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
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.
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
Current funding for federal fiscal year ends on December 3, 2021, and while it appears likely Congress will pass another CR for a matter of weeks, a full year long appropriation adding new funds now seem much in doubt. A CR that extended for the rest of FY 2022 means that there would be a
A coalition of health care associations and providers are starting a campaign to SOUND THE ALARM FOR KIDS: WE ARE IN A NATIONAL MENTAL HEALTH EMERGENCY Organizations can go to the website to join the campaign and access information and social media and other resources to get the message out. The campaign states: “We invite
On Thursday, November 18, 2021, HHS announced it was rolling back a controversial Trump Administration waiver that allowed some child welfare agencies to discriminate in their placement decisions. The Biden action quickly gained the praise of key House Democrats who are backing the anti-discrimination-in-placement-decisions legislation. Early in the Trump Administration, HHS had issued a waiver
On November 17, 2021, CLASP released a new national CTC survey findings. According to the research parents reported reduced financial stress, help in affording necessities and, for about one-quarter of respondents receiving monthly payments, working more hours outside of the home. The survey included 1,012 eligible families with children ages 0-17 living at home. It
In celebration of National Adoption Month, Voice for Adoption (VFA) hosted its 17th annual Adoptive Family Portrait Project on November 10th, 2021. This year's theme: 2021: Unresolved ACES - Access to mental health services and impacts it has on permanency. With a special thanks to VFA Communications Policy Associate intern, Derya Ozcan, and in collaboration