In June the House and Senate Appropriations Committees passed FY 2016 bills under the current spending caps. The House bill avoided some of the controversial cuts of the recent past but not all. It de-funds programs to carry out the Affordable Care Act and eliminates funding for Title X family planning, eliminates some 20 Department
New annual data from HHS indicates that the number of children in foster care increased by more than 14,000 children in federal fiscal year 2014. According to the annual HHS report, the number of children in foster care increased to 415,129 compared to 400,989 in 2013. The totals represent the number of children in out-of-home
This past week Montana Governor Steve Bullock announced a plan to improve child protection and child welfare services. The announcement comes against a backdrop of increasing state foster care numbers and a threat by HHS to cut-off CAPTA funds if the state does not come into compliance with that law’s federal requirements on disclosure of
The Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities has been holding a series of deliberation calls to settle on recommendations that have the potential to be wide ranging in their impact on state child protective services and child welfare systems. The Commission established by Congress at the end of 2012 (Protect Our Kids Act
Last week the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report on the issue of unregulated custody transfers what some in the news media have labeled as "rehoming." The GAO report, Steps Have Been Taken to Address Unregulated Custody Transfers of Adopted Children was undertaken at the request of Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) and Congressman Jim
The Child Welfare and Supportive Housing Resource Center brought together participants from five place-based initiative sites to discuss the progress of their new efforts. The pilots are attempting to better assist child welfare involved families through an intensive approach that combines supportive housing and human services in an effort to keep families together. The five
Last week the State Department released the 2015 Trafficking in Person Report. The report, that grades all countries under four levels, is a result of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). The report tracks human trafficking of all ages both through forced labor and sex trafficking. The United States assessed itself as a Tier I
While much of children’s and child welfare programs were level in funding there were some key targets and cuts. This included the Senate elimination of the Abandoned Infants funding (zeroed out all $11 million) and both the House and Senate made severe cuts to teen pregnancy prevention. See budget chart here. The Administration in their
Last week both houses moved on an appropriations bill for the departments of HHS, Education and Labor. The House Appropriations Committee moved the bill that had been approved by the Subcommittee a week earlier while in the Senate the Subcommittee and then the full Committee acted on their version of a bill on Tuesday
In light of some recent Capitol Hill briefings and discussions highlighting the issue of unregulated child custody transfers or what has been framed in news reports as “rehoming” CWLA joined with several other child welfare and adoption groups to issue a set of comments and recommendations to address the problem. In addition to CWLA, the