Join us for an Oct. 19 webcast on the intersection of education and foster care

Join us for a “National Conversation” on the intersection of education and foster care that will leave you with a reasonable expectation of radical social change on Wednesday, October 19th at 3pm ET RIGHT HERE.

When Americans contemplate the impending debate over education reform, the majority is not likely to consider the lessons to be learned from foster care.  Research consistently suggests that childhood trauma, placement instability and myriad other factors leave many students in foster care far behind their peers in almost all academic measures. Despite this reality, stakeholders from both child welfare and education across the country are proving that tight collaboration can yield dramatic results for students in foster care. This signals an opportunity to apply these lessons to wider populations of vulnerable students struggling through similar educational impediments.

On October 18th, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee will begin the long awaited overhaul of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, commonly referred to as No Child Left Behind. It is doubtful that the ensuing media coverage will focus much attention on students in foster care, creating an incredible opportunity to merge the narrative of education reform with the bright spots in a nationwide effort to improve the educational outcomes of students in foster care.

In an effort to highlight and bolster this national movement, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) and Fostering Media Connections (FMC) have organized an unprecedented “National Conversation” on the intersection of education and foster care.

On OCTOBER 19th, as Congress begins to publicly grapple with education reform, teachers and students In California, researchers in Illinois and policymakers in Washington DC will share effective strategies to improve educational outcomes for students in foster care. All the proceedings will be transmitted live, over the Internet. Further, CCAI and FMC will release a report laden with research, legislative history, on-the-ground journalistic accounts and a broad range of recommendations.

WHO:

Sen. Mary Landrieu: (D-LA): Co-Chair of the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth.

Sen. Chuck Grassley: (R-IA): Co-Chair of the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth.

George Sheldon: Acting Assistant Secretary Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Cheryl Smithgall: Researcher Fellow at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago

Mike Jones: Teacher and Co-Founder of Courageous Connection in Sacramento, CA

Carey Sommer: High School graduate through Courageous Connection

Jetaine Hart: Former CCAI Foster Youth Intern and current Educational Mentor for Foster Youth at Alameda County Office of Education, Foster Youth Services

WHEN: 12:00 PM PST – 1:30 // 2:00 PM CST – 3:30 // 3:00 PM EST – 4:30

DATA & RESEARCH: Find a link to the National Working Group on Foster Care and Education‘s 2011 fact sheet on educational outcomes for students in foster care entitled: “Education is the Lifeline for Youth in Foster Care”

 

CCAI’s 13th annual Angels in Adoption gala

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2011

Award Ceremony Honors Those Who’ve Helped Children through Adoption and Foster Care

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) is hosting its 13th Annual Angels in Adoption™ Gala on Oct. 5 in Washington, D.C. The gala highlights the work of celebrities and individuals nationwide who work on behalf of children in U.S. foster care and orphans around the world. The 2011 National Angels in Adoption™ honorees include Academy Award Nominated Actress and Screenwriter Nia Vardalos, Cleveland Browns Linebacker Scott Fujita and Freddie Mac Foundation’s Wednesday’s Child program. These celebrities will join 140 everyday Americans selected by members of Congress as Angels in Adoption for their work on behalf of children in need of families.

Vardalos, who adopted a daughter with her husband in 2008, is an active supporter for children in need and grateful for the gift adoption has provided her family. “My husband and I were matched with our daughter via American Foster Care, and the minute we met her, our lives changed forever. At three years old, our perfect little girl walked into our house, and turned it into a home,” said Vardalos.

Nia Vardalos with her National Angel in Adoption award

Fujita is an adoptee himself, and his parents Helen and Rodney, will be accepting the award on his behalf. Mr. and Mrs. Fujita also have another adopted child, and consider their lives “deeply enriched by the experiences we have shared with these two fantastic sons,” and noted that “yes, we have had the usual ups and downs of any family raising two rambunctious boys.  But all those moments are what make a family and create the most treasured memories.”

Helen and Rodney Fujita

Amid a challenging travel and professional schedule in the NFL, Fujita shares his sincere gratitude for his family’s support and his parents’ open hearts, “The more I’ve bounced around this country, the more I’ve realized how important it was for me to share my family’s story. Adoption is a fantastic way to provide children with the safe, nurturing, and permanent homes they deserve. And it’s also a way to build and complete the families that so many loving parents dream about. There are thousands of kids waiting and hoping to be adopted, and I think it’s important for those considering adoption to hear stories like ours. My brother and I were both adopted, and we both feel so fortunate to have THIS family.”

Ralph F. Boyd, Jr., president and CEO, Freddie Mac Foundation, will accept the award on behalf of Freddie Mac Foundation’s Wednesday’s Child for its child advocacy and adoption efforts. “I am honored by the National Angels in Adoption’s recognition of the Freddie Mac Foundation Wednesday’s Child program. It’s a privilege to be included among such a remarkable group of honorees, all of whom champion children in foster care. Congratulations to all of our partners and the Angels whose hard work and dedication changes the lives of children in so many significant, positive ways,” said Boyd.

From left: Vai Sikahema, Christine Devine, Sen. Mary Landrieu, Amanda Davis, Barbara Harrison, and Ralph Boyd of the Freddie Mac Foundation

“The Angels in Adoption program proves that all it takes for a child’s life story to have a happy ending is for someone to step in and be their hero,” said Kathleen Strottman, executive director, CCAI. “Those honored tonight are different only because they chose to get involved to make a difference. We are hoping others out there will hear their stories and feel inspired to do the same.”

At the Capitol yesterday, dedicated CCAI supporters Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) joined more than 40 other members of Congress in personally presenting awards to 140 “Angel” families throughout the country. A complete list of Angels and the members of Congress who are honoring them is available here.

Senator DeMint Hosts October Foster Care & Adoption Conference in South Carolina

CCAI has learned in recent weeks that many individual Members of Congress are taking initiative in their states and districts to host events that spotlight adoption and foster care in October.  One such Member is Sen. Jim DeMint – a member of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption as well as CCAI’s Advisory Board.

Senator DeMint is hosting the Finding Families 2011 Adoption and Foster Care Conference on Tuesday, October 25, 2011, in Taylors, South Carolina. This event focuses on adoption issues impacting children both in South Carolina and across the United States as a whole.  Participants can elect to attend for the full day, or to select those conference class sessions that interest them most.

Class sessions will address both domestic and international adoption, medical concerns that arise, services for children with special needs, and pending legislation that affects adoptive families. Attendees will also have the chance to learn about foster parenting, as well as about financial resources that can help prospective parents with the costs of adoption. Session presenters include government officials, professors and foster care and adoption professionals.  Lunch and refreshments are provided at the cost of $10 per person.

To learn more about this conference, please visit HERE.

CCAI is excited that Senator DeMint and his staff are leading not only on Capitol Hill, but also back home in this important work, and we look forward to keeping you updated on similar events like this hosted by other Members in the coming weeks.

CCAI newsletter and legislative update

CCAI just released our August 2011 Newsletter and Legislative Update.  A few highlights from this month’s edition include:

  • Fifteen exceptional former foster youth leaders from across the country released a comprehensive report on the system in which they were raised, The Future of Foster Care: A Revolution for Change.  Topics covered include immigration, education, mentoring, psychotropic drugs, child abuse, and government accountability.
  • We need your help to encourage elected officials on a local, state, and federal level to promote National Adoption Day taking place on Saturday, November 19th.  Government officials can attend a local event, issue a proclamation, issue a press release, or post their support for foster care adoption on their twitter page.  Click here for a drop-in letter you can personalize and send to your elected officials.  Be sure to refer them and their staff to our NAD resource center.

Financial security of foster youth

An Associated Press article from August 16 discusses Rep. James Langevin’s work on legislation that would help protect youth in foster care from identity theft and credit fraud by requiring states to run credit checks on foster children and assist those who become victims of identity theft as well as prohibiting states from putting Social Security numbers in foster care records as a means of child identification.

The article first discusses how foster youth in care and aging out of care are already financially disadvantaged compared to their non-foster youth peers.  Complicating this reality for foster youth is the fact that, unknown to them, many are victims of identity theft or other financial crimes.  One study from California estimates that up to 50 percent of the children in the state’s system have been victims of identity theft.  Of great concern to many child welfare experts is how unknown and widespread this problem is across the country.

The financial security of current and former foster youth is a growing issue of concern among those in the field.  Earlier this year, the Children’s Advocacy Institute and First Star hosted a Congressional briefing to mark the release of the report, The Fleecing of Foster Children: How We Confiscate Their Assets and Undermine Their Financial Security.  The report addresses various aspects of youth’s financial well-being in care, including topics such as protection from social security fraud and promoting Individual Development Accounts.

One of CCAI’s 2010 Foster Youth Interns, Jeremy Long, was featured in a news clip about Colorado state legislation also targeted toward protecting foster youth from identity theft.  Shortly after seeing this story, one child welfare practitioner from Florida contacted CCAI and commented, “Families that adopt our foster children and foster children themselves encounter a serious problem.  More times than not parents whose parental rights have been terminated continue to use their child’s social security number to commit fraud such as for welfare funds, food stamps or income tax deductions.

In New Report, Foster Youth Tell Congress, “Don’t Write Us Off”

In New Report, Foster Youth Tell Congress, “Don’t Write Us Off”

Better Policies, Not More Funding, Will Help Most Vulnerable

Psychotropic Drugs, Education and Immigration Top Areas for Reform

 Washington, DC – August 2, 2011 – Today a group of former foster youth interning on Capitol Hill released a comprehensive report on the system in which they were raised. The Future of Foster Care: A Revolution for Change details the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s (CCAI) Foster Youth Internship (FYI) recommendations on improving hot-button issues ranging from immigration, education, mentoring, psychotropic drugs, child abuse, and government accountability. All of the topics reported are those that the youth felt motivated by personal experience to present. The report serves as a blueprint for Members of Congress interested in advancing foster care reform.  The 2011 FYI Report is the fourth in a series from which several previous recommendations are in the process of becoming law.

“The 2011 FYI briefing and report should teach us two simple, but profound lessons,” said Kathleen Strottman, Executive Director of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI), “that we are too often failing to provide youth in foster care with the everyday things that ANY child needs to thrive, and more importantly, the children who do receive these supports, have the potential to be our future leaders.”

The report’s authors delivered compelling highlights of the report to Members of Congress at a briefing last week.  Their main message: “We have potential. Don’t let the foster care system write us off.” The youth, 15 leaders from across the country who, due to abuse or neglect, spent the majority of their lives in foster care, were interns for Members of Congress this summer including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.). Their mission is to speak for the almost 410,000 children still in the foster care system – children who are being left behind.

“It’s a shame it takes a death of a child for policymakers to take notice of psychotropic medication abuse within child welfare agencies. How many more foster children have to die before policymakers and child welfare professionals realize that this is a national crisis and not a state-to-state issue? We need to hold states accountable for the safety of these children by creating a national benchmark,” said former foster youth Madison Sandoval-Lunn from Las Vegas.

Marjorie Delgadillo, a former foster youth from California, called on Members to take action on behalf of immigrant children in foster care, who make up 10 percent of children in care.  Delgadillo was specifically concerned with children whose parents were undocumented. According to Delgadillo, “The real tragedy is that while the federal government provided some special protections for these vulnerable children almost 20 years ago, states are simply not using them to protect kids.”

Several of the youth stressed the importance of education, an area that is consistently overlooked.  As a result, only 50 percent of youth in foster care graduate from high school, and less than 3 percent go on to graduate from college.  Insight as to why this is the case and ways that it can be improved are included in the full report.

“Each year some of the most passionate and upstanding young men and women are a part of CCAI’s Foster Youth Internship program. They come to Washington not only as interns, but as the collective voice of every child in the U.S. foster care system,” said Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La.), co-chair of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, “It is a privilege to continue to work alongside these tremendous youth as they fight for the much needed change in child welfare policy.”

Representative Karen Bass (D-Calif.), also a Coalition co-chair, stated “CCAI deserves tremendous credit for giving opportunity to former foster youth through their inspiring internship program. The participants are champions who are overcoming the odds to make a difference in their lives and in the welfare of their communities. We will be hearing for years to come about the achievements of these wonderful young leaders.”

Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), also a Coalition co-chair added “Each summer, CCAI’s Foster Youth Interns fill a valuable role in offices across Capitol Hill. As a foster mother of 23, I know these young people have overcome tremendous challenges in their short lives. I commend the foster youth for doing exceptional work during their internships and I wish them every bit of success in their future. I am confident CCAI will continue their excellent work running the Foster Youth Internship Program which provides these youth with important experience and a taste of Capitol Hill.”

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