Greg Steube: “Our Nation's foster care system is overburdened and limited in its ability to adequately address the adversities…”

“Our Nation's foster care system is overburdened and limited in its ability to adequately address the adversities, challenges, and traumas that children and families often confront in some of the most vulnerable times of their lives. This is the unfortunate reality--a status quo where good enough is not good enough. It is a status quo where children are forgotten and neglected, a status quo that leaves children to gather in the trauma that introduced them to the foster care system. The Administration for Children and Families has emboldened the status quo for far too long. Studies show that children placed in foster care are significantly more likely to face lifelong struggles that include homelessness, sex trafficking, incarceration, and post- traumatic stress disorder. To move past these challenges, we must introduce innovative solutions that address the complex needs of children and families involved in the foster care system. Our foster care system lacks innovation, but that is something that we can change. We must educate, support, and empower children in the foster care system to reach their full potential. To accomplish these goals, our foster care system needs interventional, trauma-informed programming molded to the unique circumstances of each child in the foster care system. I encourage my colleagues to recognize these unique challenges and help set foster care youth on a path to success. Ms. DeLAURO. Mr.…”