Watson Coleman: “as United States Senators, we are well aware of the difficulty in making tough decisions. But, a tough decision for a…”

“as United States Senators, we are well aware of the difficulty in making tough decisions. But, a tough decision for a thirteen-year-old foster care child shouldn't be choosing between being adopted and having a permanent loving, stable, and secure family, or attending college for a promising future. Today, I am proud to be joined by my friend, Senator Mary Landrieu from Louisiana in introducing the Fostering Adoption To Further Student Achievement Act because we believe all youth deserve both a loving family and a future of hope. Our legislation promotes older adoptions of foster care youth by not later penalizing the adopting family when their student applies for student Federal financial aid. We've heard from former foster teens across our Nation who have stated that they were better off ``aging'' out of the foster care system than being adopted by a family because of a fear of losing student Federal financial aid because as a foster student they don't have to report any parental income on their student financial aid application. Our legislation provides a solution by amending the definition of ``independent student'' to include foster care youth who were adopted after the age of thirteen in the Higher Education Act of 1965. Thus, the family and student would not be penalized on their Federal financial aid as their classification would be determined by only the student's ability to pay.…”