Would enactment of the Families First Act commit key Republicans leaders to protecting Title IV-E funding from being converted into a block grant? That is a question to consider in the waning days of the 114th Congress. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WS) has made no secret of his desire to convert both Medicaid and SNAP/food stamps
On Wednesday, November 16, Voice for Adoption (VFA) sponsored their annual Adoption Portrait Project in honor of November as National Adoption Month. The annual event features families who have adopted children from the foster care system. The families are sponsored by members of Congress who agree to highlight their picture and their stories in their
Since much of the President-elect Trump's agenda was wrapped less around specific domestic issues and more around the larger issues such as immigration and trade, it is not clear what the domestic policy agenda will look like. As a result, the priorities may be wrapped around a few big Trump initiatives and a Republican congressional
With the latest AFCARS data official, there are now clear indications that foster care numbers are trending upward. A third consecutive increase in foster care to 427,910 children in care represents an eight percent increase since 2012. Likely these numbers will be even higher when the 2016 numbers are reported next year. The numbers are
The National Center for Children in Poverty has released a new policy paper on the status of Medicaid access for young people formerly in foster care. The paper, FOSTERING HEALTH: The Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, and Youth Transitioning from Foster Care, describes the impact of a provision in the ACA that requires that youth
A new Child Trends survey of state child welfare spending shows a slight decrease in funding between 2012 to 2014 with a slightly bigger decrease in federal spending. The survey showed a continued pattern of great variations across the fifty states. A pattern that has existed since the first such surveys provided detail on spending
For the states that raised objections to parts of the Families First Act, specifically California, New York, Texas and Wyoming, the Child Trends survey gives some perspective. California and New York which raised serious concerns over the re-structuring both draw-down and spend significant amounts on child welfare. In 2014 California spent slightly more than $4
Massachusetts has reported some new and detailed information on the impact of substance abuse on child abuse reports. The data, reported recently by the Boston Herald indicates that within a six month period substance abuse was a factor in 14,000 cases, or 30 percent, of the 47,700 total reports of abuse and neglect the state
There was no vote on the Family First Prevention Services Act, (HR 5456, Conference Report 114-628) as Congress finished a budget deal last week Wednesday. As a result, the bill still remains in the same place. That means that it could be finished or dead for this Congress. There could be one more run at
September as National Kinship Care Month was celebrated at the Children’s Bureau on Friday, September 30. More than a dozen states have joined onto a national effort to celebrate kin families in the month of September. The Bureau celebration, which was also webcast, including comments by several kinship care givers from several cities including New