Last week Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) introduced legislation that will help extend Medicaid coverage to young people who aged out of foster care. Under the Affordable Care Act if a young person leaves foster care they are eligible for continued Medicaid coverage to the age of 26. This protection applies to all former foster youth
The growing demand to make significant reforms and changes to federal criminal justice laws gathered a powerful head of steam last week after a major effort by President Obama and a number of bipartisan congressional comments. There is a growing consensus starting with the President and including Republicans, Democrats, liberals and conservatives to address the
On Thursday, July 16, the Senate approved a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secretary Education Act, S 1177 (ESEA/No Child Left behind Act) by a vote of 81 to 17 sending it on to the next phase of the process and maybe the most difficult phase. The House passed their education bill, HR 5, and
While much of children’s and child welfare programs were level in funding there were some key targets and cuts. This included the Senate elimination of the Abandoned Infants funding (zeroed out all $11 million) and both the House and Senate made severe cuts to teen pregnancy prevention. See budget chart here. The Administration in their
The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice has found the state of West Virginia in violation of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) when it comes to providing services to children with significant mental health conditions. The Justice Department holds that the state has a very high rate of placements into segregated
In light of some recent Capitol Hill briefings and discussions highlighting the issue of unregulated child custody transfers or what has been framed in news reports as “rehoming” CWLA joined with several other child welfare and adoption groups to issue a set of comments and recommendations to address the problem. In addition to CWLA, the
A bill that would restore the refundability of the adoption tax credit is gaining bipartisan and bicameral support. The tax credit seeks to assist families that adopt. It was refundable for a brief period in 2010 and 2011 and in making it refundable the credit is a much greater assistance to families that adopt from
It appears now that a tentative date for debate on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secretary Education Act, S 1177 (ESEA/No Child Left behind Act) will be the week of July 7. The Senate is off this week for the July 4th break but key senators from the HELP Committee have been waiting to
The Coalition on Juvenile Justice and the Tribal Law and Policy Institute have published a new brief paper, "American Indian/Alaska Native Youth & Status Offense Disparities: A Call For Tribal Initiatives, Coordination & Federal Funding." The paper examines the overrepresentation of American Indian and Alaskan Native youth in the nation’s juvenile justice system. The research indicates that
On Friday, June 19, 2015, Senator Al Franken (D-MN) and Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) introduced a key bipartisan measure, the Educational Stability of Foster Youth Act. The bill is an attempt to align federal education law with was enacted under child welfare law, Title IV-E in 2008. The bill would: Ensure that children can