[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 78 (Wednesday, May 20, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E766]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        FOSTER YOUTH SHADOW DAY

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                         HON. DAVID G. REICHERT

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 20, 2015

  Mr. REICHERT. Mr. Speaker, I rise to talk a little bit about foster 
care. As many of my colleagues are aware, today is Foster Youth Shadow 
Day and this morning I had the pleasure of meeting with Dawna--a foster 
youth who spent 7 years in the foster care system of my home state of 
Washington.
  Fortunately for Dawna, she was adopted when aged out of care. But for 
many foster kids this is not the case. In 2013, over 23,000 kids aged 
out without finding a forever family. And, even the kids that do find 
their forever families are often mistreated and even abused while in 
the system. Dawna was overprescribed psychotropic medications and 
forced unnecessarily into an adolescent psychiatric hospital. Her story 
is not the only one like it. When I was Chairman of the Human Resources 
Subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee we held a hearing on this 
very issue and heard many other similar stories. This is a tragedy and 
it is unacceptable.
  We can do more to help our youth in foster care, they are our 
responsibility and we cannot let them down. I will continue to fight to 
provide youth in the foster system the best possible care, and to help 
them find forever families, and I urge the rest of this Congress to do 
the same.

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