First Star, and the Child Advocacy Institute (CAI) support this initiative. Thorough background information is found in the full text of The Fleecing of Our Foster Children.
Children in foster care have already suffered abuse or neglect at the hands of their parents. While in foster care, many children are then victimized again by identity theft or credit fraud. In addition, youth transitioning out of care often lack the most basic documents and tools necessary to achieve independence. To strengthen the financial security of foster youth and to empower them to make responsible financial decisions as adults, the Foster Youth Financial Security Act contains the following provisions:
Protection against Identity Theft & Credit Fraud. As explained above, foster children are disproportionately victims of identity theft because their personal information passes through many hands, increasing the chances that someone will open an account in their name or use their Social Security number (SSN). This bill would require that all foster children have their credit reports reviewed, and cleared if there is an inaccuracy, prior to leaving care. It would also end the use of a child's SSN as an identifier. Currently, there is no available data on how many children have been affected by identity theft; this legislation will track the number of stolen identities by state. The bill allows the states to obtain assistance from both the Department of Health and Human Services and Federal Trade Commission on how best to protect their foster youth against this fraud.
Toolkits for Financial Success. It is easy to take for granted the basic tools that every person needs to get started in life as an adult — copies of their birth certificate, a driver's license or state-issued ID, a bank account, health and auto insurance, and perhaps a student loan. Foster children often leave care without these important documents and tools that they need to begin their lives and follow their dreams. This bill would ensure that they leave foster care with the documents they need. It also will help them apply for state benefits and financial aid, will educate them about obtaining health and auto insurance, and will provide them and any interested caretakers with financial literacy courses.
Creating Individual Development Accounts. Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) are savings accounts to help low-income families and other vulnerable groups save for specified purposes. Certain states and nonprofit organizations have set up IDAs specifically for foster youth, but this practice is not uniform. This bill would provide modest financial seed money to set up IDAs for foster youth so they leave care with a small nest egg to cover the first costs of specific items such as housing, education, and job training after they leave care.
B. Child Welfare Finance Reform
Title IV-E funding must be delinked from 1996 AFDC income eligibility requirements. It is widely acknowledged that these standards are antiquated, irrelevant, and harmful to the very groups that were meant to benefit from the program. Delinking will benefit states, families, and foster youth and ensure that federal dollars are wisely spent.
C. Federal Mandate to Extend Court Supervision to Older Foster Youth
The landmark 2008 Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act provided states with the option to extend foster care up to the age of 21. Unfortunately, there was not a concurrent provision in the legislation nor in the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to extend the court case and provision of legal representation as well. Dependency court cases of foster youth ages 18–21 should remain open so that the court can help monitor the child's progress, intervene to ensure adherence to the Plan for Achieving Self Support and ensure that the Individual Development Accounts are being disbursed properly. For many foster youth, the court is the only consistent authority figure or entity present during their tumultuous experience in foster care. It would benefit transition age foster youth tremendously to maintain that presence for as long as they remain in care.
One mechanism to coordinate and deliver assistance post-18 is the creation of trusts by the juvenile courts who have served as the parents of these kids to that point. Under a plan such as the Transition Life Coach proposal of the Children's Advocacy Institute,118 state assistance could combine with existing resources to produce the average $50,000 that private parents provide to their post-18 adult children; such an option allows the court as parent to stay involved, monitor progress and issue orders to third parties if necessary and appropriate. It also allows the youth to have a say in the plan authorized by the trust (the trust agreement), allows personal mentoring by the appointed trustee and allows for coordination with all of the other sources of assistance to maximize self-sufficiency. Like the support offered by typical private parents, assistance under such a plan need not stop at age 21. D. Budget and Deficit Reduction Considerations During 2011, the Congress is expected to contemplate cutting benefits and scaling back funding for programs that impact foster youth and youth aging out back to 2008 levels or worse. While these developments pose new challenges, advocates can take action to fight for the rights and security of foster youth through coalitions and with effective grassroots advocacy. Now, more than ever, advocates for children across the country must come together to fight any proposed cuts to services that benefit foster children and work towards helping these children, our children, more towards a future full of possibility.