On Wednesday, April 15, 2020, the Children Bureau provided flexibility for federal requirements regarding the criminal background checks and monthly caseworker visits in the child’s residence due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the letter, Milner stated: “In light of the extraordinary circumstances related to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic and nationwide public health emergency, we
On Tuesday, April 14, 2020, the Children’s Bureau released new guidance highlighting and strongly encouraging court leaders to engage Court Improvement Programs (CIPs) in assisting dependency courts to respond to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Associate Commissioner Jerry Milner instructed Chief Justices and State Court Administrators to “work closely with the CIP in your state or
Congressman Danny Davis (D-IL) updated the guide for kinship caregivers on COVID-19 stimulus payments last week with several updates from the IRS with important updates including: • “Certain kinship caregivers may need to quickly give the IRS information about their children in order to get stimulus payments for children in 2020; once payments are sent,
The New York Times piece discusses how poverty is likely to rise disproportionately for children due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the resulting economic downturn. This pandemic threatens families with children who will be hit the greatest as their expenses increase, but their income does not. With child poverty in the US already at 13
In the last week to ten days, a number of groups and leaders have submitted public letters outlining their greatest concerns. One of the most prominent was a letter by the National Governors Association (NGA), which is currently co-chaired by Governor Larry Hogan (R-MD) and Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) calling on Congress to provide an
Sixto Cancel, Founder and CEO of Think of Us, hosted a webinar with the Associate Commissioner of the Children's Bureau, Dr. Jerry Milner, Chris Patterson from the Department of Housing and Development, and Ruth White from the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare (NCHCW). Sixto and Patterson both were former foster youth who aged
A new report and paper through the Bookings Institute, The opioid crisis and community-level spillovers onto children’s education, outlines how the impact of opioids has altered education outcomes for children in communities hit by the drug crisis. The authors set out to determine, “What is the effect on children’s learning while being embedded in a
The National League of Cities and the United States Conference of Mayors released a joint survey on Tuesday, April 14, 2020, that indicated that 100 percent of all cities with a population of more than 500,000 people would feel the direct impact of the pandemic and a crumbling economy. Whereas 98 percent of cities with
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report this week recommending improved oversight of the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program, which funds state efforts to help low-income families access crucial child care services. Following the release of the report, Republican Leader of the Education and Labor Committee, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), issued the
During the current national emergency, there are more vulnerable groups children who may have been forgotten—youth in the child welfare system and youth in the juvenile justice system. As this pandemic creates health and economic challenges it is important that we do not forget about children currently in juvenile detention facilities. Advocates like the National