The Senate HELP Committee hosted its first hearing of the 118th Congress on February 16th, 2023, titled, “Examining Health Care Workforce Shortages: Where Do We Go From Here?” Under the leadership of Chairman Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Ranking Member Bill Cassidy (R-LA), this hearing discussed navigating the healthcare workforce crisis with leaders from universities and
On Thursday, February 9, 2023 the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) celebrated its fifth anniversary of being signed into law as part of Public Law 115-123. Since 2018, it has enhanced states’ efforts to support families by reducing the use of congregate care, building the capacity of communities to support children, and helping children
On February 23, 2023, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) hosted a webinar about the behavioral health crisis and the homeless community. Panelists noted that the current crisis response system is broken and perpetuates inequities. Moreover, people in crisis are often stuck in a repetitive cycle of only momentary inadequate care. Lack
The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) recently released a publication entitled “Supporting Young Adults through a Guaranteed Income.” Authored by Senior Policy Analyst Alexander Coccia, the publication focuses upon the need for young adults to have robust economic support. Young adulthood, specifically the ages of 18 to 25, is a crucial transition
States, territories, and tribes have the option to request federal Chafee and Education and Training Voucher (ETV) funds that were not spent in other states. The funds that are potentially available for reallotment for FY 2023 are funds that were initially allocated in FY 2021, which includes unspent Division X funds. It is likely that
On February 14th, 2023, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register (88 FR 9411) proposing to amend federal regulations to allow title IV-E agencies to adopt separate licensing or approval standards for relative or kinship foster family homes. “The Administration for Children and Families
During the State of the Union Address, President Biden took the opportunity to address the debt ceiling negotiations, noting that there had been proposals to make cuts to Medicare and Social Security spending. Republicans vehemently and loudly denied such plans, and in one of the few bipartisan moments of the night, both parties seemed to
On February 14th, 2023, Mathematica announced the release of their collaboration with the Social Security Administration on the five-year impacts of a focus aimed at assisting youth with disabilities achieving economic security in their transition into adulthood. Promoting the Readiness of Minors in Supplemental Security Income (PROMISE) is the largest cross-agency initiative that involved a
On Wednesday, February 15th, First Focus on Children and The Education Trust hosted a webinar to educate on struggles that may arise with the reauthorization of the FARM Bill this year. Katie Bergh, Senior Policy Analyst for the Food Assistance Team at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, spoke about her previous experience with
The Quality Improvement Center (QIC) on Engaging Youth in Finding Permanency recently released a new publication regarding the ways children and youth can be engaged in child welfare proceedings. Below are tools that courts can use to authentically and directly engage with children to best determine what they want and what options will work best