Fostering the Future Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I am so excited to join all of my colleagues on the floor today in support of Fostering the Future Act, the Chafee bill package that is the first modern improvement of the Chafee Act, as my colleagues have indicated, since 1999 when the program was created.

Before I talk specifically about the bill, I lift up Representative Dr. Danny Davis who will be retiring after this term. I thank him for his lifetime career of standing up for youth as a professional social worker and as a county board commissioner in Illinois.

Dr. Davis has been a longstanding leader, serving as both chair and ranking member of the subcommittee that deals with foster youth issues on Ways and Means. He has brought so much wisdom because of his long career to this that we are able to bring these bills to the floor. None of this would be possible without him. He is very humble, but I lift him up and thank him today.

Mr. Speaker, I also thank Chairman Jason Smith from Missouri and Ranking Member Neal. I really appreciate that Chairman Smith has really dug in deep representing these foster kids. I heard him today share with us that he, as a lawyer in Missouri, represented foster kids. I said to myself, aha, there it is. I knew it was something. This is completing a circle, and we appreciate his leadership at this time.

Likewise, Chairman LaHood of our subcommittee and Representative Carey have been great partners on the two bills that we have included in this package naming the Foster Youth Housing Opportunity Act and the CONNECT Act.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the First Lady of the United States has leaned into supporting our foster youth, how prescient and how purposeful is that. Hopefully, that will enable us to really fund these fantastic ideas that we are authorizing today.

Mr. Speaker, I am so proud to be a co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth. We are going to have shadow day on June 10, so I am hoping that everyone will get their foster youth, and you will be surprised as you guide these foster youth through your day, in that you will learn more from them or as much from them as you may have to share with them.

I am so privileged to be able to fight for foster youth, including meeting youth who have lived experience in the foster care system. So often I hear from these youth about their experiences in foster care, and although they are very resilient, the ones we get to talk to, they will tell you that as they age out of foster care, the likelihood of them becoming homeless and feeling abandoned is disproportionately great for this cohort.

Approximately 20,000 youth age out of foster care each year, and of that, approximately 25 percent of them experience homelessness.

Mr. Speaker, many report that they can't achieve permanency with an adoptive, foster, or kinship family. They don't feel like they have a trusted adult in their family to help them navigate the complexities of transitioning to adulthood.

It is difficult enough for a youth to transition into adulthood even when they are privileged, but imagine that you have been a foster youth trying to navigate the great big world all alone.

This package aims to address some of the challenges that we know our foster youth are facing, and I hope we can move forward in the future to help provide the funding again that will be needed.

The two bills in this package, the Foster Youth Housing Opportunity Act and the CONNECT Act, aim to provide more tools and resources.

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Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, the Foster Youth Housing Opportunity Act, which I co-lead with Chairman LaHood, would exempt housing supportive services, such as security deposits and utility connection fees, from the 30 percent housing cap under Chafee. This will allow States the opportunity to provide more youth with rental and housing assistance.

Mr. Speaker, I also lift up the bill that I have with Mr. Carey called the CONNECT Act. It amends the statutory purposes of the Chafee program to help youth create meaningful connections with adults and build a lifelong support network as a core purpose of the Chafee program.

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