▶ 0:14:11committee will come to order this morning. I want to welcome everybody to our W work and welfare subcommittee hearing this morning. The title of our subcommittee today is leaving the sticky notes behind harnessing innovation and new technology to help America's foster youth succeed. I want to welcome uh all of our witnesses here today, which I'll introduce um after my opening statements, and want to welcome the members here to this very important hearing today.
▶ 0:14:39Uh a special thank you and welcome uh to our witnesses for traveling here today. I'm Congressman Darren Lehood, the chairman of the subcommittee, and I represent Illinois's 16th district, which covers much of central and northwestern parts of Illinois. Um, this will be our second hearing as part of the committee's bipartisan work to modernize and reform the Chaffi foster care program. During our hearing in June, we examine challenges youth face when aging out of foster care.
▶ 0:15:09Witnesses highlighted that many of our foster youth are not aware of resources offered through the Chaffy program and raised concerns about states not drawing down all of their available federal funds. Our hearing today will focus on how technology and innovation can help case workers better support transition age foster youth.
▶ 0:15:30Last week, I had the honor to join President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for a for the signing of an executive order titled Fostering the Future for America American Children and Families. The executive order includes a call for the modernization of state child welfare systems and expanding the use of And I am committed to help advance those priorities through our work on this subcommittee.
▶ 0:15:57Youth aging out of foster care are one of the most vulnerable populations in our country. 80% of foster youth experience trauma before adulthood and nearly half have been diagnosed with mental health conditions. Foster youth have higher rates of educational dropout, early pregnancy, and unemployment. One of the most significant barriers that I'm concerned about is access to stable housing.
▶ 0:16:24One estimate finds that nearly 35% of former foster youth experienced homelessness by age 21. Programs like Shaffy play a critical role in assisting youth by helping them develop life skills, access housing, and enroll in education and training. And we know case workers are at the forefront of youth's experience. Case workers help youth navigate programs, plan their future, and work toward successful independence.
▶ 0:16:53Yet, many states face significant costs and lengthy timelines to modernize state systems. States are continuing to rely on decade old technology such as green screen mainframes and the equivalent of electronic quote sticky notes. This increases administrative burden and fuels high turnover and burnout among case workers. It certainly does not advance our goal of improving outcomes for foster youth.
▶ 0:17:23Child welfare systems have not kept up with the pace of technology and its children and case workers that have felt the most impact. When case workers rely on spreadsheets or clunky software applications to track cases, it does not create an optimal environment for identifying unmet needs or helping youth cultivate relationships with family and kin. Things that are foundational [clears throat] to success.
▶ 0:17:50We will hear today from some remarkable individuals who took their experience in the private sector and developed new technology to provide better, more advanced tools for our case workers with incredible results for our foster youth. I'm convinced that federal Shaffy funds could have more of an impact when paired with modern technology and newer case management tools. We know some states are testing innovative models and I'd like to explore ways to cultivate that across the country.
▶ 0:18:20I look forward to working with my colleagues on the subcommittee and the full committee to take what we have learned from these hearings to develop ways to improve Chaffy and other federal programs supporting our foster youth. Thank you again for our witnesses for being here today and I look forward to a substantive and productive hearing today. Um, with that, I now recognize uh the ranking member and my friend, Congressman Danny Davis.
▶ 0:18:46Well, thank [clears throat] you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for calling this hearing. And I also want to appreciate your continued focus on children and families that experience foster care. And I look forward to working with you again and appreciate all of our witnesses for being here today as well.
▶ 0:19:07Especially do I want to welcome Miss Car who not only lives in the greatest city in this country but uh also lives in the community where I live work and have the honor of representing. So thank you very much for your work and for being here. Over 3,000 youth between 16 and 20 live in our home state of Illinois.
▶ 0:19:35Despite important policy improvements over the past few decades, our foster care system continues to fail many of those youth and their peers in other states. We have a big problem and it will require a big solution. The answer begins with hearing the voices of youth who experienced foster care.
▶ 0:20:00We know that they are still struggling to overcome the trauma they experienced before and sometimes while in foster care. They need high quality health care and mental health services.
▶ 0:20:15They need the basic tools of adulthood, an education, a career path, a driver's license, life skills, and most of all, they need love and stability, a stable home, and the support of family, both blood family and chosen family.
▶ 0:20:36Our subcommittee has an opportunity to make some simple changes that would ensure that youth can access essential supports right now. In some cases, we need to provide more information or more money to states so that they can do things we know work, like helping youth secure driver's license, safe housing, permanent families, and legal services
▶ 0:21:07to remove barriers to employment, education, and well-being. In others, we just need to change an outdated rule or make sure youth and caregivers know about resources that are already available. We also need to more intensively help expectant and parenting foster youth so that the entire family thrives.
▶ 0:21:34As we tackle the challenge of providing these youth with the kind of stability and opportunity we seek for our own children and grandchildren, we should ensure states and counties have access to key tools and can afford to use them when they fit local needs.
▶ 0:21:56The tools might be a specific approach to casework or service referral, free mental health services, or a piece of computer software. At the same time, we should not confuse tools with solutions. The solution is to make sure that current and former foster youth have trustworthy adults to guide them and help them learn to guide themselves.
▶ 0:22:24Achieving that will require significant investment. It will require reform to keep children connected to their families, even if those families are unable to care for them full time. And it will require recognizing that these youth, like their peers, will likely need financial support and a guiding hand in early adulthood, well after age 18.
▶ 0:22:52Our challenge has recently gotten much harder. Young adult unemployment is now over 10% and the majority must live with family just to make ends meet. rise in prices caused by the incoherent Trump tariff policy, Republican cuts to Medicaid, nutrition, and housing benefits, and most recently the refusal of congressional Republicans to prevent health insurance premiums from rising
▶ 0:23:22by an average of 114% are making things difficult for all young adults. Given their circumstances, these problems fall especially hard on older foster youth. I believe that we can and must meet this challenge.
▶ 0:23:42Our subcommittee has a long history of bipartisan action on both immediate common sense policy changes and on bold policy improvements that open a better path in the future. Older faster youth have told us what we what they need. All that we have to do is listen and act. So again, Mr.
▶ 0:24:10Chairman, I thank you for your focus and for this hearing and yield back the balance of my time.
▶ 0:24:17Thank you, Mr. Davis, for those opening remarks. Um, we will now introduce our witnesses before us here today. Our first witness is Marty Eliscoco. Uh, and he is the CEO and chairman of the board of Agentel, which is based in Chicago, Illinois. Uh, next we have, uh, Dr. Jennifer Jacobs and she is the CEO and co-founder of Connect Our Kids based in Falls Church, Virginia.
▶ 0:24:41Our next witness is Lucianda Carr and she's a case specialist at Lawrence Hall based in Chicago, Illinois. Adrien Lewis joins us and he is the founder and president of Care Portal based in Stillwell, Kansas. And lastly, we have Mr. Michael Leech and he is the chief uh external engagement officer of Think of Us based in Washington DC. Welcome to all of you for being here today. Uh Mr.
▶ 0:25:10Allesco, we'll start with you and you're recognized for five minutes to deliver your opening statement. Thank you. Good morning, Chairman Le Hood, Ranking Member Davis, and members of the subcommittee. My name is Marty Liscoco and I'm the CEO of Auggentel, a Chicago based AI company dedicated to child welfare.
▶ 0:25:30Before Auggentel, I spent 15 years at Motorola designing public safety radio systems and helping the VA adopt patient safety technology and from this learned how to bring cutting edge technology to government. Also, social services, entrepreneurship, and job creation runs in my family. In fact, Representative Davis, over a hundred years ago, my greatgrandfather started a candy distribution business, the Maywood Candy Company, right in your district.
▶ 0:26:01We hear a lot about the future of AI, but I'm going to share how AI is improving safety, permanency, and well-being, the core goals of child welfare today, and how it will help take child welfare where it needs to be.
▶ 0:26:16RA AI is strengthening organizations such as the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, the Alageney Department of Human Services, and nonprofits such as the California-based Aspirinet that focuses on youth transitioning out of foster Directly um we equip case workers with the ability to detect early signs of harm. directly related to President Trump's executive order mentioned earlier directing the use of AI to modernize child welfare systems.
▶ 0:26:46There is much that government can learn from us and states and counties that are already doing it well. Child welfare workers are some of the most dedicated professionals in government. They are the lifeline between children, families, and the support they need, but have too much administrative and compliance work, and too little insight into the children and families they care for to get the job done.
▶ 0:27:13If you visit a child welfare office, you will undoubtedly see case workers working with outdated technology, clicking through case notes one by one. They are forced to spend about half their day on administrative work rather than engaging with families. My Auggentel co-founders and I knew AI could solve these various serious problems. We wanted to do it right. Build AI that would be trusted by social workers and fit to their stressful, oftentimes traumatic work.
▶ 0:27:44We interviewed hundreds of social workers. We hired former social workers. And today, Augel is used across the US. Imagine if you were a social worker trying to understand an older youth's housing housing history to help them gain housing support. You would have to read through hundreds of notes. In fact, 80% of all child welfare data is in the notes or what we call unstructured data and it's nearly impossible to find. It's been this way for decades.
▶ 0:28:14It is here where case workers and leaders are most fearful that early signs of harm may fall through the cracks and why you read about tragedies in the newspaper. Augentel uniquely solves this by unearthing critical information buried in the notes in these outdated systems all while making it super easy for social workers to use. We call this content intelligence, and you can think of it as an internet search engine or even Genai, but built for child welfare.
▶ 0:28:45It's already saving each social worker up to five hours per week, giving them the time they need to be more effective, and we're just getting started. Illinois DCFS director Heidi Miller, author, author of the policy and practice article artificial intelligence in child welfare, stated, quote, "We use AI from Augintel to access narrative data to deliver insights that leadership can count on, better identify the needs of families we serve, and empower staff." End quote.
▶ 0:29:15Back to the core goals of child welfare. We're making it possible to improve safety by identifying early warning signs of harm that social workers then can proactively act upon. We accelerate finding permanent living situations by tripling the size of the child's network of family and kinship supports. And we improve well-being by surfacing unmet needs so families can be provided with the services to address those needs. It's here where the rubber meets the road.
▶ 0:29:42And it's here where lives are For example, teenage pregnancy and foster care can be a significant risk. In Illinois, DCFS offers fantastic programs to support expectant mothers. However, these programs go underutilized because outdated systems cannot identify if a young woman is pregnant. Augel surfaces this notifies staff and outreach occurs.
▶ 0:30:09Before Agentel, DCFS knew of less than 100 expectant mothers in their care. Then with AI, they became aware of 621 more who can now make use of this program. Similarly, AI extends across all types of unmet needs such as with youth transitioning out of foster care. We make it possible for teens who want a college education to be connected to the Chaffi program to fund their education and maximize the use of federal resources available to them.
▶ 0:30:39Simply put, AI provides the fix to fix the day-to-day work of child welfare at scale and put children and families on the right path. I'll also note that we don't need to replace outdated systems or wait to replace outdated systems. We overlaid them and were implemented in months, not years. I've just scratched the surface. We have so many more examples of success that should be scaled across the US and can be done now.
▶ 0:31:06Driven by the executive order, states need encouragement, funding, and the elimination of red tape. And thanks to the work already being done, they don't need to start at square one. Thank
▶ 0:31:17Thank you, Mr. Allesco. We'll now recognize Dr. Jacobs for your five
▶ 0:31:49already disrupt. Should I switch these?
▶ 0:32:13Happy to. and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.
▶ 0:32:42My name is Dr. Jennifer Jacobs and I am co-founder and CEO of Connect Our Kids. I'm a West Point veteran, an Army veteran, and a nuclear engineer who spent most of my career working to counter nuclear terrorism. But 14 years ago, I read an article in Time magazine and realized that some of the work done in the counterterrorism space is similar to what's needed to help keep kids in foster care connected to their most important relationships.
▶ 0:33:11Both connect large networks of people and data to affect the future of someone in the center. The difference is just that one centers around a terrorist and one centers around a child. But while the national security space has multi-million dollar software with data search and management capabilities, the foster care space was doing essentially the same work with sticky notes and Excel.
▶ 0:33:37That led to my co-founding connect our kids as a nonprofit to recreate those national security tools to help keep kids in care connected to their people. We piloted our tools in 2020 and since then have served over 30,000 children. I'd like to tell you about one of them. Maddie was introduced to our software on her second day at her new job as a social worker in Ohio.
▶ 0:34:04Mattie's Gen Z, so it took her about 30 seconds to learn how to use the software, which was good because she'd just been handed her first case, 14-year-old Leon. It had been two years since Leon's adoptive mother had left him at a behavioral facility and moved out of state. La Maddie understood from her training that she needed to find Leon's people, something no one had done in his entire two years in foster care.
▶ 0:34:33With the help of our software, Maddie was soon speaking with Leon's biological aunt, who, as it turned out, lived just six blocks away from where Maddie was sitting in her office. The aunt said, "Bring him to me right away. I had no idea he wasn't okay." Lean went to live with his aunt, and he got to meet his two cousins, his two full brothers he didn't know he had, and his birthother.
▶ 0:35:01Maddie went to visit him a month later and she said it's like he's always lived there because Leon had found his people. While Chaffy funds are often used on education, employment, housing, health, and financial capability, a sixth goal sometimes gets overlooked. Meaningful permanent connections with caring adults. That sixth goal, strong relational health, includes the concepts of belonging and identity.
▶ 0:35:29And it is the foundation that makes the other five possible. Without it, progress in education, housing, health, and employment is very hard to sustain. Humans need belonging and identity in a way that tangible supports cannot provide. There are some relevant parallels with the military. One in four foster youth meet the criteria for PTSD.
▶ 0:35:56more than double the rate of US war Injured soldiers medevaced from their combat units can experience a dangerous loss of identity and purpose, even while receiving worldclass care for their physical wounds. When youth lack the identity and belonging of feeling claimed and valued by their own, they face higher risks of homelessness, incarceration, unemployment, trafficking, victimization, and poor health.
▶ 0:36:25By contrast, when they have strong relational health, their outcomes improve dramatically. Relationships matter. They are the protective factor that makes everything else possible. But relational health is difficult to measure. You can count housing vouchers and job placements. It's harder to quantify belonging, trust, and connection.
▶ 0:36:47But across the military, education, government, medicine, we routinely invest in essential skills, leadership, judgment, resilience that are hard to measure but foundational to success. Relational health belongs in the same category. And this matters for Chaffi because when a young person person ages out of foster care unsupported, their lifetime cost is roughly $500,000 per youth. For every 2,000 youth, that's $1 billion.
▶ 0:37:19Strengthening relational health is among the most cost effective strategies available. I recommend issuing clear federal guidance that Chaffi funds can be used for the building blocks of family connection efforts and allowing a portion of unused Chaffi funds to be centrally invested in relational health education so states do not have to build these costly initiatives alone.
▶ 0:37:46When we surround young people with people who know them, love them, and show up for them, that web becomes not only their safety net, but also their launching pad. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
▶ 0:38:00Thank you very much, Dr. Jacobs, Miss Carr, you're now recognized for five
▶ 0:38:06Good morning. Thank you, Chairman Lehood, Ranking Member Davis, and members of the subcommittee for your leadership, for holding this important hearing, and for inviting me to share my story and perspective. It is truly an honor to be here. My name is Lashandanda Carr. I have more than nine years experience at Lawrence Hall, a nonprofit organization that supports young people across Chicago through various programs and resources, including foster care services and transitional living programs.
▶ 0:38:33For the last 5 years, I have incorporated the youth villages lifestyle model into my work. Growing up in Chicago, I saw firsthand the challenges that many people face. Two people close to me, a high school friend and my own brother, experienced instability after losing their caregivers. Watching them navigate life without permanency is what moved me into social services. Their experience are the reason I'm committed to making sure no young person has to go through that alone.
▶ 0:39:00and partners like Youth Villages have allowed me to live that out that Youth Villages developed Life Set in 1999 in Memphis and today is one of the nation's largest evidence-based models, providing comprehensive support to more than 8,000 young adults last year as they leave state custody. Multiple leading researchers have evaluated Lifeset, making it one of the most studied models in the country for young people leaving foster care.
▶ 0:39:27I often describe life set as a bridge from foster care to successful adulthood. Experience covers all areas that specialists work on with young people. Relationships, housing, mental health, physical health, career and employment, education, and life skills. These are things that all of our young people need help with. A challenge we consistently see in Chicago is hesitancy from foster youth to engage with services.
▶ 0:39:53Instability from the revolving doors of professionals often pushes them towards peer groups that feel more consistent but lead to negative outcomes. Because of that, I emphasize one thing above all, consistency. Showing up every week, every time. A key component of life set model is an innovative piece of technology and support that allows us to serve young people more effective. Guide tree.
▶ 0:40:19It is a workforce training and development tool that combines effective conceptualization methods and structured guidance with a curated evidencebased Simply stated, Guy Tree offers staff a road map, a GPS to analyze cases, choose interventions, and provide more consistent, highquality care to young people and their families.
▶ 0:40:41Its newest feature, Find Help, let us instantly locate local resources for housing, employment, mental health, and more just by entering a zip code. One young man I worked with, Dion, illustrates the complex problems facing many of the young people we help. When we when he was assigned to me, Dion had just been discharged from a highintensity residential placement and was still in high school.
▶ 0:41:05He had unmanaged diabetes, mental health concerns, and no family involvement, making him vulnerable to high-risisk behaviors that brought him before the justice system. I used many of Guy Tree interventions as I step by step helped Dion identify his goals and achieve them. Over more than a year of his participation in Lifest, we were able to stabilize his living situation, rebuild his relationship with his father, help him graduate from high school, and get his diabetes under control. He's still doing very well.
▶ 0:41:36Dion story reflects the need we see every day. Mental health support, stable housing, navigating education and work, and most importantly, finding consistent adults who don't give up on them. Youth Youth Villages provides lives set through direct services and licenses trains and supports 26 other agencies to implement the model. Lawrence Hall is one of the five providers in Illinois who use Lifeter youth in TLP and ILO for extended foster care.
▶ 0:42:06Several things distinguish Lifet serving young adults aging out of child welfare systems. most notably the continuous specialized professional development for specialists through weekly supervision and consultation. This allows a specialist to constantly upgrade their skills for working with this population. This engagement and specialization means specialists can address each young adults needs and goals in both an individualized and holistic way.
▶ 0:42:34One of the biggest differences life made for me as a specialist was reducing my case load from 12 to 14 youth down to just six or eight. This shift allows for more intentional individualized support for young people. I meet with each person face to face every week and we communicate by phone and text between meetings. Lifeet also provides 247 on call support so young people are never alone in a crisis.
▶ 0:42:59As we think about modernizing the Chaffi program to better serve young people, it is essential to fund innovation, grow promising practices, and create a robust evidence based of what works. States and counties should incorporate proven programs that effectively meet real life needs, including housing, transportation, and mental health support. Thank you again for the opportunity to be here. I look forward to your questions.
▶ 0:43:22Excellent. Thank you, Miss Carr. Uh Mr. Lewis, you're recognized for five
▶ 0:43:27Good morning, Chairman Lehood. [clears throat] Ranking member Davis, members of ways and means subcommittee, I am so grateful to be here and I am thrilled that you are having this Innovative technology can open the door to networks of caring adults and vital support for youth and foster care. And it can reduce isolation and build enduring partnerships between faith communities and businesses and And it already is. My name is Adrien Lewis.
▶ 0:43:57I'm the founder of Care Portal, a national technology platform that connects case workers who identify needs. With faith communities and businesses and individuals, ready to help them in real time through deep local partnerships, we have built a care sharing network with 6,000 faith communities and 1500 agencies. The Wall Street Journal called Care Portal the Uber of Child welfare.
▶ 0:44:23Before we ever built this technology though, my wife and I adopted three of our six children through foster care. And what we have seen firsthand has taught us what truly matters to help families heal At the June hearing, Chairman Le Hood said that our goal should be to help young people gain employment, obtain housing, and create meaningful connections with adults.
▶ 0:44:53Meaningful connection is what Care Portal was designed for. We believe that everyone has a role in supporting youth and families in child welfare and care portal makes that sca uh possible at scale and so far responders in the care portal network have met the needs of 6,04 youth aging out of foster care. Mesa was one of those youth.
▶ 0:45:19She was about to turn 18 and age out of the foster care system and she was pregnant and alone. And when I say alone, I mean she had no family. She had no resources. But she did have a case worker who had care portal. And her case worker submitted a request on the platform for a crib and some baby supplies. And within hours, the Denbo family from a nearby faith community responded.
▶ 0:45:44and they delivered the items and began a relationship with Mesa, hosting her a baby shower, helping her get through driver's ed. The Denbos went from neighbor to friend to family. And because of that connection, Mesa's baby never entered foster care. Today, she's an amazing mom mentoring other youth aging out of the foster care system.
▶ 0:46:12And that is the power of meaningful connection. Care Portal reaches beyond youth aging out across the entire spectrum from prevention to permanency. And as of today, our network has helped 68,970 children and caregivers across 39 states, including all those represented by this subcommittee. Requests range from a bed for a grandmother raising her grandson to a car for a new father to get to work to groceries for a struggling young mom.
▶ 0:46:42Each request is an opportunity to provide both resources and relationship for families in crisis. But to truly support families, we must also support the professionals who serve them. In a survey with over 70,000 96% of case workers said that connections through care portal made them feel more supported in their work.
▶ 0:47:06This aligns directly with the fostering the future initiative announced last Thursday, which places technology and faith community partnerships at the center of improving connections for children and families. And Care Portal is already delivering on that vision. And thanks to you, last year's bipartisan title 4b reauthorization now enables promoting safe and stable family funds for digital portals facilitating community support to families.
▶ 0:47:34Recent HSS guidelines also clarify that title 4E dollars may be used for service referral and outreach tools. Much is being done and there are some additional things that could be done. One, authorize incentivize states to use Chaffi funds for technology that strengthens relationships and expands uh access to concrete supports. Two, repurpose returned funds to create a set aside for scaling technologies like Care Portal that increase connections, boost efficiency, and engage youth.
▶ 0:48:04and three, offer an enhanced federal match for states adopting technologies that improve relational permanency and streamlined administration of Chaffi these steps would help to mainstream care sharing, creating an ondemand community network as accessible as ride sharing, supporting youth aging out, and reaching more than 1 million children and families each year from prevention to
▶ 0:48:35In closing, government cannot love a child, but neighbors can. My hope is that you will take this innovation and empower neighbors to see and serve their most vulnerable neighbors one meaningful connection at a time. Thank you.
▶ 0:48:59Thank you, Mr. Lewis. Um, Mr. Leech, you're recognized for five minutes. All right, Chairman Lehood, Ranking Member Davis, and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak
▶ 0:49:29with you today. My name is Michael Leech, and I serve as the chief external engagement officer at Think of Us. Before this role, I spent more than 20 years inside state systems. In Tennessee, I was the director of systems integration, director of continuous quality improvement, director of independent living, and I ended as the ten as the deputy commissioner.
▶ 0:49:50And in South Carolina, as the state director of social services, I share that because in those roles, I had the authority to pick up the phone and call the governor when something wasn't working. And yet, even with all that authority, I spent too many nights knowing we weren't meeting the needs of young people counting on us. In my two decades, we're still seeing the same outcomes. We poured everything we had into supporting older youth.
▶ 0:50:19Every Chaffy dollar, every ETV dollar, and it still wasn't enough. No matter how hard we pushed, young people slipped through our fingers. That's the truth I want to start with today. Jasmine entered care at 14 after experiencing sexual abuse at the hand of her mother's boyfriend. I'll be honest that Jasmine was difficult. She was angry in all the ways we expect from a young person who has experienced trauma.
▶ 0:50:45She was also bright, determined, and She she spent most of her adolescence bouncing between different uh families, group homes, case managers, constant turnover, and she never stayed anywhere long enough to build relationships. Jasmine didn't have anybody to rely on except for the system. She didn't have any family. She had no mentors, no no one who saw something in her and took her under her wing. To stay in extended foster care, Jasmine had to follow strict eligibility guidelines.
▶ 0:51:16But she was young. She had to do her thing. Fail. Do her thing. Fail. Make those mistakes. My fear was always, how many times is she going to make mistakes or make bad decisions before the system stops helping her and she's on her own with nobody? Where is she going to go with no job skills, with a high school education, and nobody to guide her along the way? That's what happened.
▶ 0:51:41We lost her over She ultimately left care and once she was gone, we couldn't help her. When I think of Jasmine, I think of all I think of my my own teenage son. He needs what every adolescent needs. Someone to push him, to try new things, to challenge him, to believe in him when he messes up. He has that. He has his mom. He has me. We show up. We drive him to practice. We push him to join a club.
▶ 0:52:10We stay present when he struggles. We love him for exactly who he is, no matter what. But Jasmine didn't have that. Every adult in her life was paid staff, specialist, case workers. And with all the turnover, no one stayed long enough to really know her. She needed the system to step in and play the role that family plays to push her, to guide her, and stay with her long enough for trust to take root, to love her. A system cannot love a child.
▶ 0:52:41But a system can make sure a young person finds the people who can. A system can help build the opportunities, the developmental programs, the healing supports, the steady adults that let a young person recover from wounds that no child should ever carry. That's what Jasmine needed and that's what an older youth system has to deliver. And as we think about a new system, technology will be essential. Technology helps us scale what works. It accelerates good practice.
▶ 0:53:06But none of it will work unless it is in service to a fundamentally redesigned system, one built around family, healing, stability, and real developmental opportunities. If we build that foundation, technology will help us scale it. But without a stronger system beneath it, technology will only accelerate our failures.
▶ 0:53:27Our young people deserve better than a faster path back to the same broken Members of the subcommittee, thank you for the recent laws you've passed, for the more frequent hearings, and for keeping older youth at the forefront. For years, the stories in these hearings have echoed the same painful patterns. What can make today different is what you choose to do next.
▶ 0:53:53I end with Jasmine and the hope that somewhere out there, she found what every young person deserves, healing, stability, and family. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Leech. Uh, and let me just acknowledge all of our witnesses today for your passion on this particular subject and your commitment and dedication uh to looking for more innovative ways and to use new technology to help improve our foster care system. Uh, that has definitely come across in your opening statements here today and we are grateful for that.
▶ 0:54:21Um, we are now going to move to questions from the subcommittee members. Um, and I'm going to start off with my questions and my first question will go to you, Mr. Allesco. Um, in your testimony, you highlighted how Illinois and the company that you work for, Augel's Technology, has helped case workers search for information for uh their case notes. Um, a study conducted by HHS in June found that case workers spend an average of four out of eight hours per day on administrative tasks.
▶ 0:54:52My question for you is how does Auggentel's technology empower case workers to shift from a culture of compliance and administrative tasks to one that allows them to spend more time serving and focusing on foster youth? Thank you for the question. Funding streams are the reason that case workers are required to spend so much time on administrative and compliance work.
▶ 0:55:20They need to document the work that's being done so that they remain in compliance with the regulations tied to those funding streams. So agencies worried about losing their funding overburden case workers with tasks making them responsible for doing the work in alignment with this compliance. What our AI does is this compliance work in the background. I'll give a specific example.
▶ 0:55:45In Illinois, uh there are requirements around visiting children in a specific amount of time. The data that was in their outdated system could not show the entire scope of this work. There are what are called goodfaith efforts that are made that are considered visits. So what the AI did was look in the background for all of the examples of visits and good faith efforts.
▶ 0:56:09in Illinois went from not um uh exceeding the requirements in an audit to far exceeding the requirements in an audit without requiring case workers to do any more compliance work. There are so many different audits that they're required to work on or uh complete uh documents for that it overburdens them. So what we're doing is giving them back time away from the compliance work.
▶ 0:56:32But more importantly, because we're giving them back time, and because we're giving them back the data about families, we help them to establish trust with the children and families they're caring for. They don't have to ask that family to repeat their story over and over again every time there's a new case worker on the case. That information is delivered to the caseworker.
▶ 0:56:53And what we've heard is that uh children are now finally feeling heard by the system because the case worker is coming prepared to that visit with them or that phone call with them. It establishes this trust and it establishes helping them get set on the right path.
▶ 0:57:08Thank you for that. Um Dr. Jacobs, in your testimony, you discussed the importance of identifying a supportive network for foster youth. The use of your technology has helped find a remarkable average of 30 connections per youth. Um, how do you believe the Chaffi program can be improved to help youth make permanent connections with family or other stable adults? Thank you for that question.
▶ 0:57:33The Chaffi program can be improved by making it clear that these funds can be used to help states build these family connecting tools, training, and education. As we've heard here several times, technology is not a solution. It's a force multiplier.
▶ 0:57:53So those who are going to use the tools need the training and education to understand why relationships matter so much for human beings. When they have that understanding, they dive into this work with a passion and that's where technology allows their efforts to be
▶ 0:58:14Excellent. Thank you for that. Um Miss Carr, I'm going to turn to you next. Um, access to stable housing is something you talked about in your opening statement and is one of the top concerns when it comes to foster youth. According to federal data, 34% of foster youth experience some type of homelessness. Based on your experience as a case worker, what do you believe makes the biggest difference in reducing
▶ 0:58:40Thank you for that question. Um based on my experience, I think that early on support and prevention methods helps with supporting um and reducing homeless and youth that in the age population that I support. Utilizing guide tree, it helps us to um recognize drivers that will help support the youth with um their transition.
▶ 0:59:06For example, the case that I used, Dion, when I got that youth, I basically went through this portal guide tree, found some interventions and some things that I can work on that would benefit him. One of those resources was pulling family supports. Through pulling family supports and working with that young man, I was able to get information for his father and able to bridge that gap and get them back together and stabilize his placement in um the community.
▶ 0:59:34Thank you for that. Um, Mr. Lewis, I'll turn to you next. In in my home state of Illinois, Care Portal has served more than 2,000 foster youth and families involved with the child welfare system over the past three years. Um, is Care Portal able to track outcomes for youth and how do you assess performance to ensure resources are getting where they are needed?
▶ 0:59:54I appreciate the question. Two parts there. On the first part, uh, where we've seen the most evidence of success is through the lived experience of case workers and responders and people engaging with the families. Remember, what we're after here is is meaningful connection. We're after establishing relationships where love and stability and support of a family can make a difference.
▶ 1:00:15And so the one example I gave you of the 70,000, you know, case workers who were um who were surveyed, we have tons of that kind of data. Where we are uh building our credibility and our opportunity here is through outcomes like evidence-based research. We have the beginnings of one in Florida. Um but we have lots of opportunity to go deeper in that.
▶ 1:00:38So there's room with resources to make be made available for us to do more research to just prove how relationships make a difference in the in people's lives. As far as resources are concerned, um this is the beauty of it. The case workers are the ones who close the requests. So when a caseworker submits a request on behalf of a a mom who's trying to keep her kids out of care or a youth who's aging out, the case worker has a relationship there already.
▶ 1:01:05And the case worker is the one who says, "Yes, so and so from the community met this need and now I can close it." And so the the reliability of of the need actually being met comes because the case worker says it happened. And if the case worker says it didn't happen, then it didn't.
▶ 1:01:26Thank you for that. Uh that concludes my questions. I'm next going to turn to the ranking member, Mr. Davis, for your
▶ 1:01:32Thank you, [clears throat] Mr. chairman and thanks to all of the witnesses. Mr. Leech, in your testimony, you said that the number one predictor of a youth success is being loved and knowing they will continue to be loved. And I noticed that Mr.
▶ 1:01:51Lewis indicated and suggested that government cannot necessarily love a youth, but certainly neighbors, case workers, and all of the rest of us, certainly as individuals and as agencies can. So, Mr.
▶ 1:02:10At least based on your extensive experience in Tennessee and South Carolina, what would you say are the most effective ways for child welfare programs to ensure economic and housing stability as well as connection to loving relationships for these older young
▶ 1:02:36Thank you for the question. Um, I I think first and foremost I I think the best thing we can do for young people is work to prevent them from coming into foster care. How do we strengthen that family unit before it gets all the way down the line to where there is uh a referral or a need for child welfare? What can we provide that family?
▶ 1:03:01inhome services, concrete supports, things that address the the the poverty or the neglect or whatever it may be. That that should be and and is our focus. But when a young person does come into we have to really wrap around them and first and foremost is trying to to build that connection. Is that with the foster family? is that with a coach, mentor.
▶ 1:03:31Um, every young person needs at least one caring adult they can rely on. They also do need effective supports. They need uh that are concrete. We need stable housing options. Um, help with employment and education and keeping health care, food supports. All of those things are necessary for a young person to survive and thrive.
▶ 1:03:57But again, we we have to one first focus on that that connection and then wrap around all those other supports and
▶ 1:04:07You also indicated that youth need answers for legal questions. Uh what kind of legal questions do they youth do face time-sensitive uh legal challenges that that hit during transition periods when youth have um the least support and that can escalate quickly.
▶ 1:04:36So, uh things that are threatening young people's housing, um uh educational goals, income, family stability, some of the legal supports that we see needed are are um uh eviction defense, right? being kicked out of their homes, um guardianship and custody support, access to vital records, uh navigation of public benefits.
▶ 1:04:57Um at Think of Us, uh we have community um that every day meet with youth and families who who are reaching out um for support on those things through our navigation, our VSSs or our virtual support services uh navigator technology program. And it's a wraparound model that gives young people and families direct access to resources. And and to go to your to your question, 18% of those requests um from transition age youth have been related to legal
▶ 1:05:28Thank you.
▶ 1:05:29But one more thing, sorry. The the the the other main things above that financial, food, housing, clothing, all of those concrete support things.
▶ 1:05:41Mr. Clar, if I might ask you, and again, thank you for your work. Illinois has opted to provide extended foster care through age 21, which means that youth in our life set program are provided with supervised or community-based housing. Lifeset, however, allows for exceptions to the requirement that older youth in foster care be employed or enrolled in school.
▶ 1:06:07If a youth fails or if have a problem, does that affect their housing and and does it prepare you to to help them feel comfortable and know that they're probably not going to lose it?
▶ 1:06:29Thank you for that question. Um, no. If a youth fails or they're not consistent with employment that does not affect their um their housing, what we do is we go back to that that innovation guide. We we look up those housing um we look up those that referral issue. Why is your h um why is your education not stable? Why is your employment not stable? We are allowed to work on those things. We get interventions.
▶ 1:06:57We goal set and we bring it back to ensure like hey if you have consistent house I'm sorry if you have consistent employment you do well with education whether it's a training program whether it's a you know you're going to school you're trying to obtain your high school diploma or GED this in the long run once your support is no longer with us this will help you stabilize your placement and your housing in the future.
▶ 1:07:23Thank you. Thank you very much and thank you Mr. chairman for your indulgence.
▶ 1:07:27Thank you, Mr. Davis. Pursuant to committee practice, we'll now move to two to one question. I recognize Mr. Kerry of Ohio.
▶ 1:07:33Uh, I want to thank the chairman. I want to thank all the witnesses here today. Uh, as with any young person, foster youth aging out of the child welfare system need supportive networks that they can rely on as they turn and they navigate into adulthood. We've seen a lot of these outdated technologies, many of them going back to the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s.
▶ 1:07:57Um, Connect Our Kids efforts as a modern, innovative approach to finding families has helped find more than 8,400 connections for foster youth just in my home state of Ohio. Um, and and I'm Dr. Jacobs, I'm going to ask you a question. Uh, Miss Carr, I'm going to ask you a question if my time permits. I'm just putting you on the lineup. Uh but Mr. Lewis, I want to talk to you just briefly.
▶ 1:08:23Um I Sunday morning, uh I have a six-year-old and a four-year-old at the home. Uh when my wife is able to, uh allow me, uh I'm able to watch CBS Sunday Morning. And this Sunday, they had a a wonderful episode discussing people that are in the workplace, but they're living in temporary housing.
▶ 1:08:47many have credit issues because and they're working full-time uh spaces that not much bigger than where I just went and got coffee for three of us up here. um as you are navigating and and all the things that you're doing in this space um and and reaching out into the network that you have is is housing something that you're that that people can log on and because I think these temporary places they they have to go online it's $75 a night but if they if
▶ 1:09:17they can't do it online because they don't have access to that then it's $85. I mean it's just it's it's ridiculous. So, I just didn't know whether that was a service and I know it's not part of the line of questioning, but while I had you here, it was fresh on my mind.
▶ 1:09:29Sure. I appreciate it. Um, there's a really important detail here in how care sharing works. The first is that the requests don't come from individuals on their own behalf. They always come from a professional.
▶ 1:09:43So, a case worker working for child welfare or for a school or for a homeless shelter in the case that you describe, a case worker would say, "Hey, we have this family who's currently living this situation and here is what they need." That provides the credibility and the trustworthiness so that the responders when they receive that notification instantly, they don't have to wonder is this need valid?
▶ 1:10:11Yeah. They just have to wonder, should I or can I can I meet this need? And so whether it's homelessness and there's a family on the street or whether it's a father who needs a car or whatever it is, the credibility through the the vetting of the request is actually what establishes the value.
▶ 1:10:29And we have seen to the point that you're making many times where a a family [clears throat] who is in a homeless or on the edge situation is vouched for by a caseworker and that need is met and they are moved from bad situation to better situation.
▶ 1:10:45Thank you, Mr. Willis. I I do want to follow up with you on that. Um do Dr. Jacobs, number one, appreciate your service. Um but can you describe the outdated methods of families finding um that exist in the state child welfare agencies and how can states take a more technological approach to to this?
▶ 1:11:06Thank you. Existing and previous technologies ranged from paper, making family trees on paper, making notes on sticky notes that get lost and fall behind the desk to long lists in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Word, uh notebooks that get left on the Starbucks counter and everything in between.
▶ 1:11:28We have developed tools to help not only keep that information um collected in one place for easy access as many of our users will say now I can see everything in one place but also to allow a team to work together and to see that information together. We have also found that it's um it's not enough to have technology. Technology is a multiplier. You need to have the people using it.
▶ 1:11:55But it's also important to understand why you're using the tools that are being used. Our tools are not simply case management. That's not really what they're designed for. They're specifically customdesigned for the purpose of finding that network of the youth's own people.
▶ 1:12:11And we've also recently launched what we're calling Connect our Kids University, an online ondemand professional education system that allows social workers to learn why relationships are so important and how neuroplasticity affects the ability to
▶ 1:12:29Doctor, I really appreciate Miss Carr. I was going to ask you a question, but my time is out, so I will submit your question for the record. And with that, I yield back.
▶ 1:12:37Thank you, Mr. Kerry. Recognize Mr. Yakam of Indiana. Thank you, Chairman Lehood, for holding this hearing and also thank you to our witnesses for being here today to discuss some important and bipartisan issues. I'd like to start by thanking uh Mr. Lewis and the Care Portal team for your incredible work in my home state of Indiana. The Care Portal connects families to physical resources they need through local partners from car seats to cribs to clothing, all at no cost.
▶ 1:13:03As of September of this year, over 10,000 Hooser children have been served through this important service. Being able to help a family meet their tangible needs quickly can be the difference between family preservation and children entering foster care. Care Portal services are also essential to youth who are aging out of the system. Mr. Lewis, in your testimony, you shared the story of how Care Portal helped a young woman, Mesa, an 18-year-old who was pregnant and transitioning out of foster care.
▶ 1:13:32Through Care Portal, she was connected with the Denbo family who gave her a crib and baby supplies. Eventually, Mesa and the Denbos built a trusting relationship and they became close friends. Today, Mesa is a successful mother who mentors young moms who are aging out of care. Can you share how Care Portal helps prevent young kids from entering foster care?
▶ 1:13:53Thank you, sir. So, [clears throat] prevention is a is a complicated thing. There are there are no single silver bullets. I wouldn't say that Care Portal by itself can do all that needs to be done to help a help a child or not go into system in the first place.
▶ 1:14:13But I can say that when you have the opportunity to meet a need in a crisis moment, in a moment where this family not only is lacking hope, but they're lacking access to what they need in that moment. the difference that can be made with those resources that are relevant to the moment they're in and the connection to somebody in the community who by the way is motivated by love.
▶ 1:14:42When somebody shows up your house and they are a professional, they have a job to do. When someone shows up at your house and they are a neighbor, they are there for you. And that makes all the difference when we are trying to help a family feel like you can do this and we are here for you.
▶ 1:15:01Thank you, Mr. Lewis. You know, you said something uh in your opening testimony that that really struck me and that is quote, "Government cannot love a child, but neighbors can. And what your portal provides is not a big government solution, but neighbors helping neighbors." And I want to thank you for that incredible service.
▶ 1:15:17Thank you, sir. The comment there is there is not a lack of resources or people who care in our country for their neighbors. There is a lack of connection and all care portal does is facilitate those connections at scale so that the resources and relationship can get to where they need to go when they need to be there.
▶ 1:15:35Thank you. Uh Mr. Aliscoco teenagers in foster care are more likely to become young parents when compar when compared to their peers and many youth have limited knowledge of parenting skills. One study conducted in 2019 found that 49% of women in foster care were pregnant by the age of 21 and 33% of young men reported getting someone pregnant. Dense case notes and case worker turnover can lead to gaps in knowledge about a youth's needs.
▶ 1:16:04How can Auggent Intel's technology help case workers identify the unmet needs of foster youth so they can intervene and connect them with necessary services?
▶ 1:16:14Thank you. Thank you for the question. Connecting children to resources to address unmet needs is like I said earlier where the rubber meets the road. This is how the support they need arrives to them so that they can interact with the services that are provided by government. To get a little technical, our AI uses a technology called natural language processing that looks in text for data.
▶ 1:16:41What we've done is tailor that technology to the language of child welfare to look for all sorts of different topics, risks, strengths, social determinance, unmet needs, early warning signs. It reads through every single note in a child welfare SACQ system. That's the name of one of these systems in real time on a daily basis looking for language that communicates an unmet need.
▶ 1:17:07Then once it identifies that, it notifies the case worker that there is an unmet need so that they can go proactively reach out to the child or the young adult and refer them to that program, help them get into that program. All of this data exists in these legacy systems, but these legacy systems cannot surface the data for case workers to make use of it. What AI does is essentially sit on top of these systems, add this capability to notify these case workers.
▶ 1:17:37The data is there, they just can't find it. So acquiring a tool that helps them find it is the way to foster these connections and resources between children and what they
▶ 1:17:49Thank you. And Mr. Mr. Chairman, I ask that this article uh on the impact of Augel's technology on child welfare be entered into the record.
▶ 1:17:56Without objection.
▶ 1:17:57Thank you. And Mr. Chairman, I yield
▶ 1:17:59Thank you, Mr. Yakam. Now recognize Miss Chu of California.
▶ 1:18:03Well, I want to thank all the witnesses for all the work that you're doing for our foster youth and thank you for testifying today. Um and Mr. Leech, um I wanted to ask about the funding for the Chaffi program. uh since the Chaffi program was founded in 1999, 26 years ago, for the vast m in fact for only one year did it not, uh have just level funding. For all those years, it was just level funding.
▶ 1:18:33And as a result, um Chaffi has done an amazing job, but sometimes with very limited funds. Um, and it was during the pandemic in 2021 that Congress did provide an extra $400 million for the Chaffi program to help state states better meet the needs of older foster youth. I understand you led South Carolina's Department of Social Services during that time.
▶ 1:19:01Can you talk about the difference that this temporary increase made in terms of the services and support that South Carolina was able to provide to older foster youth and what would it mean if Congress was able to provide a permanent funding increase for Chaffi?
▶ 1:19:18Yeah, thank you for that question. That temporary Chaffi increase made an immediate and and measurable uh difference in South Carolina. Um it allowed us to stabilize uh housing for every young person who who was on the brink of homelessness. Right there people didn't have jobs at that point in time. They were losing their jobs. Things were closing down, couldn't pay their rent. That helped cover those young people for that period of time.
▶ 1:19:45We expanded uh access to laptops and technology so they could stay connected to school and work. Covered critical mental health supports um due to isolation and other things that were going on. uh we provided direct financial help with uh for jobs and income that disappeared almost overnight. And for the first time, we could meet the needs quickly without forcing young people to navigate a maze of paperwork. It was amazing. It allowed us to act more like parents that these young people deserved.
▶ 1:20:13And at the time, we inquired to see if there was additional dollars that we could apply for because we had spent it. and many other states uh weren't able to spend it in time due to the the the the timelines. So, we were able to get more dollars two different times to make sure our young people's needs were met during that time. Um if there was that this day, then we would be doing a lot
▶ 1:20:42Thank you for that. Uh, and now I'd like to ask about a specific program within Shea, the educational and training voucher or ETV program, which helps older foster youth to be able to afford higher education. Right now, only about a third of foster youth who attend college receive an ETV. And we know that this is partly because many aren't aware of the program.
▶ 1:21:12So even though m they may desperately need help with all you know that the tuition, the books, everything during that time period, they may not have access to these funds. And in fact, I recall uh just earlier this year when we had a foster youth testify right before this very committee, he said he did not find about the ETV, these vouchers, until it was too late to use it.
▶ 1:21:37So, we need to have a better way of telling our older foster youth that this exists. Um, and so, uh, to address this, those with lived experiences have recommended new policies like requiring states to conduct peer-to-peer outreach to older youth and to inform uh, all uh, foster youth about ETV at every case worker meeting and every court or administrative hearing or or um, some such meetings starting at age 14.
▶ 1:22:08So, do you think these policies would be helpful to improving youth awareness and uh their their ability to access these vouchers? Uh are there any other outreach strategies that would be helpful based on your experiences?
▶ 1:22:21Yeah, I I I do think that um the more we talk about it and the more we are proactive in um not waiting for young people to come to us, but we have to go to them and we have to make sure these technologies also that that are out there um can also um help with that disconnection. Um I I think one big reason young people don't use ETP sometimes is because college still costs more than the voucher covers.
▶ 1:22:48$5,000. I mean, maybe back 20 years ago.
▶ 1:22:52Um, so, you know, why bother, right? All the paperwork I have to do to to get that amount of money and still have to figure out how to cover the rest, right? Even with PEL and other stuff, it it's expensive. Um, you know, and there are other barriers. Again, like like you said, don't know about the program. Um, they have, you know, lots of forms to fill out. um they're moving frequently, losing paperwork, um and and have to survive, right?
▶ 1:23:20Like it's hard to think about education and employment and and those things when you're just trying to get by and get through and that's that's really hard. Now, we can do a better job for sure um with connecting, but there are some other things within the system we need to redo.
▶ 1:23:39Thank you. I yield back.
▶ 1:23:40Thank you, Miss Chu. Mr. Miller of Ohio is recognized.
▶ 1:23:44Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our witnesses and for your testimony here. Really appreciate the lived experience, and it's very helpful uh for someone like me and I believe every member uh regardless of political affiliation. So, thank you very much. Today, the subcommittee examines how technology and innovation can help foster youth successfully and transition to a bright future.
▶ 1:24:03Last week, in an executive action, the Trump administration highlighted their own efforts to harness federal support, technology, and strategic partnerships to provide young Americans in or transitioning out of the foster care system with the tools they need to become successful adults.
▶ 1:24:19This initiative includes establishment of a fostering the future program to develop partnerships with agencies and leading private sector organizations, academic institutions, and nonprofit entities to create new educational and employment opportunities for individual and foster care system. [clears throat] The John H. Chaffi foster care program includes valuable resources such as education and training vouchers, ETVS, to assist youth with the cost of higher education.
▶ 1:24:47These create pathways to long-term stability and success, reaching students enrolled at Kyahoga County Community College, impacting my congressional district, and setting a solid foundation for long-term success. Additionally, organizations such as Foster Success in my home state of Ohio and other regions support teens and young adults transitioning [clears throat] out of the foster care and reaching their goals.
▶ 1:25:11Ohio's ETV program is a federally funded, state administered effort that provides f financial and academic support for young adults who have left the foster care system and are enrolled in qualified colleges, universities, or vocational education. Noting the challenging outcomes of youth who age out of foster care, as only 56% of former foster youth transition to full-time employment, we must empower those in foster care to meet their full potential.
▶ 1:25:38Miss Carr, one of my top priorities in Congress has been to expand career opportunities for our youth. While the Schaffe program ETVS are primarily used for two or four-year degrees, President Trump's recent executive order calls for increasing flexibility to expand access to short-term credential programs.
▶ 1:25:57How does this model support youth in accessing workforce opportunities that federal programs like Chaffi are intended intended to provide and empower youth such as those in my district who have expressed interest in in trade schools, uh, career or technical education?
▶ 1:26:12Thank you for that question. Um, to circle back what Miss Chu initially asked, what we're doing in Illinois is we're getting away from the paperwork. We're um sending links directly to those youth phones so that they're um aware of ETV and we're bringing that to them as soon as they enter our care like as soon as they come to us the trans the transitional living program through life set we're letting them know hey you don't have to just think about a 4-year university right now in this economy that is extremely expensive however
▶ 1:26:43if you're into welding if you're into cosmetology barber construction we're here to help you and these these funds. This is where the ETV funds really show up and show out. While they're not um they don't really put a dent in the funding or I'm sorry, the the university It really helps and it goes a long way in those welding programs, in those trade programs.
▶ 1:27:13So, what we're doing is we're brainstorming with the youth, hey, we you don't have to go to a university. Y'all understand we're not going to push university on you. You are the driver. What do you want to do? Okay, you would like to see some results soon. Let's get you enrolled in a trade program. Let's um let's utilize again back to guide tree. Let's utilize this. Let's break it down. Let's look at the pros and the cons. This is what you can achieve right now. This is what you can achieve within six months, nine months.
▶ 1:27:41I just recently had a youth that graduated this summer from a welding program and she is a young lady. She's excited. And this is a young lady that had one year um of she had one year of college under her belt. She decided to take that chance and change and go into a trade program. And she did utilize those ETV funds with her um certificate as well as with I'm sorry with her trade program as well as the university.
▶ 1:28:07and she did see that she was able to get all of her her books, the equipment because welding equipment is kind of expensive, but she was able to see those funds um be beneficial to her.
▶ 1:28:18Yeah, thank you very much for that answer and I think you you all are hitting the nail on the head when it comes to connectivity. Um and there's a bit of a generational problem throughout our country and in many places, right? Uh but from what I can see is that whether we like it or not, even my daughter who is just 2 years old, right, uh is already looking at things like this. Now she doesn't have one and hopefully won't for a very very long time. Okay. No, don't say that, mister. Don't you say that. I I would like to go till 21. She signed a contract. She doesn't know about it. We'll get to that later.
▶ 1:28:49Um, but you're absolutely right. Everything is connectivity. And even you know I was in the military and you know when you get out there are so many opportunities and I don't mean to go off but to make an analogy off on a tangent but you know when I got out right you know whether there opportunities at the veterans affairs or if I need to collect disability or I needed follow on whatever it may have been if they would have sent it to my cell phone. Okay I guarantee you it would have been a lot easier for me to figure out because I'm more apt and I'm on it all the time. And look this is the way our world works.
▶ 1:29:17So thank you [clears throat] very much for everything that you do. Uh Mr. Mr. Chairman, I know I'm out of time and I have questions that I'll put into the record. Thank you.
▶ 1:29:24Sounds good. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Now recognize Mr. Bean of Florida.
▶ 1:29:27Very good morning, Mr. Chairman. Good morning to you and good morning uh working welfare committee and to our allstar panel. Welcome to Congress. Uh you'll always be able to say that time I testified uh before Congress. I also want to acknowledge I uh I watched the room as you testify and you've got fans in the audience that are nodding when you gave uh your testimony.
▶ 1:29:50You know, I also uh recognize that uh we're from all over the country and uh I know we're from all over the political spectrum. Uh, if only the headlines would say tomorrow Congress comes together to put kids first. Don't hold your breath on uh on that one. Uh, people want permanency. Congress uh or kids want permanency.
▶ 1:30:15And I come from the Florida legislature, and I know the committee has heard this, but it still is ingrained in me. uh at a hearing in the Florida legislature, there was a there was a kid uh just a few months away from turning 18 and he had talked about his adoption hearing and somebody asked him, you know, why are you so why are you so gung-ho? You're about to be an adult. Why does adoption matter?
▶ 1:30:41And he said and he thought and he said, I guess I'll I'll uh I'll always have a place to go home to Thanksgiving. And with Thanksgiving just eight days away, we want more kids to have that place to go home to uh to Thanksgiving. If they don't have a connection or a uh a place to go, we know the numbers are against them. If you're at 18, if you age out at 18, at 21, 31% of foster youth experience some type of homelessness.
▶ 1:31:1155% of foster youth don't obtain full-time employment or a place to go by uh 21, except for your welder uh mentee who's going to be richer than all of us. Welding. That's exciting. Uh less than 25% of foster youth uh are enrolled in some type of graduate program or or undergraduate program or schooling or trade school. It's just uh the numbers are stacked against them against us. Now, listen, I've already taken notes. Technology is a must.
▶ 1:31:41We've got to embrace it. We don't uh I know everybody knows what sticky notes are in the in our briefing. Uh many case workers are using sticky notes. Everybody knows what those are. Uh they're using yellow pages. Uh and the phone book under 40. You don't know what that is, but it's a big book that was Google before there was uh Google. Uh so we know technology. We want to embrace technology. We want to u offer flexibility. Dr. Jacobs, you mentioned that. Let's get flexibility.
▶ 1:32:11But I'm gonna go off script and ask you uh is there and you gotta be brief because I'm already gonna run out of time and uh chairman LHood's gonna bing me out of order. But here's your chance. Everybody's going to get a chance. What one thing does Congress need to do to improve Chaffi? We do. We all agree we're going to improve it and uh success. But is anybody want to jump in have a thought? If there's one thing Congress was to do, what would we do? Dr. Jacobs jump in. What say you?
▶ 1:32:38emphasize the importance of relational health above all else in order that all the other goals can succeed. You're from Florida. You probably know better than the rest of us the folly of building on shifting sand.
▶ 1:32:53If you do these other tangible supports without first ensuring that relationships are strong and that the child is part of a network of connected adults that are with them for life and and for free. You're building on shifting sand.
▶ 1:33:11Love it. No, I I I love that that they've got to know that somebody cares about them. Somebody will miss them. Mr. Lewis, you're a superstar dad because you adopted three and you put your money where your mouth is. What say you, my friend? You have to ask my kids if they think I'm a superstar dad. Yeah. Um, however, I will say that a couple days ago, my 18, my 18-year-old, the oldest of the three that we adopted, he came to me and he said, "Uh, hey, so can I get like some free college?" He's a senior. Can I get some free college cuz I was adopted.
▶ 1:33:40I was like, "Well, no, because we adopted you when you were 10." He's like, "Well, you could have waited so I could get in there cuz I was 16." Yeah. So, he's he he was in a relationship with me. Yeah. and and I was in position I'm going to go back to what Dr. James said. I'm in position to help him navigate the difficult things that are going to be in his life.
▶ 1:34:00And if I could say one thing about all of this is if we don't figure out how to put these youth in position where people can have help them navigate my 18-year-old would fall off the back of the truck if he didn't have people in his life to love him and care for him and guide him along the way. I needed that. We should expect they will need that and that has to transcend program. It has to get into a
▶ 1:34:26Amen. Amen. I'm out of time. If you have a thought, let us know. Uh and uh just appreciate you coming. Mr. Chairman, yield back.
▶ 1:34:33Thank you, Mr. Bean. Appreciate that. Now recognize Miss Moore of Wisconsin.
▶ 1:34:39Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Ranking member. It's so glad good to be back here in community with my colleagues for the first time in since September I think and to and I agree this is an allstar panel and I just can't wait to consume my five minutes um and in engaging with you.
▶ 1:35:01Um I have listened very carefully to your testimony and read uh uh your testimonies here and so if I don't get to you it's not because I'm not interested. minutes because I only have five minutes, but I I want to start maybe with Mr. Lewis. Um you you talked about um you know being able to stick your zip code in and coming up with all the resources in your community. I've sort of done that looking for contractors and so on and so forth.
▶ 1:35:32Um what are you relying just very quickly these resources are most of them going to be private resources like you talked about your churches and other things people can Google and they'll find private resources versus governmental
▶ 1:35:50Yes. So in short, our network is built of built up of businesses and faith communities and individuals who out of their own pockets are providing resources and time for these youth and families who are in crisis.
▶ 1:36:06Well, thank you, Mr. Lewis. And I think that that's extremely important and helpful when we consider the things that Miss Chu was talking about, Dr. Chu was talking about because the Chaffy program has been flatfunded since 1999. went from $140 million to $143 million. It would be $270 million modestly if it had kept pace with anything.
▶ 1:36:29And so when they put stuff in the Google M, you know, they Google services, they're not going to find very much in the way of governmental support. That being said, I just want to ask uh Mr. Liscoco uh with regard to uh your services uh one of the things that we have noted is just since the beginning of this administration uh we've seen 200,000 uh employees um who were uh the entire
▶ 1:37:00division of state systems which was staffed by expert civil service uh servants and focused on ensuring that states had effective technology management services to manage child welfare. programs. An entire division was eliminated. About 20,000 employees either fired or doed out or took to retirement. Closed 10 of the uh five of the 10 HHS regional offices.
▶ 1:37:27Is your services is is it supplanting these services? How do you negotiate your services without the governmental? Are you replacing it? What would you do?
▶ 1:37:39Yeah. So I think you're referring to uh uh some of the cutting at ACF within the department of health and human services. They cut many of the regions um that oversee state and county governments. Uh a lot of the work that these
▶ 1:37:54the technology systems
▶ 1:37:57that were eliminated too.
▶ 1:37:58Right. Right. Um so a lot of these technology upgrades that states are considering are looking at upgrades in a very monolithic way.
▶ 1:38:09Okay. But what I'm saying is what would you do? I mean, now that they're not, are you replacing?
▶ 1:38:14You would be replacing the public.
▶ 1:38:16Yeah. Sorry. I'll um
▶ 1:38:18cuz I got like one
▶ 1:38:20one minute. Okay. Yes. So, legacy systems don't need to be replaced. So, what I would recommend and what we do is sit on top of these legacy systems and add value to those existing systems which does not require so much IT All of these jobs that were cut may not need to be replaced because technology like AI can help automate a lot of the
▶ 1:38:45Okay. So, thank you. I got 59 seconds. So, I need to talk to Mr. Leech here and Dr. Jacobs. Thank you for your verbiage regarding the sticky notes because I think that's a very helpful way to discuss this. Um, Mr. Leech, you have really made the point that the entire panel has made that technology has to be in service of a vision um and that we need to transform the system rather than just tinkering around the system around the edges of it.
▶ 1:39:15I have a bill for example, one of the things the one big beautiful bill did is that it cut out the ability for youth to receive SNAP food stamps. uh uh that had been a provision and it was cut out in the one field developmental you pointed out developmental science tells us that you're really in adolescence until you're 26 or 27 years old.
▶ 1:39:42So requiring people to go to work, not giving them snap. How how does this serve building those relationships instead of as opposed to just enhancing the disruption as you try to negotiate your way to
▶ 1:39:58Well, that it certainly will do that. Um it's going to create additional burden for our young people. uh administrative paperwork churn. They're going to come on on and off way more than because of the the new rules. And so it does not help them as they are.
▶ 1:40:15You do not have an education at 18. You do not have advanced degree or technology. All of a sudden now you got to go to work with no skills because you haven't had the training. You can't get SNAP. You know, you can only work. And that's what I'm saying. Is this realistic for having a program that where focuses on kids aging out and becoming our future workforce?
▶ 1:40:38It it will become a barrier whether there's technology or not.
▶ 1:40:41Whether there's technology or not. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you so much for your indulgence. I'm sorry I can't talk faster, but I'm working on it.
▶ 1:40:50Thank you, Miss Moore, for your valuable questions here.
▶ 1:40:53I thank all of you so much, Miss Carr. I want to I I know that you're really proud of this young man, Dion, that you that you helped, but it wasn't technology that helped him, it was you.
▶ 1:41:04Thank you. Uh now recognize Mr. Moran of
▶ 1:41:06Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Before I get to my uh questions, I actually want to address something that was just mentioned about uh having no skills and not being able to work. I'll kids that are now in college that had no skills when they were teenagers and I sent them to work and they learned skills at work and they continue to learn skills at work.
▶ 1:41:23And I think and I think one of them is not uh one of them is college age is not and he is doing great on his own but guess what he learned skills at work at the age of 15 and 16 17 by going and working in a warehouse and figuring out how to show up on time and be prepared and work hard and take uh directions from his supervisor. Those are the kind of skills that we need to build in our youth regardless of whether or not they're in uh traditional families or foster families or adoptive families. They learn those skills at work. So there's nothing wrong with work.
▶ 1:41:54Uh let me uh start with go back to where we uh we started today. I know the the hearing is meant to highlight the need for review and reform of the John Chaffy foster care program, but and and I know is designed to help current and former foster youth enter into adult life by empowering them through programs that help develop meaningful life skills, obtain housing, gain employment, all that.
▶ 1:42:14But really, I think what we're trying to do is figure out how do we best uh create a scenario where these kids can find their identity, their purpose, their belonging, and find the unconditional love in life. Those are the four things that I talk to my kids about that they know I know that they are looking for in this life. And foster kids are no different. They're looking for identity, purpose, belonging, and unconditional love.
▶ 1:42:35Every child within our foster care system should have those things presented to them and a pathway to find those things in life even through the the chaffy system. I want to start with you Dr. Jacobs. Uh you said when you were asked what's the most important thing you said we want to emp you we need to emphasize relational health above all else. That's goal number six of the Chaffy program and uh you've talked a little bit about that. How can AI and technology help build on our goal of increasing relational help
▶ 1:43:07Appreciate that question. It does seem a little counterintuitive initially, but the way that AI and technology can help us achieve the goal of improving relational health is because technology and AI do the things that take time right now away from humans being human.
▶ 1:43:28If technology can take that burden, it allows case workers, foster parents, biological parents, and kin to actually have the time to be that human network that the children need that youth need after they go and they try and they fail and they try again and they fail and they try something else. It didn't make sense, but they wanted to do it anyways. And they need to have humans that have the capacity to still be there for them.
▶ 1:43:56That's where technology and AI takes off that burden that would otherwise prevent humans from being human.
▶ 1:44:04Mr. Aliscoco, in your testimony, you noted that much of the data in child welfare is unstructured, spread across case notes, and difficult to analyze. A study by the American Academy of Pediatrics found that between fiscal years 2005 and 2019, more than 3.2 million foster youth up to the age of 16 had some form of disability.
▶ 1:44:24In 2021, nearly 40% of foster youth in Texas alone experienced more than two placement disruptions affecting their ability to build relationships, relationships we were just talking about and complete their education information often buried in case notes. Uh, I'm concerned about foster youth with disabilities who may not be getting connected to programs that they need.
▶ 1:44:45How can Agentel's technology help case workers extract the information they need and piece together this unstructured data such as identifying whether a child with a disability might need additional support?
▶ 1:44:56It's a wonderful question. In child welfare, there are services that are provided both internal and external to child welfare. So, developmental disabilities is provided by another area of government. This is a separate system. These systems do not talk to each other today. The way that coordination occurs between these systems, caseworker and the disability developmental disability program and the child welfare program are calling each other.
▶ 1:45:21They're emailing each other and they cannot coordinate the care together. So what Augintel does is consolidates with the appropriate data sharing permissions in place consolidates the data for multiple systems.
▶ 1:45:37So both case workers can see the entire history of that child regardless of the system that they're interacting with so that they can coordinate the care, provide a more efficient and a more effective level of service because AI is bringing that together for them and not requiring um uh fragmented calls and sticky notes etc etc between these two agencies.
▶ 1:46:02Thank you for that. I've got lots more questions, but I want to end with this quickly and just say that I I believe that each one of these kiddos has a great destiny ahead of them. And it is incumbent upon us to make sure that they are directed in a way that they know that they are loved and they are supported and often times that is outside of governmental institution that happens in the family, the faith institutions and the institutions of economy. We are not to supple uh to supplant that but certainly to supplement and to support that. Thank you. I yield back.
▶ 1:46:32Thank you, Mr. Moran. Mr. Fenstra of Iowa, you're recognized.
▶ 1:46:35Thank you, Chairman Lehood, and thank you, Ranking Member Davis. Uh, I want to extend my gratitude and uh all the witnesses and what you wrote and your testimonies. They're so important for our children, for our foster children, and and how we can continue to grow and help them. Iowa and across the country, case workers do an incredible job. Uh, but too often the technologies uh that work with them is really outdated. I know in Iowa we have outdated systems.
▶ 1:47:03A lot of states still use green green uh screen systems. I mean, this is 1980s stuff. This is incredibly appalling. So, I want to just talk about uh this a little bit and and Dr.
▶ 1:47:16Jacobs, I want to just ask you first of all, there's this balance out here, and my good friend uh uh Congressman Moran just noted it, but I want to extrapolate it a little further that technology is so important, but also uh data in is good, but it can be data out can be bad also. All right, garbage in, garbage out.
▶ 1:47:39However, so these case workers, they have to put in good data and and they've got to extrapolate the data that that's coming out. Do you see concerns about this, especially the time it takes and the relationships? I mean, where's the balance here?
▶ 1:47:54Thank you. That's a very insightful question. One of the things that we do think about a lot and put a lot of effort into is the training that goes with our tools. And by that I don't mean training on how to actually use the software, how to draw a line, how to make a box. Uh that's we do that training as well, but the training that we [clears throat] feel is crucially important is the training about exactly what you're talking about. What do you do with the information?
▶ 1:48:24It's not terribly hard to find a phone number. There are a million findmy high schoolfriends.com sites that will help you find a phone number, find an email. What's important is what you do with that and what you say after you've hopefully dialed the phone and engage with that person who says, "I don't really want to talk to you, but this is someone that you feel because of your skills as a caseworker or your life experience that could be really impactful." The users of our tools and software that we
▶ 1:48:54talk with regularly, we meet with them and and they share in peer support, they frequently say, "Don't give up. It's so important that this child knows their people that it's more than a placement. It's not about checking a box. It's about building this child's people.
▶ 1:49:14We had one case in which our users were told that this child had no family and they said, "Just let us just let us try." This was an 11year-old who had been in residential care for eight months without one single visitor. and they finally got permission to try with our software and our tools and the training that they'd had because they knew it was so crucial. They found this young girl's grandparents living three states away desperate to know what had happened to her.
▶ 1:49:44They had raised her for the first half of her life and then her mother had come, taken her, moved away and she'd gone into a black hole for all they knew. So, exactly to your point, it's crucial that the people involved have the time to actually be people to put themselves in the place of an 11year-old who's been completely isolated for eight months from anyone who knows or cares about her. I can't really process that myself.
▶ 1:50:14Um, but that is the core of of what will make technology useful. Right. I appreciate that your comments and what you're saying there and I think from the federal state level I mean we all have to be working on that and we have to be very cognizant of that and we can talk all about technology all we want but we have to make sure what we're doing with it. Uh Mr. Lewis thanks for your testimony. It was wonderful.
▶ 1:50:35In Iowa, the Department of Health and Human Services is working to shift from fax system that was developed in the 80s to a new system that can reduce inefficiencies uh provide case workers with better technology tools uh to serve families as more states continue to slowly transition from CCWIS guidelines. How can technology be used alongside federal programs like CHA Chaffy to serve foster youth living in rural communities? M
▶ 1:51:02so the needs in a rural community are are different than in an urban core.
▶ 1:51:09And and [clears throat] yet uh some things are the same. You have caring people in rural rural communities. Uh you have uh professionals in rural communities and you have the opportunity to make connections there.
▶ 1:51:24I can't speak for broad across the whole thing, but what I can say is if you can leverage the resources that exist and the people in the community, the opportunity to make uh connections between neighbors is stronger sometimes than in an urban setting because every time I've been to a rural place, the people there are for each other. That's right. Like they're for each other. They care and it's not hard for them to do that.
▶ 1:51:51I would leverage the heck out of neighbors caring for neighbors. Thank you. Thank you again.
▶ 1:51:57Thank you, Mr. Finstra. Now recognize Mr. Evans of Pennsylvania.
▶ 1:52:09Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have uh three quick questions, though. You probably say nothing is quick here, but I'm trying to make it quick. Mr. I would like to start with you. How can we improve the the system when half the regional offices are supposed to help states with these technologies have been closed?
▶ 1:52:38Yes. So I I think the role of ACF is going to have to shift dramatically to uh a more support function than a compliance function. And that may be good for everybody. um let's reduce some regulation. Let's reduce that focus on that and let's start thinking about innovation and utilizing the partners in the community uh vendors and other folks to help move these things along.
▶ 1:53:03Uh we we we got to we we can't continue to stay stuck with the current child welfare regulations. We got to we got to just jump all that and move. I I do want to add that like we're stuck with outdated systems because some of times we it's a 50-50 state federal match. Let's remind ourselves Medicaid's a 9010. That's an easy fix, right? Um homelessness FYI vouchers, right? Can't use them if you're an extension of foster care. You got to choose one or the other.
▶ 1:53:32Why is HUD and ACF going against each other on that? Ridiculous, right? Um and then you know Chaffy, we can easily reduce regulations and reduce burden, administrative burden. Those are simple things we could do. We all just have to sit together with lived experience, bring it back down here, and we can really change this and and shift all of this. Again, making sure that we continue to figure out that that connection aspect of it. But, um, we we have a we have a lot of work to do, but we have the right people.
▶ 1:54:02Miss Carp, the big ugly bill made massive cuts to Medicare, which is the number one source of health insurance for foster youth. Um, you're correct. However, our youth, um, they haven't really, we haven't specifically in the state of Illinois, um, experienced any cuts with our youth in care as of yet.
▶ 1:54:31So, I can't really speak on that as nothing has happened to our youth right now, but we are monitoring closely to see how that will look for us in our youth and care in the
▶ 1:54:43Mr. Lewis, there's only so much one can do to help the most vulnerable when the president is the only one concerned about protecting himself and big billionaire buddies. That's the question.
▶ 1:55:03I I uh I have seen in my own life and I believe to my core that the solutions for the community are mostly in the community and I would love the opportunity for technology to be leveraged to help more communities care for themselves whenever possible. Dr. Jacobs, can you give your response to that?
▶ 1:55:40I've seen in my life, in my service in the military and in my service following that uh in in service to this country that the solutions that we need as Americans are generally found among us Americans. And if we wait for someone else uh with more money and more power to solve our problems for us, we'll be waiting for a long time. We need to do this ourselves.
▶ 1:56:08We need individuals, communities, um, localities to dig in and work together as Americans always have.
▶ 1:56:21We work with states, uh, both red states and blue states. Uh, from the feedback and questions from this committee, child welfare seems to be a bipartisan issue that is supported wholeheartedly by both sides of the aisle. Um, I've seen various administrations and how it's impacted our ability to work with states and I haven't seen much of a difference.
▶ 1:56:45So, I look forward to working with this comm this committee on both sides of the aisle to bring child welfare regardless of what party is in control. Thank you.
▶ 1:56:56Thank you, Mr. Jim.
▶ 1:56:58Mr. Gomez, you're recognized for five minutes. Um,
▶ 1:57:01thank you, Mr. Chairman. How do I put this? Um, my Republican I want to kind of like kind of spell out what's going to occur over the next uh year and a half.
▶ 1:57:22Um, ever since the Republicans on this committee in the Senate and President Trump passed their one big beautiful bill is that one big beautiful bill cut the programs that working families rely on.
▶ 1:57:36Medicaid, SNAP, um, any kind of program you can think of, they try to gut it in order to give tax breaks to the largest corporations and the wealthiest They were so embarrassed by it they tried to have a meeting in at the White House to rebrand it.
▶ 1:57:56I you know there's a fact if you're rebranding you're losing and then they had a a government shutdown for 40 something days 50 days in order to one not extend the ACA subsidies that would help working people at the same time refusing to swear in Alita Grahalva so she want to sign a discharge petition so she can release the Epstein files.
▶ 1:58:22So this the Republicans will spend the next year and a half trying to hold hearings like on foster care, on Medicare, on Social Security to act like they give a damn about working people. If they actually cared about working people, they never would have passed that monstrosity of a bill that also blew up the deficit.
▶ 1:58:45All the fiscal hawks on their side of the aisle were just talking BS since during their time in office when they passed a bill that they knew would blow up the deficit and the national debt. So this hearing, you know, I think is important to have, but let's just call out what they what they did and what they're trying to do. They're trying to show and try to cover up what they did four months ago.
▶ 1:59:12And when it comes to foster youth, which is even more uh I think atrocious because they cut food assistance for the same kids that are on this program. These kids who are also when they age out of the system, they're they're going to experience homeless homelessness rates at higher rates than nonfoster kids. 18 months after they're out of a foster care, 40 to 50% of them will end up homeless.
▶ 1:59:42Three to four times more likely to commit suicide. Like the numbers are terrible, and we can all do a better job, but at the same time, they are making it harder and harder and harder for the these kids to get on their feet.
▶ 2:00:00And that's why I just it frustrates me that they want to come and talk about technology and AI and how it's going to help without focusing on what these kids need from the very start. They need a stable home, where they're not abused, right? Where they're given every chance to succeed, when they gra when they age out of foster uh care, they have a place to live.
▶ 2:00:28One of my community funding projects was to get money to help an organization that provides housing to kids that are being aged out of foster care and have nowhere to go. that will help making sure that they get uh money so that they can uh have some spending money either through food assistance or direct financial assistance and then also opportunities to go to uh job training and educational
▶ 2:00:59programs like JobCore Community College. I went to community college. It was an opportunity that changed my life. But when we kind of ignore the fact that they're decimating the the safety net these kids rely on and then erecting barriers to make it more difficult, I think that they're just I don't want to say pretending, but definitely misleading the American public that they care.
▶ 2:01:26So if they really care, they should work with us to undo some of the most atrocious parts of the one big beautiful bill, including the cuts to SNAP, which amount to 200 billion dollars, including the the the damage that they did to Medicaid, and I was also on Medicaid. So I know what a lot of families go through.
▶ 2:01:51Um, but when it comes to foster youth, if we're going to have a hearing, we should really focused on how these hurt them. And here's the thing, if Democrats win back the House, we will have those hearings on Medicaid cuts, on SNAP cuts, and what they do to these children so that we can find real solutions that actually help them, not hurt them. With that, I yield back. Our last uh member today to ask questions is um Mr.
▶ 2:02:21Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania. And Mr. Kelly, thank you for being here. You're not on the subcommittee, but he wanted to wave on the subcommittee because he cares deeply about this subject area. And so, welcome, Mr. Kelly, to our subcommittee.
▶ 2:02:34Thank you, Chairman. Uh and thank you all for being here today. You're taking a day out of your life to come and talk to us about what you do. You really don't need to hear what other people think of what's going on right now. I wanted to talk to you why you're here today and what you're doing. Um, the one thing I think that we haven't touched on yet and all of you have incredible experience in what you're doing. Mr. Lewis, I was reading uh your bio and I thought this was kind of interesting.
▶ 2:02:58It said, "Adrien Lewis is the founder of car uh care portal, the first care sharing platform designed to connect agencies, churches, businesses, and communities in real time. He began he began his career in business development working across healthcare, technology, and education before a mission trip to Haiti with his wife It transformed his perspective and deepened his faith. Over the next three years, he volunteered with the Global Orphan Project where he witnessed firsthand the power of connection in caring for vulnerable children.
▶ 2:03:29Mr. Lewis and for all of you, it's this deep abiding belief that we have that there is a God that there is somebody that we look to. And usually it for some people it happens from the day they were born and because their family's raised in that way. For other people it's when they reach a point where they have no hope and they turn to God.
▶ 2:03:52You are deeply rooted in your You wouldn't have walked away from the career you had into this career if it hadn't been for a trip that you took to Haiti with Cynthia and you came home from that. And what you did with your life since then is incredible because you walked away from something that you were really comfortable with and you were really successful, but you saw a need for something else.
▶ 2:04:15And I just when I talk to people like you and all you're in the same boat, what keeps your fire burning? It can't be funding from the government. There's not enough money to fund what everybody's asking for. My phone never stops ringing and say, "You need to do this. You need to support this. You need to support this. You need to support." I said, "I'm fine with that as long as you realize every single thing you just asked for supplied by taxpayers." So, let's keep in in mind what it is that we're looking at.
▶ 2:04:43But I thought your abiding faith is the one thing I think is the hallmark of America. We are week away from Thanksgiving. when everybody wants to go home, everybody wants to spend time with their families. What happened to you and Cynthia that you were in Haiti and you came back home and said, "You know what? We've truly been blessed. Now it's our turn to do something." And the rest of you, I think you're all in the same boat. You've given incredible testimony. Yours is the one that lit [snorts] me up.
▶ 2:05:12And I got to tell you, I have a really deep personal uh experience with this, which I won't go into, but what you've done is incredible. Could you share that with us? I mean, it's almost like I'm like I'm at mass again and you're the you're going to give a sermon. I would really like to hear from that because if there's one thing this country is missing today is the fact it's not about government. The government doesn't do anything for you.
▶ 2:05:35It is our faith that saves us. That has always been the hallmark of America. If you can just share with us because I know everybody's got all these different ideas for why they do it and it's it comes down to we need more funding. We need more funding. I don't disagree with that. The return on that investment is incredible. Please share with us what happened in Haiti that you saw that you and Cynthia came home and said, "You know what, honey? There's a different calling for us and we're going to go down that path."
▶ 2:06:00I appreciate it, sir. Uh I I love to tell, you can ask my team. I love to tell the work that God has done in this very broken human being to transform me from somebody who is pursuing uh what was best for me for climbing the ladder for doing the things that seemed to matter for my identity.
▶ 2:06:22And uh while I was in Haiti on that trip on that field surrounded by those mountains and those beautiful people in circumstances beyond the horror that we can imagine uh I had a very special moment holding my wife's hand on that field where [cough and clears throat] a purpose bigger than ourselves was impressed on our hearts and I believe the Lord of the universe is the one who impressed that purpose on our hearts.
▶ 2:06:52We are not here to serve ourselves. We are here to serve our neighbor. And serving my neighbor, particularly the most vulnerable, the children at the end of the line who if no one steps up for them, they lose the worst. That has become the passion that has driven my family to both foster, adopt, leave my business, join this organization, and to try to inspire whoever will listen.
▶ 2:07:21That if you will see and serve your most vulnerable neighbors, not only will their lives change, but yours will too. That's an incredible story. And you've touched so many lives. And look at the numbers that you've touched. And some of these folks would have felt, listen, nobody cares about me. They do nothing nothing in my future for me. And then we we expect these people to somehow write their own ship and get back back on the field and play and really and succeed.
▶ 2:07:50Without faith, we are absolutely nothing. I I can't tell you reading all this for each one of you and what you've done with your lives is incredible. You're walking away from things. You could probably do a lot of things different. You're very talented. You could do something. But you have this and that's what I think more than anything else as we go towards next week. If we want to give thanksgiving, don't give thanksgivings for the the things that you have. Give thanksgiving for the things that we've been given.
▶ 2:08:19And I got to tell you, sir, I was so impressed. I'd love to meet your wife someday and like to say, "What the heck happened to you guys in Haiti?" and all of a sudden he he gets with you and you guys come home and you go in an allgether different direction and the numbers that you have touched in that Phenomenal. Phenomenal. Thank you for what you're doing. God bless you. God bless you all for what you're doing. And I listen, there's nothing more valuable to us in our youth. I mean, I was 105. My wife was one and nine. I don't know that you can do that today.
▶ 2:08:49Uh not because you're not physically capable, but there's a financial uh requirement there. I uh this has been a great hearing. Thank you. Because once we get by the politics and we talk about people, which is really what it should be about. It's people like you, all of you in your hearts. Something changed. And at the end of the day, the answer is always your faith, what you have faith in. And for next week, I would just thanksgiving.
▶ 2:09:16Let's just thank our Lord and Savior for putting this country in a position where we can help more people and do more good in the world than any country in history has ever done. Thank you all for being here. Mr. Kelly, thank you. What a great way to end our hearing today. Um and uh I think I speak for all of the members of the subcommittee here today. Um this is one of the best panels I think we've had in a long time.
▶ 2:09:41uh and it was because of your knowledge and your insight and uh your professional judgments that you shared with us today. Uh but getting back to the core of what we need to do as policymakers and uh with the jurisdiction of the subcommittee is figuring out how innovation and technology and modernization can help our foster care youth. Uh and we gained a lot of insight today uh and a lot of knowledge from all of you. So, we're grateful.
▶ 2:10:08Uh, this will help us as we go back and look at, uh, legislation, look at changing our statutes to help improve foster youth, which is our ultimate goal here to make our system stronger and more robust and change people's lives. And so, um, want to thank all of you for being here today and look forward to continuing to work with you as we develop these policies. Uh, please be advised that members have two weeks to submit written questions to be answered later in writing.
▶ 2:10:36uh those questions and your answers will be made part of the formal record. With that, the committee stands adjourned. Thank you.