On Thursday, June 6, the Senate Focus Youth Caucus and Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative (JCYOI) of the Annie E. Casey Foundation sponsored the congressional briefing “Chafee Plus 20” to examine the role the Chafee program has had in supporting better outcomes for youth and facilitate discussion about what how policy can continue to recommend
On Tuesday, June 4, the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth sponsored briefing on Right to Counsel in Child Abuse and Neglect Dependency. The focus of this meeting was to educate individuals about the importance of high-quality legal representation for children and parents. The five panelists included Frank Utomo and Levi Zwick-Tapley, former foster care
On Wednesday, June 5, AEI hosted the panel Big data, little kids: How technology is changing child welfare to inform participants about the lagging technology used in the child welfare system and present some ways to utilize technology to make the system more effective. The panel consisted of Thea Ramirez, Founder and CEO of Adoption-Share;
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