[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 29 (Thursday, February 15, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E364-E365]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            INTRODUCING THE FOSTER CHILDREN SELF SUPPORT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 15, 2007

  Mr. STARK. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the ``Foster 
Children Self Support Act.'' This bill will codify into federal law 
what should be common sense: abused and neglected children should not 
be used as a funding stream for states that should be acting in the 
best interests of these extremely vulnerable children.
  In nearly every state in the country, foster children eligible for 
Social Security benefits because of a disability or the loss of a 
parent are having those benefits taken by the very state agencies 
charged with providing for them. The ``Foster Children Self Support 
Act'' would end that practice. Instead, it would require states to use 
a child's Social Security benefits to meet the immediate needs of that 
child or set aside those benefits to assist the child with 
transitioning to adulthood when that child emancipates from care.
  The Congressional Research Service (CRS) estimates that approximately 
30,000 foster children (out of 500,000 nationwide) receive either 
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or OASDI (Old Age, Survivors, and 
Disability Insurance) benefits each month. Unfortunately, hardly any of 
these children will benefit from these funds. Nor will the children 
have the option to save the money as a nest egg for when they leave 
care. This is because state child welfare agencies routinely make 
themselves the representative payee so that they have control over the 
child's benefits. Often, neither the child nor the child's advocate 
knows that Social Security benefits are being sent to the agency. Once 
the welfare agency controls the benefits they are free to use them 
however they please.
  In this manner, state welfare agencies take an estimated $156 million 
per year from foster children. The practice has devastating 
consequences, as evidenced by the case of ``John G.,'' a foster child 
in North Carolina. John was willed a house when his adoptive father 
died of cancer. The house had a $221 monthly mortgage. Luckily for John 
he was entitled to approximately $560 in Social Security OASDI 
benefits. However, the child welfare agency, who had made themselves 
John's representative payee, decided they would rather keep the money 
than ensure John had a place to live when he left foster care. Just as 
his house was about to be foreclosed on, John went to court. Currently, 
the welfare agency is making the payments under a court order. The 
future of John's house is still very much in doubt because the agency 
has appealed and the law may not be on John's side.

  Although John G.'s case is particularly egregious, all foster 
children and former foster children face tremendous challenges. Foster 
children often enter care having suffered from serious emotional, 
mental, and/or physical

[[Page E365]]

abuse. For example, they suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder 
(PTSD) at a rate twice as high as Iraq War veterans. Then, when 
children emancipate from care they are dependent on public assistance, 
become incarcerated or homeless, and are unemployed at rates higher 
than nearly any other group of Americans. The ``Foster Children Self 
Support Act'' is especially important since it is safe to assume that 
those children who have lost their parents or are receiving SSI due to 
severe mental or physical disabilities are among the most needy.
  The ``Foster Children Self Support Act'' provides a way to help these 
children. It does so by mandating that states develop a plan for foster 
children with Social Security benefits. The plan would layout how to 
best use a child's Social Security benefits as a resource to best meet 
the current and future needs of that child. The plan must be specific 
to each child receiving Social Security benefits and made in 
partnership with the child and the child's advocate. If this bill were 
law, states would no longer be allowed to simply use children's Social 
Security money as they see fit. Instead, this money would have to be 
used as any parent would use it: to provide for the child's particular 
needs and help plan for the child's future.
  The bill will:
  Require that states screen all foster children for Social Security 
eligibility and assist them in application;
  Require states to identify other appropriate representative payees 
for eligible children, such as family members, before becoming the 
payee themselves;
  Prohibit states who are payees from using a child's Social Security 
benefits to reimburse themselves for the cost of foster care;
  Require states to develop a plan, with a child and that child's 
advocate( s), on how to best use the Social Security benefits to 
provide for the current and future needs of the child;
  Provide for the conservation of Social Security funds in dedicated 
accounts that a child can access when they leave care to pay for things 
like housing, education, transportation, and other life expenses;
  Increase the Social Security resource limit to $10,000 (currently it 
is $2,000), so that children can conserve up to that amount and still 
maintain their Social Security eligibility;
  Require the GAO to report back to Congress on states' progress in 
screening all foster children for Social Security eligibility.
  Improving our child welfare system has repercussions throughout our 
society. Foster children who age out of the child welfare system 
without having developed family supports or skills that can lead to 
employment create a large societal cost. In the next 15 years 300,000 
foster children will age out of care without any transition supports. 
Congress has a moral obligation to provide foster children with the 
resources they need to become independent adults. The ``Foster Children 
Self Support Act'' is a small part of fulfilling this obligation and a 
large step toward helping one of the most vulnerable groups of foster 
children.
  Attached are two news articles for the Record that illustrate the 
consequences of our current policy.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this important 
legislation.

                          ____________________