Every 10 minutes, in the US, a family is forcibly separated. Their children are placed in unsafe state care (1 in 3 foster youth report being abused in state care). And the family is forever traumatized. Their crime? They were poor.

Over 70% of youth in foster care could have safely remained with their biological family had the biological family received basic support services [AFCARS Report FY 2022]

The #1 reason a child or young adult is placed into state care is because of Neglect (poverty) without abuse

Neglect (poverty) is “defined as the failure of a parent or other person with responsibility for the child to provide needed food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or supervision to the degree that the child's health, safety, and well-being are threatened with harm” [childwelfare.gov]

Current US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) protocols are to remove children from their biological homes and place them in state care should the biological home lack access to food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or affordable childcare

The US Department of Health and Human Services offers programs to help homes that lack access to food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or childcare, yet these programs are often not offered to biological families in need

Despite knowledge of existing support systems for families who need support, HHS protocols are to remove children/youth from their homes and place them into unsafe state care

Children Are Not Safe In State Care - Relevant Statistics
A child enters into foster care every 2 minutes in the US
Currently, there are ~400,000 youth in the US foster care system
>The number of licensed foster homes in the US is 195,404 (as of 12/4/23)
>1 in 3 foster youth experience abuse in out-of-home placements
>60% of child sex trafficking victims are or have been in foster care
>Over 10% of children who go missing from foster care or group homes aren't reported to law enforcement with the average age of unreported children being 15 years old
>Foster youth suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at a rate twice that of a war veteran
>Adolescents who have been in foster care are nearly four times more likely to have attempted suicide
>On average, children in foster care move every five months
>Only 50% of foster youth complete a high school degree or GED, 2 to 6 percent earn a two-year degree, and 3 to 4 percent earn a four-year degree
>50% of girls in foster care become pregnant by the age of 19, with roughly a third of 17-year-old girls in the system currently pregnant
>Teen mothers in foster care are more than eleven times more likely to lose custody than other teen mothers within one week of giving birth, over the rest of the baby’s first year of life, teen foster mothers are more than three times more likely to lose custody, and between children's first and second birthdays, they still had more than twice the odds of losing custody
>50% of teen moms in foster care lose custody of babies before their second birthday
>7 out of 10 girls who age out of the foster care system will become pregnant before the age of 21
>Children in foster care are far more likely to change schools during the school year, to be in special education classes, and to fail to receive passing grades than their general population counterparts
>Over 40% of school-aged children in foster care have educational difficulties
>~25,000 youth age out of the foster care system each year
>After reaching the age of 18, 20% of the children who were in foster care will become instantly homeless
>25% of former foster youth experience homelessness within 4 years of aging out
>50% of the unhoused population in the US are former foster youth
>70% of former foster care youth are arrested at least once before age 26 
>1 of every 5 prison inmates experienced foster care
>~80% of death row inmates spent time in foster care
>Only 1 out of every 2 foster youth who age out of the system will have some form of gainful employment by the age of 24

As a children and families and foster youth advocate, I'm looking for allies that believe all Americans benefit from having a diverse, equitable, and just society. H.R.5028 - The Family Poverty is Not Child Neglect Act, is a bill that will not only greatly help to keep America's children safe and at home with their biological families but will cut the number of youth entering foster care each year by 70% (yes, 70%!), keep vulnerable children out of the grip of predators, improve mental, emotional, and physical health outcomes, raise high school and secondary education graduation rates, diversify the educated workforce, reduce crime and prison populations, reduce unwanted pregnancy, stem the tide of the unhoused population, greatly reduce poverty rates, and more. Yet, it has languished in the Committee on Education and the Workforce since it was first referred on 1/28/21 and then reintroduced on 7/27/23.

H.R.5028 will stop the forcible separation of hundreds of thousands of children and families annually and create a better society for all. Please sign this petition declaring your support for H.R.5028 and its swift passage without change.