ALLISON GREEN: Victory For Kids And Fiscal Responsibility Hiding In Plain Sight

As partisan politics grind Congress to a standstill, foster care probably isn’t among the top 10 or even 20 most-discussed issues. But if you care about stopping federal waste and unnecessary spending, it should be. There is a victory for kids and fiscal responsibility hiding in plain sight.

New research shows that providing lawyers to foster kids will save taxpayer dollars. Guaranteeing lawyers for foster kids that don’t currently have one will save the federal government $67 million to $145 million per year.

The child protection system is complicated, but let’s keep it simple: When a state accuses a parent of abuse or neglect, it often pays for foster parents to care for the child.

States fund foster care. The federal government reimburses states some of those costs through Title IV-E of the Social Security Act and other streams. Under Title IV-E alone, the federal government spends at least $75 per child per day they are in foster care. This doesn’t even count other costs– Medicaid, block grants, and state dollars.

A judge decides what happens next: where the child will live, go to school, and what contact they may have with their parents and siblings.

These court cases are complex. In 37 states, the child receives a lawyer to protect their rights and help them navigate the system. The lawyer ensures the judge hears the person at the center of the case: the kid.

Lawyers also catch procedural mistakes, explain the process to children, and expedite a system that often lumbers at the pace of its slowest bureaucrat, among many other benefits.

Legal representation for children is a commonsense policy. That’s why the