Paris Hilton Urges Congress To Increase Funding For Programs To Help At-Risk Youth

6 months ago

At today's House Ways and Means Committee hearing, Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) spoke to Paris Hilton about improvements to programs to help at-risk youths.

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00:00recognizes the gentlelady from California, Representative Sanchez, for five minutes.

00:05Thank you. And I want to first and foremost thank all of our panelists for your testimony today.

00:11And Ms. Hilton, when I met you last year, I was impressed by your courage

00:16in speaking out in the face of the horrific circumstances that you experienced and the

00:21fact that you're using your platform to be a voice for some of those who are the most vulnerable

00:27in our society. As the mom to a teenager, I'm horrified to hear of the abuse that many children

00:35go through in the name of, quote unquote, protecting them. So I do appreciate you taking

00:41the time today in emphasizing, in particular, the importance of reauthorizing the Title IV-B

00:47program, which I have to say has not seen an increase in funding since 2006. So reauthorizing

00:56Title IV-B is a bipartisan effort. You've heard there's plenty of support on this dais for that.

01:02But even modest improvements to this program can make a huge difference for at-risk youth.

01:08And surely we can all agree here that we need to do better by the children who are put in our care.

01:15But doing better by these kids isn't free. We need to increase the funding towards safe and

01:21quality programs that ensure children's safety. And we need to be funding programs that stop

01:27children from entering foster care in the first place. So things like investing in community-based

01:34prevention and protection services and ways in which we can help keep kids with their parents

01:40or their extended family members or even just within their own communities, I think, is really

01:46critical. I just want to know, Ms. Hilton, I'll start with you. Would you agree that providing

01:52increased funding for programs that help keep kids out of foster care and ensure that they

01:57can remain with their families would be a better benefit to these kids?

02:02Yes, I do agree with that. I believe that we need to keep children safe in their own homes

02:07and with their families as much as possible. And I believe that we should reauthorize Title IV-B

02:13to provide necessary funding to help bolster community resources and to help keep families

02:19together. Is there anybody on the dais that doesn't think an increase in funding would be helpful?

02:27I will just note that you were being kind in saying that the funding level has remained

02:31the same because after inflation, as I think I mentioned in my written testimony, it has a 14

02:36percent less buying power than it did back then. Correct. You are correct. So I think you're all

02:43in agreement that not only is it critical to renew the program, but to really put our money

02:48where our mouth is when it comes to child well-being. Ms. Manfield, I want to come to you

02:53because you mentioned the huge role that poverty plays in the removal of children from their

02:59families. And I think you stated that 75 percent of the children who are in the foster care system

03:06due to a finding of neglect very highly correlates to poverty. Is that right?

03:13Yes, to poverty as well as to substance use disorders and drug dependencies.

03:18So, you know, would increasing funding to things like, you know, SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition

03:25Assistance Program, or WIC, the Women and Infants and Children Nutritional Assistance Programs,

03:31or even programs like Head Start, would those go, you know, do anything in terms of

03:38reducing the numbers of kids from poor backgrounds that end up in the system?

03:43Absolutely. As well as increasing funds for child care so that people can actually work and have

03:50safe care for their children, especially when something happens and they might have to miss work

03:57and not to have to rely on people who then might put them in danger of the child welfare system

04:02becoming involved, as well as programs like TANF. Amen, sister. As a working mom, I totally feel

04:09that. It's just interesting to me that we can all agree that keeping kids out of the foster system

04:15is the better result, and yet we're not willing to make the investments in the programs that are

04:20going to keep those kids out of the foster care system. And before my time has expired, I would

04:26be remiss in failing to mention the huge disparities that face children in the foster care system,

04:32because we see black and Latino children heavily overrepresented in the foster care system.

04:38And in fact, over the past five years, the rate of Latino children in foster care in this country

04:43has risen by more than five percent. So, you know, we need to look at

04:51the fact that these issues don't happen in a vacuum. The racial disparities in our justice

04:56system, our foster care system, and our economy, they're all interconnected, and they sort of

05:01create this perfect storm, which causes parents who can't economically support their kids to have

05:07to surrender them into the system. I really believe in early interventions, again, to try to

05:14keep kids from ending up in the foster care system in the first place. And

05:18I want to thank the chairman for her indulgence, and I yield back.

Paris Hilton Urges Congress To Increase Funding For Programs To Help At-Risk Youth

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