When and if Congress moves forward on a tax package late this year or next year one of the more vulnerable tax provisions is the Adoption Tax Credit. CWLA has been a longtime supporter of this tax credit which has taken on various forms and sizes over the past two decades. At times, it has
On Wednesday, June 7, the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, along with Florida-based Camelot Community Care, hosted a discussion, REAL kids, REAL voices, REAL time – Roundtable Discussion by Youth in Foster Care. The discussion focused on the experiences of nine young people in foster care. The hour-long dialogue included question and answers by Tavyla
The Administration released their full 2018 budget on Tuesday, May 23, titled A New Foundation for American Greatness. The good news is that they do not propose converting Title IV-E into a block grant and most of the core discretionary funding for specific child welfare programs is at the same level as 2017. The bad
Senator Todd Young (R-IN) is reintroducing the Modernizing the Interstate Placement of Children in Foster Care Act. Referred to by some as the NEICE bill, standing for the National Electronic Interstate Compact Enterprise project, the legislation was included in last year's Families First Act. It would provide some small amount of funding to states to
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), will release their updated study of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) on Wednesday, May 24. Technically the House is still holding the bill pending the CBO before it is sent to the Senate. There has been some wild speculation that the House may have to re-vote again if the
If you haven’t seen it before, a coalition group including CWLA has sent Capitol Hill a letter of support of SSBG that will serve as a reminder to Capitol Hill on the importance of SSBG if the Tuesday budget includes its elimination. The letter includes more than 75 national organizations and organizations and agencies from
The future of the Family First Prevention Services Act remains unclear. The House bill was re-introduced at the start of this Congress as a placeholder for future House action with House members waiting to see what the Senate can agree to. The Congress does have to re-authorize the two Title IV-B programs, Child Welfare Services
The Senate gave final approval to an omnibus appropriations bill on Thursday, May 4. The legislation was unveiled Monday and moved quickly through the process. As a result, we are now finished with FY 2017 which ends on September 30, 2017. After the unveiling the fight turned to who won and who lost. The President
The President issued an executive order last Thursday that was intended to address the goals of his more conservative religious base by providing greater “religious freedom,” but after earlier initial reports, he did not include language that would allow for discrimination in the placement of children in foster and adoptive homes. A draft that had
A coalition group including CWLA has sent Capitol Hill an updated letter of support of SSBG on Thursday. The letter includes more than 75 national organizations and organizations and agencies from all fifty states. CWLA has created a new resource on the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG). The new resource are state-by-state fact sheets found