February 2022 The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) stands with national and local organizations in opposition to any attempt to redefine child abuse to include gender-affirming care for youth who are transgender or nonbinary. From Christine James-Brown, President and CEO: “Providing appropriate, compassionate medical care for your child is not child abuse. We know
On March 2, 2022, the Children’s Bureau released a new Information Memorandum (IM), Guidance for Title IV-B and IV-E Agencies When Serving LGBTQI+ Children and Youth. The IM states: “The Department of Health and Human Services and all leading national medical and pediatric associations confirm that providing gender-affirming medical care is in the best interest
On February 28, 2022, the Supreme Court announced that it will hear a challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) by taking up the Brackeen v. Haaland. The case is a ruling by the full Federal U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. The Appeals Court ruling was a mixed ruling on the legality
On Wednesday March 2nd, 2022 the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis held a hearing that highlighted “COVID Child Care Challenges: Supporting Families and Caregivers”. Chairmen Clyburn (D-SC) opening remarks noted that “46% of childcare providers reported in summer 2021 they were likely to close without government relief packages”. He went on to state that
On March 2nd, 2022, the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) hosted a webinar on Shortages in the Education Labor Force. The webinar opened with the CEF Executive Director, Sarah Abernathy, discussing the need for greater federal investment in education. Currently, education accounts for less than 2% of federal spending, with regular education funding remaining flat
On Tuesday, February 22, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, Gender Policy Council Director Jen Klein, and Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Mobility Carmel Martin hosted a conversation with parents and their children at the White House to discuss their struggles with finding and affording childcare
With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the percentage of Black Americans who lack medical insurance has fallen significantly with the percentage of Black Americans who were uninsured decreasing by 8 percentage points from 2011 to 2019. Unfortunately, when compared to White populations, percentages of Black Americans uninsured are still comparatively high. Further, this
The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health estimates in a new modeling study that more than 5.2 million children globally have lost their parents or caregivers to COVID-19 through October 2021, equating to 1 child every 6 seconds. The study found more fathers than mothers died, and adolescents were more likely to be orphaned than younger
A new publication from the Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends primary preventive services that reduce the perpetration of intimate partner violence and sexual violence among youth. Based on a systematic review of 28 studies, the CPSTF found evidence that prevention strategies that utilized one or more of three strategies were successful in reducing
According to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of maternal deaths rose during the first year of the pandemic. Data from the National Vital Statistics System show that in 2020, 861 women were identified as having died of maternal causes in the United States, compared with 754