Josh Brecheen: “Before we debate this amendment, I want to start with some important facts. A lot of us, in our States, including…”

“Before we debate this amendment, I want to start with some important facts. A lot of us, in our States, including Oklahoma, are facing a foster care home shortage. According to one report, between 2020 and 2021 to 2022, the number of licensed foster homes in Oklahoma decreased by 8 percent. HHS has reported that in my home State, more than 7,400 children were in foster care as of 2021 and more than 3,700 were awaiting adoption. This reflects a national crisis in our foster care system where more than half of the States, between 2021 and 2022, reported declines in licensed foster homes. Additionally, more than 407,000 children and adolescents were in foster care as of 2021 and 113,000 awaited adoptions. With these sobering facts in mind, we need to recognize that any new foster care policies have to be directed toward solving a shortage, not making it worse. I sincerely ask my colleagues to keep this idea, which I hope we can all agree on, as you consider this amendment before you. This amendment would prevent the Department of Health and Human Services from finalizing or enforcing its proposed rule titled: ``Safe and Appropriate Foster Care Placement Requirements for Titles IV-E and IV-B,'' a rule which will worsen our foster care crisis, burden States, and create a hostile environment for faith-based providers, harming children.…”