The hearing and approval process of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra for Secretary of Health and Human Services is likely to start in mid-February. The HHS Secretary-designate goes before two Senate Committees, the Finance Committee, and the HELP Committee. The process has been slow, and in fact, until a final Senate shared power agreement
On Thursday, February 4, 2021, Senator Ron Wyden re-introduced the Invest in Child Safety Act. The legislation, which CWLA has endorsed, was first introduced last year. It attempts to deal with the child sexual abuse problem that has exploded over the past few years as the use of the internet and related social media have expanded over
On Friday, January 29, 2021, Dr. Mark Courtney, the University of Chicago professor and the Principal Investigator of the California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study (CalYOUTH), reported an update of California’s Extended Foster Care research. To preface, the goal of Extended Foster Care (EFC) is to “promote human capital acquisition, positive social connections, and general
Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) of the Finance Committee sent a letter to the Acting HHS Secretary W. Cochran urging the Biden Administration to halt the implementation of a Trump-era HHS final rule that would allow taxpayer-funded discrimination. If this final rule goes into effect on February 11, 2021, Senator Wyden inserted that “it has the potential
Last week, several groups presented on the provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act that passed in December containing the bipartisan Supporting Foster Youth and Families Through the Pandemic Act (H.R. 7947). On Wednesday, February 3, the Juvenile Law Center and FosterClub hosted a webinar centered around distributing the COVID relief funds to youth across America.
As early as this week, congressional leaders may decide whether they can move President Biden’s COVID-19 relief package through a bipartisan process or whether they go the way of reconciliation. A budget reconciliation would mean no Senate filibuster. The House Budget Committee is likely to move on a resolution this week as part of a
February 15 to May 15, 2021 On Thursday, January 28, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order on health care that will create a new open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act. The new enrollment (usually set for December-November) is due to the pandemic. The open enrollment will start on February 15 and last for
On Tuesday, January 26, 2021, President Biden signed into place four Executive Orders to promote and advance racial equity and support underserved communities. Unlike the mainly individualist American mentality, Biden rebuked America as a “zero-sum game” where “if one of us wins, one must lose.” Instead, Biden emphasized that racial equity must be an issue
The new Social Services Block Grant annual report once again documents the significance of SSBG to child welfare services. The SSBG Annual Report 2019 was posted in mid-January, and it complements information provided by the new Child Maltreatment 2019 report, also released this past January. According to the 2019 Child Maltreatment report and its analysis of prevention services,
On Thursday, January 28, 2021, Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA), Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, took the unusual step of criticizing a particular Republican member’s appointment to the Committee, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). The freshman Republican was appointed to the Committee this week, and she brings with her a national reputation because