Foster Care Reforms Championed by Melania Trump Advance
House committee gives bipartisan approval for a package of six bills that would reform the 'Chafee' foster care program.
About two weeks after First Lady Melania Trump returned to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers about foster care reforms, six pieces of overwhelming bipartisan-supported legislation have been approved by members of a Congressional committee.
On Wednesday, the Ways and Means Committee announced the advancement of six bills that would modernize the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood (“Chafee”), the nation’s program exclusively for the 20,000 youth who age out of the foster care system each year.
In a statement, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, a Republican from Missouri, said the needed improvements to the Chafee program were the first since its creation in 1999.
“Together with the spotlight First Lady Melania Trump has shone on the dire circumstances many foster y…
