The Love of a Forever Family

By: U.S. Rep. Karen Bass

One of life’s most unspoken treasures is the love and security of a family. Families serve not only as our guide throughout the obstacles of life, but also as a sanctuary when those situations become too difficult to handle. Unfortunately, we often forget that not everyone has the ability to give a quick call to mom or dad to ease the pains of a rainy day. In fact, there are nearly a half million children in our nation’s foster care system who do not have the luxury of what many of us consider a birthright – the love and understanding of a family.  

For nearly two weeks, I have had the amazing opportunity to collaborate with my Republican and Democratic colleagues in Congress to launch the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth. Congressmembers Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) and Tom Marino (R-Penn.) and I serve as the chairpersons of the organization, which will focus on protecting and promoting the well-being of all children in foster care and the nearly 30,000 youth who have “aged-out” of the system. While the federal government does not directly oversee every jurisdiction’s child welfare program, our Caucus is committed to working with public and private partners to develop tangible solutions to improve the lives of children in the foster care system. Our first step to reach this goal is the launch of our nationwide Listening Tour, which recently had a very successful stop right in our backyard.

Recently, co-chair Congressman Marino and I were able to spend two days visiting several key partners in Los Angeles child welfare community, including the Department of Children and Family Services, SHIELDS for Families and the L.A. Children’s Court to gain a in-depth perspective of the unique prevention and family unification techniques that have made a tremendous difference in safely reducing the number of children in the Los Angeles foster care system. We were able to hear first-hand how the federal government plays a vital role in providing policy and guidance to each individual child welfare system.

The Los Angeles team was able to cite a successful federal policy which increased the County’s flexibility of its child welfare program funding. In 2006, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) received a waiver which allowed greater flexibility in how the organization allocated its foster care funding. The current federal system only allows funds to be used to support out-of-home placement instead of using the money to strengthen families in order to prevent children being removed from their homes. It’s disheartening to learn that this federal policy causes states that decrease their foster care numbers or have children with shorter stays in placement see their child welfare funding decrease, which means fewer children are able to be helped.

In order to maintain a new direction of thinking within the Los Angeles child welfare system, DCFS applied for the waiver with the confidence they would be able to save funds by decreasing the number of children in placements, and in turn, reinvest the savings into more supportive programs that focused on keeping children and their loved-ones together. DCFS did just that and within 12 years, the number of children in the Los Angeles child welfare system dramatically declined from approximately 30,000 to 15,000 youth. One of the former foster youth, Jennifer, who participated in our Los Angeles community town hall said it best, “If you think the state level is our parent, then the federal government is our grandparent.” Jennifer is absolutely right. Through the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, the federal government will work together to ensure all relevant parties in the child welfare structure are effectively and efficiently collaborating to protect the rights and needs of the thousands of vulnerable children around the country. 

Now, the Caucus is gearing up for our next Listening Tour stop in Miami, Fla., later this month which is sure to enlighten us with a new set of challenges and triumphs from another set of leaders in the child welfare system. Each co-chair is committed to distilling the best-practices and lessons-learned from each tour stop into tangible policies to ensure that no obstacle stands in the way of a foster child experiencing the love of a stable and caring family. If you’re Representative is not a Member of the Caucus, please write and call them and ask that they become a part of this Caucus. If we band together we can help make sure that every foster child in America finds a forever family.

U.S. Rep. Karen Bass represents the 33rd Congressional District, which includes Los Angeles, Hollywood, and Culver City and was the 67th Speaker of the California Assembly. Rep. Bass serves as the founder and a co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth.