First two weeks on the job!

The first two weeks on the Hill have been awesome! I love the organization and even the assignments I've been working on. The main goal of our organization is to help educate congress members on foster care and adoption issues and provide a forum to connect members of congress to professionals working in the field. The first day was a bit crazy because I was reading proposed bills that had been introduced in Congress and I was supposed to summarize them for the members in the Congressional Coalition for Adoption. It took a bit longer than I anticipated because they had to do with the adoption tax credit, which is so technical, but by God's mercy I finished it. We are currently working on an adoption tax credit because the extension will expire at the end of the year. This week, our Foster Youth Interns arrived. They are 15 college students, who have spent at least two years in foster care and will be working with a Congress member for about 8 weeks on the Hill. This is an awesome way for the students to interact with Congress members and show the members a first hand account of what actually happens in the foster care system. Yesterday, I attended a Town Hall for the Caucus on Foster Care under the Capitol building. It was very informative; in fact, an issue was brought up which I am very interested in. One of the foster youth talked about how she was in the foster care system and ended up being trafficked. This is an area I would love to explore and work in. I never realized that some children in our foster care system end up being sexually exploited, not in the United States.