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CWLA Praises New GAO Study on African American Children in Foster Care
For more information, contact
Joyce Johnson
Phone: 804/492-4519
Cell: 703/980-7641
E-mail: jjohnson@cwla.org
July 30, 2007, Arlington, VA -- CWLA today praised Congressman Charles Rangel for requesting the General Account Office Report on the high rate of African American children coming into and remaining in foster care. Congressman Rangel, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, released the ground breaking new report on racial disproportionality in foster care in the U.S. and called for federal assistance to find permanent homes. The report found that there was a significant overrepresentation of children of color in the nation's child welfare system. The GAO study (GAO-07-816) found that the level of poverty, lack of support services and racial bias as well as other factors resulted in African American children representing more than one-third of the children in foster care.
The report recommended that Congress consider amending federal law to allow federal reimbursement for legal guardianship and called on HHS to assist state efforts to find permanent homes for African American children and reduce the disproportionate number of children in foster care.
"We commend Congressman Rangel for his leadership on this critical issue in our nation's child welfare system", said Christine James-Brown, President and CEO of CWLA. "We hope this report will build momentum toward a solution to this challenge that must include legislation that would extend Title IV-E funding to kinship families" she continued. CWLA has rejected as inadequate an Administration proposal to replace Title IV-E with a state optional block grant.
Given that African American children are more likely to be placed in kinship care, action is needed to provide kinship caregivers with access to an array of needed supports and services such as counseling, child care, affordable housing, and substance abuse treatment. Currently there are two bills in Congress that would expand Title IV-E funding to kinship placements. S 661 was introduced by Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME). A House companion bill HR 2188 is being sponsored by Representative Danny Davis (D-IL) and Representative Tim Johnson (R-IL).
Since 1920, the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) has been the nation's pre-eminent organization dedicated to ensuring that disadvantaged and vulnerable children are protected from harm and have the tools and resources they need to grow into the healthy and happy adults we want them to become. CWLA is the trusted authority for professionals who work with children and the only national organization with members from both public and private agencies, providing unique access and influence to all sectors of the children's services field.
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