Sheila Jackson Lee: “Let me thank Dr. McDermott, first of all, for his consistent, years-long support of our children that are in foster…”

“Let me thank Dr. McDermott, first of all, for his consistent, years-long support of our children that are in foster care. And I thank the manager and the Representative of the majority for their hard work. This bill was introduced in the 111th Congress. It was passed by voice vote. It is an important amendment to the Social Security Act to renew through FY 2016, where it authorizes up to 10 States and tribes to conduct demonstration projects that serve as tests for methods to improve child welfare programs. As a cochair of the Congressional Children's Caucus, we have worked on a number of issues through the years. We have been privileged to deal with the question of mentoring, the question of bullying, the question of dealing with the disabled child, and, yes, the question of dealing with foster parenting. In fact, some years ago I served as a cochair with then-Congressman Mike Andrews to provide relief to foster parents by finding a process that would provide vacation time for them. I have gone to meetings dealing with grandparents who have become foster parents. So it is important to be able to find the best practices. The waivers that will come about are designed to afford more flexibility to States in determining how to use Federal funding for child welfare and foster care. The program gave more discretion to the State Departments that administer child welfare programs aimed to foster innovative and effective child welfare programs.…”