November is National Adoption Month—a time to recognize the importance of family and lift up the voices of youth in foster care. This National Adoption Month, we’re joining the Every Child Deserves a Family campaign to advocate for an end to discrimination in child welfare. Too often, youth in care are denied loving, identity-affirming homes
Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its 42nd report on the country’s health status, Health, United States, 2018. The new report indicates progress in infant mortality and teen pregnancy rates but still highlights differences within subpopulations. While infant mortality was down by 14 percent between 2017 and 2007, the differences
On Wednesday, October 30, 2019 the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties hearing, “The Administration’s Decision to Deport Critically Ill Children and Their Families,” discussed the actions that lead up to the decision and the policy moving forward. The issue was a policy decision this past summer that would have
Last week we noted that the Children’s Bureau released the latest history of the Adoption and Legal Guardianship Incentives Payment Program—Earnings History by State. The table also shows the state awards for FY 2019. A few days later, the Bureau published the individual categories of awards for each state. The individual categories of awards that
On Thursday, October 24, 2019 HHS released the 26th AFCARS Report indicating 3,788 fewer children in foster care in FY 2018 (437,283) from the 441,071 in FY 2017. The AFCARS reports are based on the number of children in the system as of the last day of the federal fiscal year, which is September 30,
Last week information from the Centers on Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in HHS indicated that health insurance premiums for 2020 would decrease by an average of 4 percent. At the same time, just 12 percent of ACA customers will be living in counties that will only have one insurer providing coverage. Additionally, 20 more
In the United States, the high price of child care remains a burden on many American families, regardless of marital status and income. This is extremely troubling considering the benefits of high-quality child care to parents and caregivers and their children. On October 23, 2019 Child Care Aware® of America held a briefing on their
Last week Congressman Danny Davis introduced HR 4768, the Home Visiting to Reduce Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Act. The legislation will increase funding for the home visiting program, the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program. The Davis bill will increase funding from the current $400 million in mandatory funding to $600 million
On Tuesday, October 22, the Center for the Developing Adolescent and the Funders for Adolescent Science Translation (FAST) held a briefing to spotlight the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report “The Promise of Adolescence: Realizing Opportunity for All Youth” key findings, featuring five distinguished panelists. Panelists included Joanna Lee Williams, report co-author,
Last week the Act 4 Juvenile Justice (Act4JJ) released a new document, Family First Prevention Services Act: Opportunities and Risks for Youth Justice and Campaigns to End Youth Incarceration.” The guide was developed by Lisa Pilnik on behalf of Youth First, with contributions and feedback from several other organizations. Major federal legislation brought changes to