The Administration’s budget includes several proposed appropriations increases or changes in law to expand child welfare services, particularly for children and families involved with foster care. It is in fact a change for a budget area that rarely experiences any requested increases beyond what happens under the entitlement programs. Whether any action takes place will
On Wednesday, January 28 members of congress and several advocacy groups came together to unveil the introduction of the Homeless Children and Youth. Act of 2015. The legislation would amend federal housing law to change the definition of homeless youth to align with other federal programs such as the Runaway and Homeless youth Act, the
Last Wednesday Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) offered an amendment in a committee deliberation to assure Medicaid coverage for young people who had been in foster care. Under the ACA a young person who exits foster care at 18 (or older) is covered by Medicaid to age 26. There has been a complication with the provision
On Tuesday, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced a bill to reauthorize the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA). The program provides three different grants to community-based organizations to reach out to homeless youth on the streets, provide crisis intervention housing, basic life necessities, family interventions and longer-term housing options when
On Tuesday, January 27, Capitol Hill was the scene of a briefing and a report-release by the Children's Advocacy Institute and First Star that leveled heavy criticism of federal oversight of the nation’s child welfare services. The report, Shame On U.S , details an examination of the federal government and its oversight of the nation’s
Last week the House of Representatives on suspension of the rule (a fast-track vote process) passed a dozen bills intended to address or help combat human trafficking while improving services to survivors. The one most significant to child welfare would amend the Child Abuse Prevention and treatment Act (CAPTA). H.R. 469 – Strengthening Child Welfare Response
"[Shackles] made me feel like a chained dog that you are trying to make into something less than I am. [I] hated seeing the tears in my dad’s eyes when he saw me in cuffs.” —17- year-old boy, Arizona, September 2014 Since 1921, the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA), the oldest child welfare organization
One early indication of the level of bipartisanship may come this week as the Senate HELP Committee uses its first full committee hearing to focus on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The ESEA was last reauthorized in 2002 as the No Child Left Behind Act but it expired in 2007.
To coincide with National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the National Research Council (NRC) have released a PowerPoint presentation focusing on highlights of their report Confronting Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States. The presentation shares findings on how schools, law enforcement, victim
On Monday, December 8 the White House held a special event to highlight some of the recent Administration efforts in regard to youth in foster care. CWLA attended the event that was wrapped around a premier viewing of the movie Annie. The event included remarks by Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack