From the article:
“We have sold our kids a bill of goods — that they had to go to college and to the best schools in order to get a good job so that they would be able to pay back any money they borrowed. All of that is now turning out not to be true,” said Robert Applebaum, founder of the growing Forgive Student Loan Debt movement.
“The rules of the game have changed…”
Children placed by the courts with relative caregivers save more than $6.5 billion annually in Federal Foster Care cost and should be included in the definition of "Public Service" in loan forgiveness. Please sign the following petition and pass it along. Only 150 signatures are needed to make this petition available to the the public and 25,000 for White House review. We should all use every opportunity we have to repeat "student loan forgiveness" to the White House.
Dear friends,
I wanted to let you know about a new petition I created on We the People,
a new feature on WhiteHouse.gov, and ask for your support. Will you add your
name to mine? If this petition gets 25,000 signatures by January 20, 2012,
the White House will review it and respond!
We the People allows anyone to create and sign petitions asking the Obama
Administration to take action on a range of issues. If a petition gets
enough support, the Obama Administration will issue an official response.
You can view and sign the petition here:
Here's some more information about this petition:
Forgive Student Debt of Relative Caregivers in Custody of
Long-term Court Ordered Placement of Children.
Relatives that care for children placed by the courts are often referred
to as Relative Caregivers and provide one of the greatest public services to
these children, their communities and society as a whole. Student loan
forgiveness of those in public service should be redefined to include
Relative Caregivers. When a child is removed from a home that is not safe
they may end up in the foster care system. Another option that social
services and courts promote is placement with a relative. After a child is
adjudicated dependent an approved Relative Caregiver may gain long-term
permanent custody which in turn removes this child from the system and
alleviates a huge financial burden on society. Relative Caregivers give of
themselves with no promise or expectation of financial gain.
