{"id":135891,"date":"2024-10-08T22:06:54","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T02:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=135891"},"modified":"2024-10-08T22:06:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T02:06:54","slug":"children-youth-committee-hosts-informational-meeting-on-protecting-public-benefits-for-foster-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=135891","title":{"rendered":"Children & Youth Committee hosts informational meeting on protecting public benefits for foster youth"},"content":{"rendered":"
HARRISBURG, Oct. 8<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 The PA House Children & Youth Committee held an informational meeting today to discuss legislation (H.B. 2617) recently introduced by state Reps. Rick Krajewski and Sheryl Delozier.<\/div>\n
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By requiring counties to screen for and conserve foster youth benefits in a savings account for when a foster youth exits care, the bill would ensure that foster youths receive the public benefits to which they are legally entitled, such as Social Security, disability and veterans\u2019 benefits.<\/div>\n
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Under existing state regulations, and\u00a0despite efforts for reform in Philadelphia<\/a><\/u>, county foster care agencies regularly intercept and spend tens of thousands in benefits intended for foster youth.<\/div>\n
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\u201cOrphaned and disabled foster youth are some of the most vulnerable children in the state and have extremely limited resources. Just like other foster youth, children who receive public benefits should not be charged for their own care,\u201d said\u00a0Krajewski<\/b>. \u201cThis legislation will give our counties the go-ahead they need to fully advocate for the youth in their care and provide many children life-altering financial support when they age out of the system.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe children in the foster care system deserve for their government to do everything they can to help them,\u201d said\u00a0Delozier<\/b>. \u201cThe testimony we heard at our informational meeting will help us craft a bill to make sure the youth in our foster system get the benefits they\u2019re entitled to.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Legislatures across the country<\/a><\/u>\u00a0have passed similar bipartisan legislation, including\u00a0most recently in California<\/a><\/u>. Foster youth make up some of the most vulnerable children in Pennsylvania and nationwide and are at high risk for experiencing homelessness, teen pregnancies and gun violence.<\/div>\n
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The committee listened to testimony from panelists, including\u00a0Amy Harfeld,<\/b>\u00a0national policy director of the Child Advocacy Institute;\u00a0Laurie Ayler,\u00a0<\/b>social work supervisor for the Support Center for Child Advocates;\u00a0Aqilah David<\/b>, Stoneleigh Youth Advocacy Fellow at the Juvenile Law Center; and\u00a0Vaughn Jackson<\/b>, a Philadelphia father whose children\u2019s benefits were intercepted.<\/div>\n
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\u201cFor foster youth who age out of the system without family support, access to conserved benefits could be life-changing, helping them afford essentials like groceries, child care, rent, and utilities,\u201d said\u00a0Ayler<\/b>. \u201cI think of former clients now in their late 20s who are struggling to survive on limited SSI benefits — had they been given access to conserved funds, they would surely have had a more secure start to adulthood.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\u201cNo one should take money from orphans,\u201d said\u00a0Jackson.\u00a0<\/b>\u201cMost foster kids don\u2019t have a clue why they\u2019re in the system. As they get older and become young men and women, they deserve to be able to use these funds DHS is taking to go to school, take up a trade, further their education and become something. They deserve a fair chance in life.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\u201cMany young people exit the Pennsylvania child welfare system just to become homeless and less fortunate. Why take away their safety net of the benefits that could prevent these unforeseen circumstances?\u201d said\u00a0David<\/b>. \u201cThis could give young people that financial stability to get their adult lives started.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\u201cBrilliant advocates and experts have built a movement to ensure Pennsylvania\u2019s foster youth beneficiaries have a fair shot at success,\u201d said\u00a0Harfeld<\/b>. \u201cNow the legislature has a chance to get the state on the right side of this commonsense policy reform. Win for children and families. Win for taxpayers. Win for all.\u201d<\/div>\n
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House Bill 2617 is supported by more than 30 children\u2019s advocacy, disability rights and social service organizations across the Commonwealth.<\/div>\n
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Information provided to TVL by:
\nBenjamin Moss-Horwitz<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HARRISBURG, Oct. 8\u00a0\u2013 The PA House Children & Youth Committee held an informational meeting today to discuss legislation (H.B. 2617) recently introduced by state Reps. Rick Krajewski and Sheryl Delozier. … Continue reading Children & Youth Committee hosts informational meeting on protecting public benefits for foster youth<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115768,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/HARRISBURG-copy.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135891"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=135891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/115768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=135891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=135891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}