[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 7611-7612]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 RECOGNIZING NATIONAL FOSTER CARE MONTH

  (Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, as we continue to celebrate National 
Foster Care Month, I would like to recognize the dedicated foster 
families, social workers, and service providers for their work to 
support the nearly 400,000 youth who are part of our country's foster 
care system.
  Our Kids of Miami-Dade/Monroe, Foster Care Review, and CHARLEE of 
Dade County are just a few of the many organizations that work each and 
every day in our south Florida community to find a stable home with a 
devoted and loving family for our youth.
  While May has been designated as National Foster Care Month, the work 
to ensure that every child has a safe and permanent family does not 
stop when the calendar turns. In fact, before the end of this year, Mr. 
Speaker, at

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least 23,000 of these vulnerable members of our society will age out of 
the foster care system. Research has shown that these young individuals 
are at a heightened risk of poverty, homelessness, incarceration, and 
early parenthood.
  I encourage my congressional colleagues and every person across our 
Nation to work together so that we can change these tragic facts and 
figures for the betterment of our youth and the improvement of our 
society.

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