That transition is much more tough for kids in foster care. Foster kids face drawback from the beginning—they’re extra doubtless, for instance, to change into entangled within the prison authorized system, and fewer prone to graduate from school—and those that age out of the system with out placement right into a everlasting residence are abruptly deserted, left to fend for themselves between the ages of 18 or 21. The federal government capabilities as their guardian, after which swiftly extinguishes monetary assist, depriving foster youngsters of the protection internet that so a lot of their friends more and more discover crucial. This added disparity compounds the systemic drawback that foster youngsters already endure, and places them at heightened danger for poverty, homelessness, and incarceration.
States and localities can tackle this disaster by offering an everyday stipend to younger folks as they transition from youngster welfare programs to life as unbiased adults. Direct money funds are instant and versatile. Recipients can apply funds to their most urgent wants, and the stipends aren’t, nor ought to be, encumbered by restrictions like unemployment. An everyday revenue pays for primary wants like schooling, groceries, lease, or healthcare, relying on the particular person’s circumstances in the intervening time. For younger individuals who out of the blue discover themselves with no significant assist system, this sort of initiative could be a lifeline, with advantages for each the recipients and their communities. […]
The federal authorities has more and more acknowledged the ethical crucial of supporting foster care kids into maturity. As an illustration, the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program supplies funds to assist with every part from schooling to emotional assist, and it authorizes Congress to offer states and tribes with coaching vouchers of as much as $5,000 per yr for youth prone to expertise problem as they transition to maturity. As well as, the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act supplies federal funding to states that stretch foster care as much as age 21. Up to now, 28 states and the District of Columbia have taken up the choice to increase care. In gentle of pandemic-created hardships, some states have gone additional, utilizing their very own funds to allow youth to remain in care past their 21st birthday during the pandemic. […]
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TOP COMMENTS • RESCUED DIARIES • THE BRIEF
“That is clearly probably the most severe crime in opposition to our nation and Structure of any president in historical past, and the truth that it happened within the final month does not make it much less severe.”
~~Rep. Adam Schiff, Jan. 17, 2021
On this date at Day by day Kos in 2013—Drug checks for welfare payments come to 3 extra states:
Trying on the vary of drug testing-for-benefits payments being pushed in state legislatures throughout the nation, you virtually must suspect Republicans of some sort of urine fetish. Along with all of the states which can be debating or have handed payments requiring folks making use of for unemployment insurance benefits to pee in cups, drug-testing payments aimed toward welfare applicants are being launched in three states. The specifics could be ripe for comedy if we weren’t speaking a few concerted effort by the highly effective to stigmatize susceptible folks as drug addicts, as if that is the one cause an individual may want assist in an financial system by which there are nonetheless greater than three job-seekers for each job opening:
The Ohio State Senate held a second listening to Thursday evening on a proposal to ascertain pilot drug-testing applications in three counties. Underneath the proposal, candidates could be required to submit a drug check in the event that they disclose that they’ve used unlawful substances. The proposal was first launched within the spring, however strain from opponents led Gov. John Kasich to squash the invoice in Could.
Virginia Republicans are additionally reviving a invoice that was shelved earlier this yr. The 2012 model failed after the state estimated it might price $1.5 million to implement whereas solely saving $229,000. The invoice’s sponsor, Delegate Dickie Bell, has not launched the up to date model but, however says he’s discovered more economical choices.
These must be some fairly rattling important modifications to the fee construction to erase a virtually $1.25 million deficit.