Political Quotes

“Madam President, each year, the month of May is recognized as National Foster Care Month. I thank my colleagues for once again unanimously passing a resolution recognizing and bringing awareness to the experiences of youth and families in the foster care system. This month, organizations in Iowa and around the entire country have been working to support youth in foster care and the foster parents who open their homes to the kids in need. And they deserve this recognition. In 2019, the most recent year for which data is available, there were over 426,000 kids in foster care in the United States. In Iowa alone, there were almost 6,000. As stated in our resolution, Congress must continue to work toward real solutions for these young people because they face trauma, abuse, and neglect. Obviously, there are a lot of them who get loving care as well. In recent years, lots of changes have been made to the way that child welfare works. Congress passed the Family First Prevention Services Act in 2018. The goal of that act was to provide more services to families before removing children from the home, before that action had to be taken. And that is where you ought to start--preserve the family as much as you can, as long as the children are not being mistreated. This bill also seeks to help kids who age out of foster care have access to more support and successfully transition to adulthood and to independence.…”