Foster Care Mentoring Act of 2009

As I was browsing foster care related news stories this morning I came across a very inspiring story of a young lady who was raised in foster care and recently earned her doctorate in Pharmacy. In that article I found some very interesting information about the Foster Care Mentoring Act of 2009, which was written to support programs throughout the nation that provide mentoring for children in foster care. With an overwhelming amount of research that shows that caring adults can make a difference in the lives of children (73% of mentored teens achieve higher goals generally), mentor programs offer a cost-effective approach to empowering the lives of foster children and youth.

This bill, if passed, will provide millions of dollars throughout the US to establish or expand mentoring programs. From what I was able to find, states will be eligible to receive up to $600,000, volunteer mentors will be offered student loan forgiveness in federal loans up to $20,000, and there will be a national $4 million public awareness campaign.

Volunteers who participate in the mentoring program will be eligible to receive $2,000 of loan forgiveness for every 200 hours they serve.

If you are interested, you can call your United States Senator and Member of Congress and ask them to support the Foster Care Mentoring Act of 2009. (Call 202-225-3121 for the U.S. House and 202-224-3121 for the U.S. Senate.)

Carrie