Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 113 Part 3.djvu/305

 PUBLIC LAW 106-169—DEC. 14, 1999 113 STAT. 1823 Sec. 212. Computer matches with Medicare and Medicaid institutionalization data. Sec. 213. Access to information held by financial institutions. Subtitle B—Benefits For Certain World War II Veterans Sec. 251. Establishment of program of special benefits for certain World War II veterans. Subtitle C—Study Sec. 261. Study of denial of SSI benefits for family farmers. TITLE III—CHILD SUPPORT Sec. 301. Narrowing of hold-harmless provision for State share of distribution of collected child support. TITLE IV—TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS Sec. 401. Technical corrections relating to amendments made by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. TITLE I—IMPROVED INDEPENDENT LIVING PROGRAM Subtitle A—Improved Independent Living Program SEC. 101. IMPROVED INDEPENDENT LIVING PROGRAM. 42 USC 677 note. (a) FINDINGS. —The Congress finds the following: (1) States are required to make reasonable efforts to find adoptive families for all children, including older children, for whom reunification with their biological family is not in the best interests of the child. However, some older children will continue to live in foster care. These children should be enrolled in an Independent Living program designed and conducted by State and local government to help prepare them for employ- ment, postsecondary education, and successful management of adult responsibilities. (2) Older children who continue to be in foster care as adolescents may become eligible for Independent Living programs. These Independent Living programs are not an alternative to adoption for these children. Enrollment in Independent Living programs can occur concurrent with continued efforts to locate and achieve placement in adoptive families for older children in foster care. (3) About 20,000 adolescents leave the Nation's foster care system each year because they have reached 18 years of age and are expected to support themselves. (4) Congress has received extensive information that adolescents leaving foster care have significant difficulty making a successful transition to adulthood; this information shows that children aging out of foster care show high rates of homelessness, non-marital childbearing, poverty, and delinquent or criminal behavior; they are also frequently the target of crime and physical assaults. (5) The Nation's State and local governments, with financial support from the Federal Government, should offer an extensive program of education, training, employment, and financial support for young adults leaving foster care, with participation in such program beginning several years before high school

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