Chuck Grassley: “you might wonder how this Senator from Iowa gets involved in issues of foster youth. Thirty years ago, I hired a staffer…”

“you might wonder how this Senator from Iowa gets involved in issues of foster youth. Thirty years ago, I hired a staffer from Urbandale, IA, by the name of Sarah Gesiriech. Sarah now works for the First Lady in the White House on this issue of foster care. She was hired by me to work on banking and education issues, but she came to me 1 day and said: I was adopted by my parents, and there are a lot of things wrong with the foster care system in the United States. So she said to me: Do you care if I work on that issue as well as the other issues you hired me to work on? So that is the story behind my being involved with foster care issues. You learn to listen to these kids who go from home to home maybe three times a year and change schools three times a year. If you listen to them, they say: I would like to have a mom and dad. I would like to have a permanent home. And that touches your heart.”