always call home. They can text their parents. Their parents are there to rescue them in case they run out of money or something happens with their housing or their grades.

If we think of a young person out of the child welfare system who is literally put on the streets at the age of 18, you can only imagine what happens; which is why so many children in the foster care system wind up incarcerated. Many young girls wind up trafficked; and we did legislation on that a few weeks ago.

So if we want to stop what happens on the other end, with many young children winding up incarcerated, or early pregnancies, or other challenges, we need to make sure that we provide support for them early on.

H.R. 2847 will allow the flexibility for a student, again, who might need more time to complete their education. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, to give foster youth the same type of flexibility and support that we provide our own children.

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

First of all, I want to thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for yielding.

I strongly support H.R. 2847, the Improving Services for Older Youth in Foster Care Act. This bill would expand eligibility for the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program services and education for older foster youth, and ensure that all funds and education vouchers are used. I want to commend my colleague, Representative Bass, for her longstanding leadership on this bill.

As has been indicated by the ranking member, this important bill, and the other child welfare bills we will consider today, come from the Families First Prevention Services Act. The Families First Prevention Services Act begins a fundamental shift in Federal child welfare policy to preserving families rather than separating them. I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure that we enact the larger bill with these important child welfare provisions and as we consider the other bills separately today.

I would like to note that there are, indeed, five child welfare bills on the floor this afternoon, which is a real testament to the leadership of Chairman Brady and Ranking Member Neal. So I commend both of them for their leadership in bringing the Ways and Means Committee together to the extent that we can have five bills that have been researched, that have been debated; levels of agreement have been reached.

I strongly support the Improving Services for Older Youth in Foster Care Act, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Alabama (Ms. Sewell).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Judy Chu).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Bass), the sponsor of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield myself the balance of my time.

H.R. 2847 would provide important assistance for youth aging out of foster care.

In my State of Illinois, 22 percent of the more than 16,000 children placed in foster care in 2015 are aging out. Illinois is widely regarded as a leader among States when it comes to foster youth aging out of care; therefore, it is, indeed, one of the first jurisdictions in which young people who are in foster care on their 18th birthday were able to remain in beyond the age of 18.

Research conducted by the University of Chicago found that allowing foster youth to remain in care beyond the age of 18 is associated with an increase in child well-being, including postsecondary educational attainment. Specifically, former foster youth from Illinois are twice as likely to have ever attended college, and more than twice as likely to have completed at least 1 year of college by age 21, compared with foster youth in other States that have not been given the option to stay in care beyond 18 years of age.

Due to school mobility issues experienced in high school, only 58 percent of foster youth graduate from high school by age 19, which makes it unlikely that they would be graduated from college by age 21.

Extending access to Chafee Independence Act programs to age 23 rather than cutting these young people off at age 21 would ensure these youth are able to be supported beyond their first year of college. We know that when students lose access to critical financial aid resources such as the education training voucher in the middle of their college journey, it forces them to drop out of college in search of employment.

Last Saturday, I spent 2 hours with a group of young people who had been organized by a young fellow, Kenneth Bennett's son. His name is Taylor Bennett. Taylor is the younger brother of Chance the Rapper. He is 21 years of age and had organized young people who were transgender, who were homeless, who were out of school, who were in need of assistance and help, and they were pleased to know that we were going to be considering this legislation today, which I strongly support.

I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to support H.R. 2847, the Improving Services for Older Youth in Foster Care Act, which would help to ensure that all the congressional resources that would be provided for foster youth will indeed be utilized and make sure they are used to help them in the furtherance of their education and becoming independent.

My colleague, Karen Bass, who visited me just a few weeks ago, has been a leader on this legislation and on foster youth issues for a number of years, and our committee has worked closely with her to move it forward today.

I want to note that this is one of five bills the House is considering today to help at-risk families and children in foster care. All of these bills passed the House last year as part of the Family First Prevention Services Act, which also provided significant new investment in substance abuse, mental health, and parenting skills services to help kids and families avoid foster care when possible.

We continue to work on a bipartisan basis with our leadership and our colleagues in the Senate to find a way to move forward on broader foster care improvements, but today's action provides a good opportunity to once again highlight the sharp rise of children in foster care in the United States and, indeed, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, fueled in part by the opiate crisis.

In Massachusetts, between 2011 and 2015, the number of petitions to remove children from their homes grew 38 percent. Today, Massachusetts is home to nearly 10,000 kids in foster care. Over 1,000 of them are considered at risk of reaching adulthood without being adopted or safely reunified with their birth families. That is why it is so important that we do everything we can to help them finish their education and develop mentoring relationships with supportive adults.

While I am pleased that our committee and the full House are working together to help these young people, we can't ignore the bigger picture, which is the President's attempt to overturn the Affordable Care Act, because it will have real and measurable negative effects on these kids.

Republican Medicaid cuts jeopardize health coverage for older foster youth, the same youth we are trying to help with this bill. By cutting the essential health benefits and Medicaid, there will be a consequence. In turn, this endangers access to substance abuse treatment and, by extension, many of the treatment centers themselves.

Republican proposals to end the Social Services Block Grant would reduce States' abilities to provide substance abuse, mental healthcare, and supportive services to foster parents.

While these larger issues are deeply troubling, today's five children welfare bills, including the one before us now, represent an improvement over the status quo, and it is refreshing to note the bipartisan collaboration that is involved.

In addition to Congresswoman Bass' leadership on this bill to help foster youth, let me also recognize my colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee who are providing great leadership on these very issues--Mr. Davis, Ms. Chu, and Ms. Sewell--for their work on behalf of foster children as reflected in these bills that they have coauthored and that we are considering today.

I urge our colleagues to support this bill and the other bipartisan child welfare improvements being considered today and to work with us to even do more to help foster youth succeed.

I reserve the balance of my time, and I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Danny K. Davis), be allowed to control the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2847) to make improvements to the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program and related provisions.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 2847.

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

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to support the Improving Services for Older Youth in Foster Care Act.

In fiscal year 2015, almost 21,000 youth aged out of foster care, meaning they left foster care without a permanent family connection. Many of them are often poorly prepared for adulthood and lack some of the basic skills they need to be successful adults.

Last year, the House passed the Family First Prevention Services Act, a bill that would improve the lives of children and families by making sure more children can stay safely at home and not enter foster care in the first place, helping to make sure fewer children age out of care. The bill also updated the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program to allow States to assist older former foster youth up to the age of 23, including providing education and training vouchers, to help those young people who do age out to have a better future. Unfortunately, it did not pass the Senate, so it never became law.

I am glad my good friend, Mr. Faso, introduced the Improving Services for Older Youth in Foster Care Act to highlight the needs of these older youth, and I know many will benefit from the changes made by his bill.

Specifically, this bill would support older youth leaving foster care by allowing existing funds used for financial housing, counseling, and employment support to support older youth leaving care. It would also allow HHS to redistribute unspent funds if a State has money remaining at the end of the fiscal year so more youth can be helped with existing resources. And through this bill, we will also be able to learn more about youth leaving foster care and their outcomes, which will help us develop better policies in the years ahead.

I am grateful for the opportunity we have today to support this bill. I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Faso), the sponsor of this bill.

I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Faso).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Franks), my good friend.

Mr. Speaker, having no other speakers, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

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

I want to thank Mr. Faso and Mr. Reed from New York and Ms. Bass from California for introducing this important bill, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

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

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