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Foster Care Action Alert and Legislative Update

Kids Are Waiting 

Four items today:

  • Urge Congress to support the Kinship Caregivers Support Act
  • Briefing, new report on subsidized guardianship and Latino experience in foster care
  • New legislation would help Native American children in foster care
  • Congress passes student loan forgiveness program for child welfare workers and others

Last Day for Toll Free Number to Urge Congress to Support Relative Caregivers

Call today! Friday, September 14 is the last day to call your senators or representatives toll free and ask for their support of the bipartisan Kinship Caregiver Support Act (S.661/HR 2188). This effort is being coordinated by AARP, the Alliance for Children and Families, Children's Defense Fund, the Child Welfare League of America, the Center for Law and Social Policy, the County Welfare Directors Association of California, Generations United, Grandfamilies of America, the National Committee of Grandparents for Children's Rights, and the Public Children Services Association of Ohio. (If you aren't able to call today, but still want to contact your member at a later date, simply visit the Congressional website below to identify contact information.)

This federal legislation would help the more than 124,000 children -- 1 out of every 4 in foster care -- who live with grandparents or other relatives. The bill would enable those relatives to become permanent guardians while maintaining crucial financial and social services support for things like medical visits, food, school clothes, and educational tutoring. Research has shown that children who live with relatives are as safe, if not safer, than children placed in non-relative homes; that they are more likely to remain with their siblings and attend familiar schools; and that they are less likely to experience the multiple moves and uncertainty all too common to many youth in foster care.

Call In information: Support Grandparents And Children In Foster Care

Call toll free, (888) 226-0627* from Monday, September 10 through Friday, September 14th. You will be connected to the U.S. Capitol Switchboard. Ask to be connected to the office of your Senators and Representative. Not sure who they are? Ask the Switchboard Operator, or visit www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt.

Message: "I urge Senator/Representative __________ to help grandparents and the children they care for by co-sponsoring the bipartisan Kinship Caregiver Support Act [S. 661 in the Senate; H.R. 2188 in the House of Representatives]. Children need safe and stable families. Thank you."

Capitol Hill briefing on Subsidized Guardianship next Wednesday, September 19!

On Wednesday, September 19th at 4:30 p.m. on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, Generations United will release a Spanish language report on relative caregivers in the United States. The report, titled Every Child Deserves a Permanent Family: Subsidized Guardianship as a Common Sense Solution for Children in Long-Term Relative Foster Care will contain new data on Latino grandparents and other relatives caring for children in the foster care system. The event Una Famila para Cada Nino: Supporting Permanent Families for Latino Children in Foster Care will include remarks from Representative Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), Latino caregivers and youth, and is being co-sponsored by Generations United and Kids Are Waiting. To attend this event RSVP to: Vicki Bolton at Generations United, at vbolton@gu.org or 202-289-3979.

Legislation Would Provide Nation's Tribes with Direct Access to Federal Foster Care and Adoption Funding

Currently most of the nation's Tribes do not have direct access to federal foster care and adoption funds. New legislation would allow American Indian/Alaska Native tribes this direct access. In August, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (MT) introduced the Tribal Foster Care and Adoption Act of 2007 that would both grant Indian tribes direct access to federal foster care funds to serve children and families in their care, and create accountability measures to ensure that tribes meet the needs of the children they serve. Current federal law requires that Indian tribes have contracts with the states in which they are located in order to be reimbursed for providing supports and services for tribal children and families. According to Senator Baucus, "This bill provides tribes with the ability to serve their children directly with culturally appropriate care and understanding...it is only logical to put tribal adoption services on equal footing with the states."

Terry Cross, Executive Director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA), commented that, "Tribal child welfare systems have long struggled to provide support to our nation's most vulnerable children, while being denied direct access to funding that would improve outcomes and preserve families. The Tribal Foster Care and Adoption Act of 2007 may indeed be one of this year's most important legislative actions on behalf of this country's Indigenous peoples."

New Student Loan Forgiveness Program for Child Welfare Workers

Congress recently passed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act which includes a provision to forgive student loan debt for employees in "public service" jobs after ten years of payments. The Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care recommended loan forgiveness for attorneys practicing in dependency court in order to encourage and retain talented employees. The legislation, which President Bush has said he will sign, creates an income-based repayment policy that caps interest payments at a manageable percentage of one's income. View the list of positions classified as "public service jobs."

For more information, please visit: www.projectonstudentdebt.org.