The Senate agreed to a CR extension through February 18, 2022, late Thursday night (November 2) after a week of threats by some Republican senators who objected to the Biden Administration vaccination policies. The House of Representatives reached a deal to extend funding beyond January, as Democrats had originally sought, and they compromised on the
The latest analysis from the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Colombia University on the impact of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) shows that the October Child Tax Credit payments kept 3.6 million children out of poverty. While that was being released, the advocacy community, including CWLA, are having increased concerns that these same families
On December 1, 2021, ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine published an article titled, ‘They Took Us Away From Each Other’: Lost Inside America’s Shadow Foster System” by reporter Lizzie Presser. The article details what some have labeled diversion from foster care by using informal kinship care placements. It doesn’t question kinship care, but
On Wednesday, December 1, 2021, the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a summary of data taken between May 21, 2020 through August 26, 2021 across 49 states, New York City (NYC), DC, Puerto Rico (PR), and Guam (GU) detailing COVID-19 data for children. Overall, there were 4,797,683 total child COVID-19 cases reported, despite this overwhelming number, children tend to show less
On November 30, 2021 House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) released the 2022 House Calendar here. If the Congress runs into the Christmas and New Year’s holidays it will be a quick return to work for the House members with the start of the second session on Monday, January 10, 2022. There will be a break
There have been no official announcements by the Administration, but with Congress once again unable to complete a budget before the end of the calendar year, (and maybe a reconciliation that would change programs) that likely sets back the planning, budget baseline and so many other factors that go into publishing an annual budget by
November 29, 2021 New AFCARS data indicates foster care number down, but a closer examination may suggest a pandemic impact on entries and exits. The new AFCARS report was released last week, and it shows a significant decrease in foster care placements decreasing from the 2019 figure of 426,566 children in care to 407, 493
The House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act reconciliation bill (HR 5376) on Friday, November 19, 2021, after a week of waiting. The waiting was driven by the need for a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) “score” or estimation of costs and savings. That score came back on Thursday at the expected $1.7 trillion.
On Thursday, November 18, 2021, the President nominated Rebecca Jones Gaston to become the Commissioner for the Administration on Children Youth and Families (ACYF). The position has been vacant since Elizabeth Darling stepped down during the presidential transition. Currently Gaston is the Child Welfare Director for the State of Oregon’s Department of Human Services. Before
Data released by to CDC on Wednesday, November 17, 2021, confirmed earlier reports that drug overdoses continued to skyrocket with the country reaching 100,000 for the first time in U.S. history. The data measures overdose deaths from May 1, 2020, through April 30, 2021, a big heart of the pandemic. The total is even more