OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

DeWine Measure Strengthening Family Courts, Child Welfare System Passes House

Date: Feb. 2, 2006


DEWINE MEASURE STRENGTHENING FAMILY COURTS, CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM PASSES HOUSE

Bill Incorporates Pew Commission Recommendations For Foster Care System

U.S. Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH) is pleased that his bill, the WE CARE Kids: Working to Enhance Courts for At-Risk and Endangered Kids Act, was included in the Budget Reconciliation Conference Report which the House passed late last night. WE CARE Kids would help improve the lives of at-risk children living in foster care.

Last year, the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care released their recommendations to improve the nation's foster care system. The Commission recommended ways to strengthen the courts in the child welfare system, which would help vulnerable children in the foster care system get better service and support from the courts. The WE CARE Kids Act incorporates many of the Pew Commission's recommendations.

The legislation would authorize $10 million in yearly grants for training of judges and court personnel. It also authorizes $10 million for grants to the highest state court to improve their data collection systems for better outcomes for children in foster care.

"By enacting the Pew Center's recommendations, we are creating a more effective court system that helps ensure that every child can grow up in a safe and stable home." said Senator DeWine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. "This bill is another step toward an efficient and reliable child welfare system."

Senator DeWine is a long-time advocate of all children having the ability to live in a safe and stable home. Senator DeWine included language in the Adoption and Safe Families Act that ensures that a foster child's health and safety must be the paramount concern when deciding where a foster child should live.

Senator John Rockefeller (D-WV) is the Democratic cosponsor of the WE CARE Kids Act. The Conference Report now goes to the president for his signature.

http://dewine.senate.gov/

arrow_upward