Healthy Growth & Development

Administration Seeks Elimination of Child Immigrant Protections

On Friday, September 7, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a federal register notice that proposes, through the regulation process, to amend a court agreement relating to the apprehension, processing, care, custody, and release of children detained at the U.S. border. The notice, Apprehension, Processing,

CWLA Urges Congressional Action on JJDPA Reauthorization

Shaquita Ogletree On Wednesday, September 5, CWLA sent a letter to House and Senate leadership urging the passage of the Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention Act (JJDPA). CWLA joins the Act 4 Juvenile Justice (Act4JJ) campaign in circulating a letter a day urging Congress to act on the JJDPA reauthorization soon. Act4JJ is composed of

Panel Focuses on DACA Extensions and Protections

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) hosted a Capitol Hill briefing featuring immigration and education experts to discuss the impact of the Administration’s efforts rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has had on students and teachers over the past year. DACA was created under President Obama in 2012 and on September

Opioids Bills Still Waiting

The Senate has been struggling to move their opiods legislation, but the hope is it will finally move this week. When they do its passage is to set the stage for a mega-negotiation with the House. Back in the spring there had been a hope that there would be movement on another opiods abuse bill

Agriculture Bill Being Negotiated

A House-Senate Conference Agriculture Committee was meeting last week to negotiate differences between the two Agriculture reauthorization bills. Agriculture bills today focus mainly on nutrition programs as well as farm support programs. The House bill approved their farm bill with SNAP/food stamp restrictions by a vote of 213-211, HR 2. Unlike the Senate bill, the

The Intersection Between Medicaid and Child Welfare

Shaquita Ogletree On Thursday, September 6, 2018, the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth along with First Focus hosted a congressional briefing on the Intersection of Medicaid and Child Welfare. The briefing discussed the importance of Medicaid coverage for current and former foster youth and highlighted the need to fix a glitch in Medicaid regulation affecting

Senate Adopts Defense-Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations

On Thursday, August 23, the Senate passed H.R. 6157 an $857 billion appropriations package that combines the Defense Department appropriations with the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 85 to 7. Now the bill will likely go to a House-Senate conference committee where they will have to act fast before

ACA Update: Insurance Coverage Steady, Maine, Other Attempt Expansion

Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new data that show health insurance coverage holding steady with Medicaid expansion states doing better than states holding out from expansion. The national uninsured rate dropped slightly during the first quarter of this year, falling to 8.8 percent from 9.1 percent for all of

Administration Must Still Reunify, DACA Maybe Back On & Immigration

According to numbers released last Thursday evening, of the approximate 2551 children and youth eligible for reunification, HHS had identified 386 children with parents who have been removed and in another country. HHS indicated that through the Office of Refugee Resettlement parents of 299 children had been contacted by that point. The Administration informed Judge

Hearing Collects Questions and Some Answers on FFA

On Tuesday, July 24, the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources held an oversight hearing on the implementation of the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFA). Based on the testimony and answers by Associate Commissioner Jerry Milner, Children’s Bureau-HHS, and the comments of Subcommittee members there are a lot of questions on the

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