[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 7461]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




HONORING THE SERVICE AND DEDICATION OF MS. CYNTHIA BERRY OF LONG BEACH, 
                               CALIFORNIA

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. LAURA RICHARDSON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 18, 2012

  Ms. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to recognize the service 
and dedication of one of my own constituents, Ms. Cynthia Berry. For 
almost five years now Ms. Berry has been an essential part of the Long 
Beach foster care program.
  Ms. Berry's story is simple but inspiring. She graduated from college 
and took in her first foster children in her early 20's, ready to open 
her heart and home to try and give those less fortunate the warm and 
happy childhood she had experienced. When she went on to nursing school 
it was too time consuming to give the children everything they 
deserved, so she took a break from the foster care system.
  After becoming a single parent and raising her daughter, Ms. Berry 
decided it was time once again to become a foster parent. Over the past 
five years she has selflessly brought 20 children through her home, and 
showed them a type of love and nurture their own families were not able 
to provide.
  At 50 years old she is showing no signs of slowing down, and is 
currently in the process of adopting her three most recent children who 
are all under the age of five. In California there are over 80,000 
children in the foster care system, the majority of whom are placed 
there as a result of parental abuse or neglect.
  As a member of the Congressional Caucus of Foster Youth I am amazed 
by the way Ms. Berry works with the families of her children to help 
them become better parents. This way they will hopefully have the 
opportunity to return to a safe and happier home.
  Most of the children that pass through her home are able to go back 
to their own families after being cleared by the state, but when they 
are unable to they continue in the system until they are 18. From there 
they are pretty much on their own with limited financial support from 
the state. Their only real hope is people like Ms. Berry, who get them 
out of the system.
  In 2008, there was an average of 123,000 children waiting to be 
adopted. Over the course of the year only 55,000 of these children 
managed to be adopted.
  It is vital that these foster homes are warm and nurturing places a 
child feels safe in. These children have already experienced so much 
pain in their lives, and this might be their first experience of having 
a caring parent watching out for them. Ms. Berry provides them with 
that love and security.
  For all her work and dedication Ms. Berry is being honored at an open 
house reception put on by Aspiranet, the agency that she works with. 
She will share her story and experiences with all the children she has 
helped over the years. Since May is National Foster Care Month it seems 
fitting that a woman of her caliber should represent the Long Beach 
foster care system.
  Mr. Speaker, Ms. Berry is the type of woman we should all look to for 
inspiration. She is hardworking, selfless and above all, a caring 
mother to all her children, biological or not. When we are feeling 
overwhelmed, overworked or just unhappy about our own lives, we should 
look to Ms. Berry, who does it all with a smile, and asks for nothing 
in return except the future success of the kids she loves so much.

                          ____________________