Landrieu Priorities for Vulnerable Children Pass Congress

Landrieu Priorities for Vulnerable Children Pass Congress

December 17, 2011

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., founding Co-Chair of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, today announced that the U.S. Congress has passed key provisions for vulnerable children, including the creation of the Families First Pilot Program. This program will provide up to $4.5 million for partner governments to improve their programs for children living outside of family care. These provisions were included in year-end federal funding legislation, which passed the Senate today. It has already passed the House and now must be signed into law by the President.

"Children living outside of a family may be found living on the streets or in institutions, toiling under exploitative labor conditions, or suffering from sexual and other forms of abuse. Today's youth will inherit the world we leave behind, so it is imperative that U.S. investments abroad successfully provide vulnerable children with opportunities to reach their full potential," Sen. Landrieu said. "The Families First Pilot Program will allow the U.S. to partner with foreign countries to improve their child welfare programs, helping children around the world live happier, safer and more productive lives."

The purpose of the Family First Pilot Project is to:

• Demonstrate how comprehensive, research-based policies and programs with family-based alternatives for children without parental care can be successfully implemented.

• Establish model programs that, once tested for effectiveness, will be available, replicable, and adaptable on a global basis;

• Identify a series of interventions, which result in family preservation, reunification, and permanent parental care for orphans;

• Determine which in-country factors enhance or negate efforts to achieve family preservation, reunification, and permanent parental care for orphans.

The legislation also includes language encouraging the PL 109-95 Secretariat to be made permanent. The Secretariat was created by the Assistance to Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act of 2005, and calls for improved coordination among U.S. government agencies in response to the vulnerable children crisis. Its goal is to improve the U.S. government's collective performance with respect to program strategy and coordination, monitoring, evaluation, reporting, and application of promising practices, and as a result, do better for highly vulnerable children.

Sen. Landrieu also helped secure:

$8.1 billion for the Global Health and Child Survival (GHCS) Programs - These programs combat HIV/AIDS, provide childhood vaccines that protect kids from deadly, yet entirely preventable diseases, and equip farmers with the necessary skills to help feed their families and put measures in place to prevent future food crises from occurring. This also includes funding for the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Ten percent of PEPFAR funds are set aside for orphans and vulnerable children. It also includes funding for the Displaced Children's and Orphans Fund, which also assists children living outside of family care.

$1.6 billion for the Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) Programs - these programs help address the unexpected and urgent needs of refugees, displaced persons, conflict victims, and other persons at risk around the globe. The House bill would have drastically reduced funding levels for these programs, preventing the United States from helping millions of people in need or from responding to emergencies, such as famines, hurricanes and earthquakes.