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Foster Care Mentoring Act 2011

Give foster care kids a mentor and an advocate to lean on.

The Foster Care Mentoring Act of 2011, S. 420 was introduced Senator Mary L. Landrieu (California) introduced this bill on 02/28/11. The bill would provide a $15 million grant program for FYs 2012-2013 for states and eligible political subdivisions to apply for no more than $600,000 to create and expand foster care mentoring programs by amending Part 2 of the Title IV-B Promoting Safe and Stable Families program. The bill also includes a specific amount of $4 million to fund a national coordination of statewide mentoring partnerships. Additionally, mentors are also eligible for $2,000 in student loan forgiveness for every 200 hours served in a calendar year.





The Foster Care Mentoring Act of 2011 could provide foster care children with valuable and unique services. A mentor would serve as the child?s advocate and would do so on behalf of the child to the foster care family, the foster care agency, and any other agency involved. Foster care children have a tremendous amount of stress and difficulty in their daily lives and such a resource would be invaluable.





In addition to the service it provides to foster care children, S. 420 provides a valuable experience for social work students and social workers. A mentor must have at least a year?s worth of post-secondary school to be a mentor. This could offer unique field placements and internships to students while helping them to pay off their student loans.