By DAVID FREED CHCF Center for Health Reporting | Posted: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 5:30 pm
North County Times, SanDiego
In 2008, Congress passed legislation broadly hailed as the most sweeping reform of federal child welfare policy in a decade. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., mandated among other elements that each state develop a plan for "the ongoing oversight and coordination of health care services for any child in a foster care placement."
Now, more than two years after then-President George W. Bush enacted McDermott's "Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act," the congressman concedes that there have been few measurable improvements in health care delivery for foster youth, lost amid the nation's stubbornly weak economy.
"We're in a terrible spot for these kids," he said. "They always get clobbered in these situations. We're living in a country where the common good has been lost, and nobody believes they should look after their brother or their sister. We are simply not getting it done."
Two weeks after McDermott's bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, the "roof fell in" on Wall Street, as he puts it, heralding America's worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
...."We say we care about children," McDermott said, "but I wouldn't bet my lunch money on it."
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