“National Birthday Party” for more than 500,000 Children in Foster Care
Highlights Urgent Need for Foster Care Financing Reform
Kidsarewaiting.org
Gina Russo
On Capitol Hill, 30 past and present foster youth joined child welfare advocates to “celebrate and recognize the birthdays of the more than 500,000 children in foster care.”
The event coincided with the release of Time for Reform: Too Many Birthdays in Foster Care, “a guide to the U.S. foster care system,” created by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The guide indicated that “children in foster care spend an average of more than two years in care, move to three different homes, and can be separated from brothers and sisters, friends and family.”
According to the Pew Commission, the “inflexibility of the current financing system” is part of the problem, as “most federal dollars dedicated for child welfare support can only be used when children are removed from their homes and placed in the foster care system.” The Pew Commission believes that “removing this financing ‘straitjacket’ would allow more money to be used to keep families together and children out of foster care in the first place or to limit the amount of time they spend in the system.” According to the Commission, “flexibility in the financing system would also create and support permanent, loving families through reunification, adoption, and guardianship.”
