[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 148 (Wednesday, November 9, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2307]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  FAIR ACCESS FOSTER CARE ACT OF 2005

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                               speech of

                            HON. TODD TIAHRT

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 8, 2005

  Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Fair Access Foster 
Care Act of 2005. This bill will provide for fair access to foster care 
maintenance payments by adding private for-profit agencies to the list 
of eligible recipients. Currently, State and non-profit agencies are 
the only therapeutic foster care providers eligible for this funding. 
Children with special medical, psychological, emotional, and social 
needs are the most vulnerable in the foster care system. Congress 
should provide strong support for all agencies willing to be involved 
in these fragile lives.
  For children who enter foster care, separation from birth parents is 
traumatic, and separation from siblings who share a common history is a 
devastating, ultimately isolating loss. Since the 1980s, researchers 
have focused increasing attention on the importance of sibling ties. 
Siblings who are placed together have been known to transition more 
smoothly into new homes, and most researchers agree that attachments 
between siblings are critically important. In recent years, many states 
have taken action to help siblings stay together.
  I am pleased to share with you an encouraging story of hope from my 
district. The Salvation Army chapter in Wichita, Kansas, conducts an 
annual birth family Christmas party and a summer picnic at Camp 
Hiawatha that provides an opportunity to reunite foster care children 
and their birth families. In addition to these annual events, the staff 
works with United Methodist Youthville to provide sibling visits a 
couple times a month. The foster care parents are required to make the 
connection for these visits with the foster child's siblings and/or 
parents.
  In May of this year, there were 4,789 foster care children in the 
State of Kansas, and 542,000 in the country. According to the U.S. 
Department of Health and Human Services, the average stay for a child 
in the foster care system is 33 months. About 44 percent of these 
children reunite with their birth parents. Over 50 percent of foster 
children become juvenile delinquents, and the same percentage does not 
complete high school. These statistics speak of the desperate need for 
a good and solid foster care system, and of the commendable work so 
many agencies and families are willing to do for these children. 
Children in the foster care system become the responsibility of us all 
and their lives are changed forever when Americans begin to take that 
responsibility personally. My colleague Congressman Tom DeLay has both 
fostered children and been involved with foster care programs for years 
and I commend his work on this issue.
  I am proud to support this legislation that will increase the access 
and opportunity for therapeutic foster care for our Nation's children.

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