A key piece of legislation has been passed for foster children who are adopted when they are teenagers.

On September 27, President Bush signed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (HR 2669), which includes the Fostering Adoption to Further Student Achievement Act amendment—legislation that makes it possible for teens in foster care to be adopted without losing access to college financial aid. Under the new law, youth who are adopted after their 13th birthday will not have to include their parents' income when determining their eligibility for financial aid.

This is great news for kids who are put in a position of having to choose between adoption and foster care. In the past, if they chose adoption, they lost the college financial aid, so many chose to “age out” as a foster child at 18. What a choice to have to make with your life. Personally, I’d like to see this enacted for all foster kids. Many of us adoptive parents are not wealthy, and we spend lots of money on treatments, therapies, and other needs, so huge college funds generally don’t exist for our kids.

There is another piece of legislation that is pending.

On February 16, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) formally reintroduced the Kinship Caregiver Support Act (Senate Bill 661), a bill that would provide support to grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other relatives who care for vulnerable children and youth.

Again, this is great news if it passes. The limits as to who qualifies for kinship support is fairly small, and the money paid out is minimal. Better yet, the legislation would provide for training and resource education for the kinship caregiver. How many relatives know what is available to them, how to find a good therapist for the child, or what their rights are? I’m guessing very few, unless they’ve already been a foster parent or possibly provided kinship care for other children. The other neat thing is that kinship families would be licensed separately and differently than regular foster homes, but would still be eligible for all the services and rights of a foster home. I wonder if it is more likely to be passed since it is a bi-partisan introduction of the bill?

And one last piece of legislation.

On May 24, 2007, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), introduced legislation that would extend foster care for young adults over the age of 18. The Foster Care Continuing Opportunities Act (S. 1512) would extend federal foster care funding for young adults 18 to 21, therefore improving services provided to youth making the transition from childhood to adulthood. As Senator Boxer said in an op-ed, "These are not just statistics – these are the lives of the young people who, without our help, have very limited options."

This is another big one. How many of us were ready to leave home at the age of 18 with no savings, no real job, and no place to live? Why should we expect foster kids to do the same thing? What if the child’s eighteenth birthday falls during the middle of the school year? Unless the foster family is willing to keep the child in their home, the child is “out in the cold.” It is estimated that about 23,000 kids age out of the system every year. Yes, this would mean that our tax dollars would support this child even longer, but the chances of the child making it with such limited resources are pretty slim.

Keep watching this legislation, and write to your elected officials with your input. You can make a difference.

North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC)

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