Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, 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. Yesterday, the Finance Committee held a hearing to explore how to turn that system around--how to make a difference for kids early on so that they can grow up surrounded by family in a safe and loving home. I commend Chairman HATCH for his commitment to improving the lives of vulnerable kids and their families. The hearing was an important step forward.

Back in the mid-1990s, there was a debate over whether sending kids to orphanages was the right idea. And I saw an opportunity for our child welfare policies to break into the enormous, untapped potential of kin. So I authored the Kinship Care Act, which said that aunts and uncles or grandparents who met the right standards would have first preference when it came to caring for a niece or nephew or grandchild. It became the first federal law of its kind.

Now in 2015, I see an opportunity for Congress to take a similar approach, but go even further. I believe that building child welfare policies around proactivity and flexibility will help a lot more families stay together and thrive. States have already shown that with waivers from the rigid Federal funding system, they're able to turn smart ideas into meaningful results for kids and their families, There is a tremendous example that my home state of Oregon is currently putting in place. It's called Differential Response. Differential Response, as I see it, is all about recognizing that every kid is different, and every family faces unique challenges. So Oregon's system is approaching every case with the nuance it deserves.

Today I--along with Senators STABENOW, BENNET, CASEY, BROWN, CANTWELL, SCHUMER, and MENENDEZ--am introducing the Family Stability and Kinship Care Act that will make badly needed flexibility a core part of our child welfare system. The purpose of this bill is to give states and tribes the ability to make modest front-end investments in family services and kinship placement in order to reduce costly and traumatic stays in foster care. Under current law, title IV-E of the Social Security Act, the nation's largest child welfare funding stream, provides states and tribes with a Federal funding match for children only after they are placed in foster care. In contrast, State and tribal innovations implemented through title IV-E waivers suggest that permitting spending for preventive family services can reduce the prevalence and length of foster care placements while maintaining or improving safety and permanency outcomes for children. Further, State experiences with subsidized guardianship demonstrate that when children cannot remain with their parents, they do best when placed with kin.

This bill enhances Federal funding available under parts B and E of title IV of the Social Security Act for prevention and family services to help keep children safe and supported at home with their parents or other family members. It gives states and tribes the flexibility to adapt evidence-based family services to the specific needs of each family. It ensures that states and tribes are held accountable for allocating services in ways that maximize safety, permanency, and well-being for children, while minimizing the prevalence of lengthy foster care placements.

We need more than two options--foster care or nothing--when the child protection system gets involved. By helping families afford child care, maybe it is possible to prevent outright neglect. Maybe mom or dad needs counseling or medical help. Maybe they need help covering the bills or finding employment. Oftentimes, a youngster's aunt, uncle, or grandparents could step up and take them in, but they shouldn't have to take on that job without assistance. More often than not, in my judgement, it's absolutely worth exploring those avenues before breaking a family apart. In fact, it can save resources in the long run without compromising on safety.

I look forward to working with Chairman HATCH and the full Senate to advance this legislation and I am hopeful that together, we can make this critical investment in children and their families.

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