United States House Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families

The United States House Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families (Committee) was a committee of select members of the United States House of Representatives that was in existence from 1983 to 1993. The purpose of the Committee was "to provide an ongoing assessment of the conditions of American children and families and to make policy recommendations to Congress and the public." The Committee was created in 1983, and was disbanded in 1993.

Many United States Congress Members recognized the need for the creation of a committee on children, youth, and families in order that the issues facing these individuals would be more adequately recognized and addressed.

Committee Chairman and Congress Member George Miller from California presided over the first hearing of the Committee on April 28, 1984 in Washington, D.C..

During the introduction of the Committee hearing, given by Miller on April 28, 1984, he is quoted, stating, in part:

Many issues regarding this constituency were addressed during the initial hearing of the Committee in 1984. The initial issues included remarks about the need for preventative interventions rather than therapeutic endeavors in relation to infant development; education's role in a society of learning; troubles that American families face; and suggestions to the Committee from outside sources. During the hearing, the group, Save the Children, sponsored children to come to Washington, DC, and give testimony to the Committee. Examined were economic consequences of compositional transformations within American families; as well as discussion regarding research that showed the significance "of parents' physical and emotional accessibility for the emotional health of children." Additional information provided included statements regarding "the importance of the traditional family in producing offspring with right character, on distortions of the ideal of equality, and on implications for public policy." Also included in the hearing was a short summary of issues that are related to government interventions. The hearing report, itself, includes 25 figures and tables associated with family and economic conditions; and an article assessing divorce and marriage data in the US. Further included in the hearing report are letters to President Ronald Reagan, written by children, relating to their views about improvements needed in family situations and treatment of children.

The hearing of the Committee of April 22, 1987 focused on children who are included in states' foster care systems. During the hearing, Chairman George Miller identified several issues facing children who are in foster care, including neglect and abuse; poverty; teen pregnancy; and children being placed in foster care indefinitely and sometimes, in other states and/or 100s of miles from their families of origin. Miller also discussed the need for improvements in the foster care system, including in relation to documenting and tracking the more than 500,000 children - as of 1975 - who were part of the foster care system.

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