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Children Who Age out of the Foster Care System CHILDREN WHO AGE OUT OF THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON INCOME SECURITY AND FAMILY SUPPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JULY 12, 2007 Serial No. 110–53 Printed for the use of the Committee on Ways and Means ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 43–505 WASHINGTON : 2008 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Aug 31 2005 00:52 Sep 10, 2008 Jkt 043505 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 E:\HR\OC\43505.XXX 43505 wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with HEARING COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS CHARLES B. RANGEL, New York, Chairman FORTNEY PETE STARK, California JIM MCCRERY, Louisiana SANDER M. LEVIN, Michigan WALLY HERGER, California JIM MCDERMOTT, Washington DAVE CAMP, Michigan JOHN LEWIS, Georgia JIM RAMSTAD, Minnesota RICHARD E. NEAL, Massachusetts SAM JOHNSON, Texas MICHAEL R. MCNULTY, New York PHIL ENGLISH, Pennsylvania JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee JERRY WELLER, Illinois XAVIER BECERRA, California KENNY C. HULSHOF, Missouri LLOYD DOGGETT, Texas RON LEWIS, Kentucky EARL POMEROY, North Dakota KEVIN BRADY, Texas STEPHANIE TUBBS JONES, Ohio THOMAS M. REYNOLDS, New York MIKE THOMPSON, California PAUL RYAN, Wisconsin JOHN B. LARSON, Connecticut ERIC CANTOR, Virginia RAHM EMANUEL, Illinois JOHN LINDER, Georgia EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon DEVIN NUNES, California RON KIND, Wisconsin PAT TIBERI, Ohio BILL PASCRELL JR., New Jersey JON PORTER, Nevada SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland KENDRICK MEEK, Florida ALLYSON Y. SCHWARTZ, Pennsylvania ARTUR DAVIS, Alabama JANICE MAYS, Chief Counsel and Staff Director BRETT LOPER, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON INCOME SECURITY AND FAMILY SUPPORT JIM MCDERMOTT, Washington, Chairman FORTNEY PETE STARK, California JERRY WELLER, Illinois ARTUR DAVIS, Alabama WALLY HERGER, California JOHN LEWIS, Georgia DAVE CAMP, Michigan MICHAEL R. MCNULTY, New York JON PORTER, Nevada SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada PHIL ENGLISH, Pennsylvania CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland KENDRICK MEEK, Florida Pursuant to clause 2(e)(4) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House, public hearing records of the Committee on Ways and Means are also published in electronic form. The printed hearing record remains the official version. Because electronic submissions are used to prepare both printed and electronic versions of the hearing record, the process of converting between various electronic formats may introduce unintentional errors or omissions. Such occur- rences are inherent in the current publication process and should diminish as the process is further refined. ii VerDate Aug 31 2005 06:38 Sep 09, 2008 Jkt 043505 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 E:\HR\OC\43505.XXX 43505 wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with HEARING C O N T E N T S Page Advisory of July 5, 2007, announcing the hearing ................................................ 2 WITNESSES The Honorable Dennis Cardoza, a Representative in Congress from the State of California .......................................................................................................... 7 Tyler Bacon, Florida ................................................................................................ 16 Anthony Reeves, Georgia ........................................................................................ 20 Nicole Dobbins, Oregon ........................................................................................... 25 Jamaal Nutall, Illinois ............................................................................................ 29 Cornelia Ashby, Director, Education, Workforce and Income Security, U.S. Government Accountability Office ...................................................................... 39 Mark Courtney, Ph. D., Ballmer Chair in Child Well-Being, School of Social Work, University of Washington ......................................................................... 73 Gary Stangler, Executive Director, Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative . 76 Sam Cobbs, Executive Director, First Place Fund for Youth, Oakland, Cali- fornia ..................................................................................................................... 83 Jane Soltis, Program Officer, Eckerd Family Foundation ................................... 87 SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD Child Welfare League of America, statement ........................................................ 102 Everychild Foundation, statement ......................................................................... 106 Jennifer Cole, letter ................................................................................................. 111 Job Corps Partnering with the Foster Care System, statement .......................... 108 Kevin Drollinger, statement ................................................................................... 109 North American Council on Adoptable Children, statement ............................... 114 Patricia K. Jennings, statement ............................................................................. 120 Seattle University’s Fostering Scholars Program, statement .............................. 122 iii VerDate Aug 31 2005 23:47 Sep 09, 2008 Jkt 043505 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 E:\HR\OC\43505.XXX 43505 wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with HEARING VerDate Aug 31 2005 07:08 Sep 09, 2008 Jkt 043505 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 E:\HR\OC\43505.XXX 43505 wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with HEARING CHILDREN WHO AGE OUT OF THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2007 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON INCOME SECURITY AND FAMILY SUPPORT, Washington, DC. The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:04 a.m., B–318, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Jim McDermott [Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding. [The advisory announcing the hearing follows:] (1) VerDate Aug 31 2005 07:08 Sep 09, 2008 Jkt 043505 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 E:\HR\OC\43505.XXX 43505 wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with HEARING 2 ADVISORY FROM THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS SUBCOMMITTEE ON INCOME SECURITY AND FAMILY SUPPORT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: (202) 225–1721 July 05, 2007 ISFS–9 McDermott Announces Hearing on Children Who ‘‘Age Out’’ of the Foster Care System Congressman Jim McDermott (D–WA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support of the Committee on Ways and Means, today an- nounced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on children emancipating from the foster care system. The hearing will take place on Thursday, July 12, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room B–318 Rayburn House Office Building. In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only, including a number of former foster children. However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appear- ance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Committee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing. BACKGROUND: Eligibility for federal foster care assistance generally ends at age 18, although some States extend this limit with their own funds. The number of children who emancipate from (or ‘‘age-out’’ of) the foster care system upon reaching this age has increased from 19,000 in 2001 to over 24,000 in 2005 (the most recent available data). This increase in the number of youth discharged from foster care has occurred at the same time that the overall number of children in the system has decreased, from 544,614 in FY2001 to 513,131 in FY2005. Studies indicate that youth who have ‘‘aged out’’ of foster care fare poorly relative to their counterparts in the general population on outcome measures related to em- ployment, education, homelessness, mental health, medical insurance coverage, in- volvement with the criminal justice system, early pregnancy, and poverty. For ex- ample, research suggests that one in seven youth suffer from homelessness after they are discharged from foster care and over half lack health coverage. Children who are at risk of aging out of foster care, as well as those recently dis- charged upon reaching the age of 18, may receive services under the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program, including counseling, life-skills training, educational assistance, mentoring, job placement services, and a limited amount of housing as- sistance. While funding for this program was increased in 1999, its impact on out- comes for former foster children is still uncertain because an assessment and data collection system for the program has yet to be established in final form by the De- partment of Health and Human Services. In announcing the hearing, Chairman McDermott stated, ‘‘When most children reach the age of 18, their parents continue to support and help them dur- ing their transition into adulthood. As the de-facto parents of foster chil- dren, we should do no less. We need to evaluate whether we are meeting that obligation, or whether we are simply showing these kids the door without sufficient support, resources and skills to succeed. ’’ VerDate Aug 31 2005 07:08 Sep 09, 2008 Jkt 043505 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 E:\HR\OC\43505.XXX 43505 wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with HEARING 3 FOCUS OF THE HEARING: The hearing will focus on services and outcomes for children who ‘‘age out’’ of the foster care system. 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