Political Quotes

“I rise today to discuss an issue of great importance: helping vulnerable children stay safe and cared for by strengthening their families and connecting them to kin. I would like to begin with a hypothetical. Imagine a single mom with two kids and multiple part time jobs. She works long hours to provide for her family, but even then it is a struggle to pay the bills and keep food on the table. Reliable child care is extremely costly and out of reach. Because her work schedule changes week to week she is forced to leave her children unattended at times. Out of concern, a neighbor places a call to Child Protective Services, and a social worker then has to choose between two bad options--breaking up the family, or doing nothing at all to help them. Today, most youngsters in foster care aren't there because of physical or sexual abuse. Kids predominantly wind up in foster care because their biological families, like that hypothetical single mom, are ensnared in terribly desperate circumstances that lead to neglect. The fact is, whenever you talk with kids who have aged out of foster care about what could have helped them the most, you hear them say things like, ``helping my mom . . . helping my dad . . . helping my family.'' What that tells me is that youngsters know they're best served when a family can be propped up, not dismantled. Unfortunately, the child welfare system has too few tools for that to happen.…”