[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 156 (Thursday, December 6, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7686-S7687]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KERRY (for himself, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Franken, Mr. Levin, 
        Mrs. Murray, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Begich, Mr. 
        Rockefeller, and Ms. Landrieu):
  S. 3665. A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide 
information to foster youth on their potential eligibility for Federal 
student aid; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions.
  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, we currently have over 400,000 children in 
our foster care system due to abuse or neglect by their biological 
families, with 104,000 eligible for adoption. Tragically every year 
nearly 28,000 of these children age out of our foster care system with 
no place to call home. On average, foster children spend over 3 years 
in the system and around 16 percent languish in the foster care system 
for over 5 years. Only around 3 percent start college and even fewer 
finish their degree. We must continue working to connect children in 
our foster system to a safe, loving, and permanent home while also 
doing more to address their educational outcomes.
  I am greatly concerned that too many of our Nation's foster youth are 
unable to appropriately access critical Federal programs that provide 
assistance to help increase their educational opportunities. Higher 
education can hold the key to a future of stability and it is 
unacceptable that many foster youth who are eligible for higher 
education funds, such as Education and Training Vouchers, ETV, and 
support through the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program, 
are never told about these programs.
  This is why I have worked with my colleagues to introduce a 
bipartisan bill to direct the Department of Education to fully utilize 
the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, FAFSA, as a tool to 
notify foster youth of all Federal funds which may be available to 
support their pursuit of higher education, and include information 
specifically for foster youth on their agency website. The Foster Youth 
Higher Education Opportunities Act will automate the notification to 
foster youth of their potential eligibility for programs that serve as 
a lifeline to a better future.
  I would like to recognize Senators Inhofe, Franken, Levin, Murray,

[[Page S7687]]

Cardin, Blumenthal, Begich, Rockefeller, and Landrieu as original 
cosponsors of this bill. I ask all of my colleagues to support this 
important legislation.

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