Children in Foster Care Act Press Conference

March 16, 2010

Rep. Phyllis Mundy

Good morning.  My name is Phyllis Mundy and I represent the 120^th Legislative District.  We are here to announce that today I will reintroduce the Children in Foster Care Act.  Also with me this morning is Joan Benso of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children and two former foster youth, Al Gorton and Sam Waite.

All too often, foster children feel powerless.  They no longer trust that their needs will be met and they do not trust those in authority to help them.  They don’t know that they have rights and freedoms afforded to them by law and regulation.  As a result of this lack of awareness, they do not contact the authorities when these rights are violated.  The Children in Foster Care Act would ensure that upon a child’s placement with a foster family, the involved county or private agency would present both the foster child and the foster parents with an easy-to-understand list of the child’s rights. The goal of providing the child and parents with this document is to ensure that all involved parties are aware of the child’s rights and fully understand them.

My bill would clarify rights that foster children already have and list these rights collectively in one document. These rights would be explained to the child by the county or private agency when the agency goes over its grievance policy and procedures with the child.  My bill specifies basic rights that should automatically be afforded to foster children, including the right to live in a safe, healthy home; to receive proper routine medical treatment; to receive life skills training and services to prepare for the transition to adulthood; and to receive an appropriate education.  In addition, foster children would be afforded additional rights, such as freedom from harassment, corporal punishment, unreasonable restraint, and physical, sexual, emotional and other abuse. 

I first discovered the need for this bill back in 2002, when I served on the Task Force on Services to Children and Youth and attended hearings on the Task Force report on children and youth services in Pennsylvania.  During the hearings, I heard horror stories of the egregious violation of foster youth rights and I realized that the legislature needed to address these issues.  I adopted one of the report’s recommendations that we create a "bill of rights" for children in out-of-home care.

And so my work with DPW and various stakeholders began in order to develop the Foster Children’s Bill of Rights, a bill I have introduced every session since 2005. While the bill I’m introducing today - the Children in Foster Care Act - is largely similar to the original Foster Children’s Bill of Rights in that it provides a list of protections for foster children in Pennsylvania, it is important to note that the provisions that were so controversial in previous sessions have been removed.  The provisions omitted from last session’s bill are those that would have protected foster children from discrimination based on sexual orientation and unreasonable searches of personal belongings.

Knowing that sexual orientation is one of the reasons many children are placed in foster care in the first place, it absolutely breaks my heart to remove these provisions.  However, my past difficulties in trying to pass this bill with those provisions included have convinced me that it would be better to pass an imperfect bill than no bill at all.  As we say, let not the perfect be the enemy of the good.

I would also like to emphasize that the bill is not a reflection on the many wonderful foster families who provide loving care and support to vulnerable, at-risk children. However, more can be done to prevent abuses that do occur despite our best intentions.