On September 30, the Senate approved, by voice vote, a bill (H.R. 1925) to extend programs aiding homeless and runaway youth. The House approved the Runaway, Homeless, and Missing Children Protection Act on May 20 (see The Source, 5/23/03), and the Senate approved its identical version of the bill (S. 1451) on September 26 (see The Source, 5/26/03). By passing H.R. 1925, the bill will be sent directly to the President.
Sponsored by Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), H.R. 1925 authorizes $105 million for two separate acts through FY2008. The Missing Children’s Assistance Act supports and coordinates with law enforcement officials and families to locate and recover missing and exploited children. The Runaway and Homeless Youth Act authorizes community-based programs to provide food, shelter, clothing, health care, and counseling to runaway and homeless children and their families. Under the bill, maternity group homes are included in the category of community-based programs eligible for funding. These homes are defined as an “adult-supervised transitional living arrangement that provides pregnant or parenting youth and their children with a supportive and supervised living arrangement in which such pregnant or parenting youth are required to learn parenting skills, including child development, family budgeting, health and nutrition, and other skills to promote their long-term economic independence in order to ensure the well-being of their children.”
Both acts fund preventative and educational programs aimed at reducing the numbers of at-risk children. H.R. 1925 also raises the authorization level of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children from $10 million to $20 million for each of the fiscal years 2004 through 2008.
