Sec. 2. Findings and purposes
356 words·~2 min read·
/bill/118/hr/8713/ih/section-2·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress finds the following: Reunification with parents, permanent placement with extended family members, and adoption are all permanency options for children who are in, or at risk for entering or re-entering, foster care. The estimated lifetime cost of foster youth who age out of foster care is approximately $6.9 billion. On an annual basis, approximately 23,000 youth age out of foster care (reach the maximum age a State will support them without reunification with family or being placed in a permanent home) with no legal family ties.
Over 20 percent of youth who age out of foster care become homeless, 60 percent of sex trafficked youth come from foster care, and 25 percent of youth become involved in the criminal justice system within 2 years of aging out of foster care. When family reunification and kinship guardianship, foster, and adoptive placements are promoted and supported, children’s family connections and family relationships can reverse such adverse adult outcomes. Foster care is intended to be temporary.
The best interests of children in safe, stable, and permanent placements are paramount. At the same time, absent aggravating circumstances, it is in the best interests of children for parents to be provided individualized services, supports, and time needed to address the reasons for foster care or other temporary placements of their children. Where kinship placements can safely be made, extended family members available for such placements often face financial and other barriers related to access to health and mental health services and supports, crisis stabilization services, and other service supports.
The United States has a unique and direct interest, as trustee, in protecting the best interests of Indian children including supporting safe and permanent placements that preserve a child’s sense of belonging and connection, including to extended family when reunification with parents is not safe or possible. The purposes of this Act are to promote kinship care as an essential permanency option for children and youth, to remove barriers to children’s safe care by relatives and fictive kin when such children cannot be safely cared for by their parents, and to support the provision of resources and services to kin caregivers.