[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9175-9176]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       NATIONAL FOSTER CARE MONTH

  (Ms. HAHN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. HAHN. Mr. Speaker, there are nearly 70 foster youth here today on 
Capitol Hill recognizing National Foster Care Month and to advocate for 
positive reforms that will better serve our Nation's kids.
  I applaud my friend from California, Congresswoman Bass, who, when 
she was speaker of the assembly, led the effort in California to extend 
the foster care age to 21 and is now leading the charge here in 
Congress to help strengthen the foster care system.
  Today, Joel, a 22-year-old student from Wilmington, California, who 
spent 3 years in the California foster care system, is spending the day 
with me to share his experience in foster care.
  Due to unfortunate circumstances, Joel was separated from his parents 
and found himself living on the streets of Los Angeles before being 
placed in a foster home. Joel didn't let these challenges keep him from 
completing high school at Banning High School and attending college at 
Cal Poly Pomona.
  Today, Joel is an inspiring young political science student and a 
testament

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to the importance of investing in foster youth programs. But we must do 
more. There are nearly 400,000 youth in the foster care system like 
Joel. These are all of our children, and we must take care of them.

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