NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN AUTHORIZATION ACT

June 26, 1998

Mr. President, I am pleased that Senator Hatch has now decided to join with me in including on this measure an amendment that will reauthorize the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act for five years. This amendment complements Senator Hatch's bill to authorize the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, S.2073, because it provides additional assistance to some of the most vulnerable children in our country--children and teenagers who have run away or become homeless.

In 1996, I introduced legislation with Senator Simon similar to this amendment. Unfortunately, that bill was never passed by the Judiciary Committee and so the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act has not been authorized for over two years. I think it is time for the Senate to remedy this situation and that is why I proposed this amendment to Senator Hatch's bill. I had also hoped to reauthorize the Incentive Grants for Local Delinquency Prevention Programs, commonly known as the Title V program, as well as two anti-drug abuse programs for runaway and homeless youth and gang-affiliated teenagers. But, due to objections from the Republican side of the aisle, I have not been able to include reauthorization for those worthwhile programs in this amendment. That is unfortunate. As a former prosecuter I know these programs could cut drug abuse.

Reauthorizing the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act for five more years is the first step in assuring local community programs that they will have the additional resources they need to assist the growing number of homeless and runaway youth in the U.S. This program distributes funding to local community programs which are on the front lines assisting the approximately 1.3 million children and youth each year who are homeless or have left their families for a variety of reasons. This is the sort of program that studies have found to be an effective and efficient use of limited federal dollars.

The Runaway and Homeless Youth Act programs assist some of our nation's neediest children -- those who lack a roof over their heads. Many of the beneficiaries of these programs have either fled or been kicked out of their family homes due to serious family conflicts or other problems. These programs assist children facing a variety of circumstances and provide funding for shelters and crisis intervention services, transitional living arrangements and outreach to teens who are living on the streets.

The Basic Center grants for housing and crisis services for runaway and homeless children are awarded to each State, based on juvenile population, with a minimum grant of $100,000 currently awarded to smaller States, such as Vermont. Effective community-based programs around the country can also apply directly for the funds made available for the Transitional Living Program and the Sexual Abuse Prevention/Street Outreach grants. The Transitional Living Program grants are used to provide longer term housing to homeless teens age 16 to 21, and to help these teenagers become more self-sufficient. The Sexual Abuse Prevention/Street Outreach Program also targets teens who have engaged in or are at risk of engaging in high risk behaviors while living on the street.

Vermont's Coalition for Runaway and Homeless Youth and the Spectrum Youth and Family Services in Burlington, Vermont, have developed very comprehensive and effective programs to assist both teens who are learning to be self-sufficient and those who are struggling to survive on the streets. As such, Vermont programs have been successful in applying for these two specialized programs and have been on the forefront of developing and improving the services available to runaway and homeless youth.

This amendment, which reauthorizes all three Runaway and Homeless Youth Act programs, is intended to recognize the important work of these programs in Vermont, as well as the many, many others across the U.S. that are working effectively with runaway and homeless youth and their families.

Our amendment also reauthorizes the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act Rural Demonstration Projects for an additional five years. This program provides extra assistance to States with rural juvenile populations. Programs serving runaway and homeless youth have found that those in rural areas are particularly difficult to reach and serve effectively. Runaway and homeless youth programs in rural areas, such as those in Utah and Vermont, need additional assistance and have special needs.

For those who do not think rural areas have significant numbers of runaway youth, I note that in fiscal year 1997, the Vermont Coalition for Runaway and Homeless Youth served 987 young people in its programs in 10 counties. Spectrum Youth and Family Services served an additional 259 at its center and over 2,000 through its street outreach services and drop-in center in Burlington. These numbers have been increasing rapidly over the past few years with a 154 percent increase in the number of youth served by the Vermont Coalition between 1992 and 1997. An area of special concern is the increasing number of young people who are being `pushed' out of their homes -- those numbers increased 263 percent between 1993 and 1997 in Vermont. This is in addition to the hundreds of children each year who find themselves homeless or who have run away from home.

The Runaway and Homeless Youth Act does more than shelter these children in need. As the National Network for Youth stressed in their letter in support of my amendment, the Act's programs `provide critical assistance to youth in high-risk situations all over the country.' This Act also ensures that these children and their families have access to important services, such as individual, family or group counseling, alcohol and drug counseling and a myriad of other resources to help these young people and their families get back on track.

As a result of this multi-pronged approach to helping runaway and homeless youth, the Vermont Coalition for Runaway and Homeless Youth was able to establish 85 percent of the youth served in 1997 in a `positive living situation' by the end of the year. Of these 800 young people, 54 percent returned home and another 17 percent went to live with a relative or friend.

The Vermont Coalition should be applauded for these fine results and I believe the best way to do that is to reauthorize the Runaway and Homeless Act for five more years, so programs like these in Vermont have some greater financial security in the future.