IV 
113TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 577 
Recognizing National Foster Care Month as an opportunity to raise awareness 
about the challenges of children in the foster care system, and encour-
aging Congress to implement policy to improve the lives of children 
in the foster care system. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 8, 2014 
Ms. BASS (for herself, Mrs. BACHMANN, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. BARLETTA, Mr. 
CUMMINGS, Mr. BENTIVOLIO, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. 
BISHOP of Georgia, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. DEFA-
ZIO, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Ms. 
DELAURO, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mr. DEUTCH, Mrs. BUSTOS, 
Mr. DOGGETT, Mrs. CAPPS, Ms. EDWARDS, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. ELLI-
SON, Mr. CARSON
of Indiana, Ms. FRANKEL
of Florida, Mrs. 
CHRISTENSEN, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Ms. CHU, Ms. FUDGE, Mr. 
CICILLINE, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. GRI-
JALVA, Mr. CLAY, Ms. HAHN, Mr. CLEAVER, Mrs. HARTZLER, Mr. CON-
YERS, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. COOK, Mr. HECK of Washington, 
Mr. COOPER, Mr. HIMES, Ms. JACKSON
LEE, Mr. HONDA, Mr. 
JEFFRIES, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of 
Texas, Mr. KEATING, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. KILMER, 
Ms. KUSTER, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. LATHAM, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. 
LEWIS, Ms. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico, Mr. SEAN PAT-
RICK MALONEY of New York, Mr. MARINO, Mr. MATHESON, Ms. MAT-
SUI, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. MESSER, 
Mr. MURPHY of Florida, Ms. NORTON, Mr. NUNNELEE, Mr. O’ROURKE, 
Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. PETERS of California, Mr. PETERSON, 
Mr. PIERLUISI, Mr. POCAN, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. RANGEL, 
Mr. REICHERT, Mr. RICHMOND, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. 
DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. SEWELL of Ala-
bama, Ms. SHEA-PORTER, Mr. SIRES, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. STOCKMAN, Mr. 
TAKANO, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. THOMPSON of California, 
Ms. TITUS, Ms. TSONGAS, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. WELCH, Ms. 
WILSON of Florida, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. HOLT, and Mr. VEASEY) sub-
mitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
Ways and Means 
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•HRES 577 IH 
RESOLUTION 
Recognizing National Foster Care Month as an opportunity 
to raise awareness about the challenges of children in 
the foster care system, and encouraging Congress to 
implement policy to improve the lives of children in the 
foster care system. 
Whereas National Foster Care Month was established more 
than 20 years ago to— 
(1) bring foster care issues to the forefront; 
(2) highlight the importance of permanency for 
every child; and 
(3) recognize the essential role that foster parents, 
social workers, and advocates have in the lives of children 
in foster care throughout the United States; 
Whereas all children deserve a safe, loving, and permanent 
home; 
Whereas the primary goal of the foster care system is to en-
sure the safety and well-being of children while working 
to provide a safe, loving, and permanent home for each 
child; 
Whereas there are approximately 400,000 children living in 
foster care; 
Whereas there were approximately 252,000 youth that en-
tered the foster care system in 2012, while nearly 
102,000 youth were eligible and awaiting adoption at the 
end of 2012; 
Whereas foster care is intended to be a temporary placement, 
but children remain in the foster care system for an aver-
age of 2 years; 
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•HRES 577 IH 
Whereas African-American and Native American children are 
more likely to stay in the foster care system for longer 
periods of time and are less likely to be reunited with 
their biological families; 
Whereas foster parents are the front-line caregivers for chil-
dren who cannot safely remain with their biological par-
ents and provide physical care, emotional support, edu-
cation advocacy, and are the largest single source of fam-
ilies providing permanent homes for children leaving fos-
ter care to adoption; 
Whereas children in foster care who are placed with relatives, 
compared to children placed with nonrelatives, have more 
stability, including fewer changes in placements, have 
more positive perceptions of their placements, are more 
likely to be placed with their siblings, and demonstrate 
fewer behavioral problems; 
Whereas some relative caregivers receive less financial assist-
ance and support services than do foster caregivers; 
Whereas recent studies show children in foster care are pre-
scribed psychotropic medication at rates up to 11 times 
higher than other children on Medicaid and in amounts 
that exceed the Food and Drug Administration’s guide-
lines; 
Whereas youth in foster care are much more likely to face 
educational instability with 34 percent of foster youth 
ages 17 to 18 experiencing at least 7 changes while in 
care; 
Whereas youth in foster care are often cut off from other 
youth and face hurdles in the participating in activities 
common to their peers, such as sports or participating in 
extracurricular activities; 
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•HRES 577 IH 
Whereas youth in foster care are more susceptible to being 
trafficked, and more needs to be done to prevent, iden-
tify, and intervene when a child becomes a victim of the 
crime; 
Whereas an increased emphasis on prevention and reunifica-
tion services is necessary to reduce the number of chil-
dren that are forced to remain in the foster care system; 
Whereas more than 23,400 youth ‘‘age-out’’ of foster care 
annually without a legal permanent connection to an 
adult or family; 
Whereas children who ‘‘age-out’’ of foster care lack the secu-
rity or support of a biological or adoptive family and fre-
quently struggle to secure affordable housing, obtain 
health insurance, pursue higher education, and acquire 
adequate employment; 
Whereas nearly half of children in foster care for five or more 
years experience 7 or more different foster care place-
ments, which often leads to disruption of routines and 
the need to change schools and move away from siblings, 
extended families, and familiar surroundings; 
Whereas children entering foster care often confront the 
widespread misperception that children in foster care are 
disruptive, unruly, and dangerous, even though placement 
in foster care is based on the actions of a parent or 
guardian, not the child; 
Whereas States, localities, and communities should be encour-
aged to invest resources in preventative and reunification 
services and post-permanency programs to ensure that 
more children in foster care are provided with safe, lov-
ing, and permanent placements; 
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•HRES 577 IH 
Whereas Federal legislation over the past three decades, in-
cluding the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 
1980 (Public Law 96–272), the Adoption and Safe Fami-
lies Act of 1997 (Public Law 105–89), the Fostering 
Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 
2008 (Public Law 110–351), the Child and Family Serv-
ices Improvement and Innovation Act (Public Law 112– 
34), and the Uninterrupted Scholars Act (Public Law 
112–278) provided new investments and services to im-
prove the outcomes of children in the foster care system; 
Whereas the U.S. Department of Health and Human Serv-
ices’ Children Bureau has designated May as National 
Foster Care Month under the theme ‘‘to help build blocks 
toward permanent families for foster youth’’; 
Whereas May would be an appropriate month to designate as 
National Foster Care Month to provide an opportunity to 
acknowledge the accomplishments of the child-welfare 
workforce, foster parents, advocacy community, and men-
tors for their dedication, accomplishments, and positive 
impact they have on the lives of children; and 
Whereas much remains to be done to ensure that all children 
have a safe, loving, nurturing, and permanent family, re-
gardless of age or special needs: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) recognizes National Foster Care Month as 
an opportunity to raise awareness about the chal-
lenges that children face in the foster-care system; 
(2) encourages Congress to implement policy to 
minimize the number of children entering the foster 
care system, to improve the lives of children in the 
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