National Foster Care Month

NATIONAL FOSTER CARE MONTH

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today I wish to honor children across the Nation who live in foster care and the admirable adults who protect and care for them. Currently, there are over half a million children in foster care in the United States-a number that has doubled since 1987. Coming from every socioeconomic background, these innocent children cannot live at home due to troubling family situations. Luckily, 170,000 foster families have opened their hearts and homes to these disadvantaged children.

Children enter foster care for a number of reasons. For some children, the journey begins at birth. Other children come to the attention of child welfare when a teacher, a social worker, a police officer, or a neighbor reports suspected child maltreatment. Often, these children have experienced physical or sexual abuse at the hands of a loved and trusted adult or have been woefully neglected by their caregivers. On average, children stay in foster care for 33 months.

Foster parents meet a special need in our society by ensuring that foster children receive attention, love, and health and educational services. In doing so, they help to restore a sense of hope and stability in the lives of our country's youth.

In my home State of Illinois, we are doing our part to recognize the selfless contributions made by foster parents. On April 26, Governor Rod Blagojevich proclaimed May 2004 "Foster Parent Appreciation Month." The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is the Nation's largest child welfare agency accredited by the Council on Accreditation for Children and Family Services.

Illinois DCFS is working to reduce the number of children who require foster care. Through a program called Front End Redesign, early intervention services are provided to families after their needs become apparent to prevent the need for a child to be placed in foster care. For four consecutive years, Illinois has been a national leader in adoptions. With an increasing emphasis on early intervention and adoption, the number of Illinois children in foster care has declined from 51,331 children in 1997 to 19,297 children in 2004.

We still have a great demand-not only in Illinois but in States across the Nation-for additional caring adults to open their homes to foster children. Teenagers, adolescent moms and their babies, children with special needs, and sibling groups are some of the children most in need of foster and adoptive parents.

All children can reach their greatest potential when they live in safe, stable, and nurturing families. Yet far too many children lack this fundamental foundation. Foster parents, as well as the professionals and volunteers working within state child welfare programs, deserve our gratitude and respect for the sacrifices they make every day to ensure that our children-our Nation's future-receive the support they need as they mature into adulthood.