On Wednesday May 22, the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth and Congressional Baby Caucus sponsored a Capitol Hill briefing on “Supporting Foster Families in the Time of Opioids” The focus of the briefing was infant-toddler court team models that have shown great success in helping families remain together with their infants and toddlers. The four
May is National Foster Care Month and Sesame Street released “You Belong” featuring Karli, a Muppet living with her foster parents or “for-now” parents Dalia and Clem. With over 600,000 children who will enter the foster care system in a given year they only want to belong, the child welfare system provides a temporary safe
While there is much debate in the child welfare world regarding the fate of expiring waivers for approximately half the states, a more significant source of state flexibility continues to be under assault in the Administrations’ budget: the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG). While representatives of the administration tout their current budget proposal that would
The Family First Transition and Support Act (HR 2702/S 1376) bipartisan cosponsored by Congressman Don Bacon (R-NE), Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence (D-MI), Jim Langevin (D-RI), and Congresswoman Deb Haaland (D-NM) in the House and sponsored by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) in the Senate.
On Thursday, May 23, AEI hosted, “After the fanfare: Family First one year later,” to discuss the challenges and opportunities of implementing the historic legislation – the Family First Prevention Services Act by October 1, 2019. Panel of experts included Naomi Schaefer Riley from AEI, Sean Hughes from Social Change Partners, Mark Mecum from Ohio
On May 1, 2019, Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) introduced legislation that addresses many of the issues that we have heard about from states as they work towards implementing Family First. While this bill might not address all of the concerns being raised, it is a critical and important step to address
On Tuesday, March 26, the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services of the House Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing on the reauthorization of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). The hearing entitled, Strengthening Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect, is expected to focus on the historic
The latest details on the Administration’s budget includes a continuation of last year’s optional waiver that would convert Title IV-E foster care into a block grant on a state by state basis. The goal is that converting foster care funds into a fixed five-year block grant would allow states to spend money on primary prevention
Ways & Means Oversight Subcommittee Chairman John Lewis (D-GA) and Worker and Family Support Subcommittee Chairman Danny K. Davis (D-IL) sent a letter to two the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials regarding an HHS waiver that exempts organizations from federal foster care religious non-discrimination rules under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) wants you to know about a new law that went into effect last year that has the potential to help out some young people in foster care who are frequemntly victims of credit and identity fraud. The new law, that took effect last September, lets parents and child welfare