On Monday, December 4, the Every Child Deserves a Family Campaign was launched to promote best interests of all children in foster and adoption systems. The campaign is headed up by the Family Equality Council and includes a coalition of nearly two dozen founding organizations including the Child Welfare League of America. The goal of
On Saturday, December 3, the Senate gave final approval to their tax package by a vote of 51 to 49. It now will be negotiated with the House. The tax legislation being considered by Congress would not only have major implications for a range of issues and families reliant on the current tax structure but
On Thursday, November 30, HHS released the latest data on child welfare and it now shows that there are 437,465 children in foster care as of September 30, 2016. This is the fifth straight year of increases going from 396,966 in 2012 to 437,465 in 2016. Likely the 2017 numbers are even higher. That is
Last week’s Congressman Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) released similar bills to extend the Court Improvement Program (CIP). The CIP is part of the Promoting Safe and Stable Families program. It provides approximately $30 million a year to all fifty states through their state court systems to better link and educate judges
Thursday, November 16 was a big day for tax cut advocates. The House of Representatives passed their tax bill (HR 1) by of 227 to 205 with all but 13 Republicans and no Democrats voting for it. Later that evening the Senate Finance Committee passed their counter proposal out of Committee by a vote of
On Wednesday, November 15, CWLA partner organization Voice for Adoption, hosted their 13th annual Adoptive Family Portrait Project. November is national adoption month and the project is a way to highlight adoptions from foster care. Members of Congress are recruited to display and feature families from their state or district. An adoptive family’s photo is
Last week a new report, Missed Opportunities: Youth Homelessness in America, the study covers youth homelessness in a range of settings. Young people may survive by sleeping on the streets, in shelters, running away, being kicked out, and couch surfing. The report was conducted by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago and is the
Last week Altarum issued a new analysis that demonstrates that the opioid epidemic is costing this country $95 billion in annual costs. More specifically in 2016. According to their research $43 billion was from the economic impact from the loss of life, the next largest costs were $12 billion due to lost productivity due to
Last week a coalition of groups released, Addressing the Intersection of Juvenile Justice Involvement and Youth Homelessness: Principles for Change. The report notes that a young person’s involvement with the justice system can increase their likelihood of later experiencing homelessness. Pointing out that youth experiencing homelessness may be swept into the juvenile justice system
The GAO has released a report Child Well Being: Key Considerations for Policymakers. The report is intended as an assessment of what is known about child well-being and provides some views on what could or should be considered to address it. The report says: “In recent years, the well-being of children in the United States