Photo of the Day

[Photo: Michael Davidson for Hillary for America.]
I've been doing some reading about Anne Holton, who is married to Tim Kaine, over the past few days, and I like her a lot! She seems really swell.

One of my favorite things that I've read is actually something she wrote herself, about her campaign to find permanent placements for older kids in foster care: "Finding Families for All of Virginia's Kids."

About 500,000 young people are in foster care on any given day in the United States, half of them 11 years of age or older. Almost all are there due to abusive or neglectful family circumstances, or because of the physical incapacity or death of a former caregiver.

Some of these young people are unable to be placed in family foster homes because they need treatment or services available only in a group home or treatment facility. Others end up in group homes simply because families could not be found for them. Many young people leave foster care at age 18 without the family support we all so desperately need throughout our lives. It should come as no surprise that they often end up homeless, on welfare rolls, incarcerated, or in mental institutions within a few short years after leaving care.

Through my work in Virginia's juvenile and domestic relations courts before becoming Virginia's first lady, I had the opportunity to meet many remarkable young people in foster care. I have been particularly impressed by older children in foster care striving mightily toward becoming successful, independent adults, but I also have seen how much they still need the love and support of stable, lifelong families.

My goal as Virginia's first lady is to help ensure that all of Virginia's young people have permanent, stable family connections and the community support to sustain them.

I bet she and Hillary Clinton are getting along great. Just sitting on the campaign bus, talking about all the amazing things they want to do for kids. ♥