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 the Chronicle of Social Change released a new report and survey, The Foster Care Housing Crisis that focused new and much needed attention on the dramatic increase in foster care placements and the challenge some states are having finding enough placements for children and youth in foster care. The report focused on capacity
On Tuesday Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced a new bill, S. 1964, the Child Welfare Oversight and Accountability Act of 2017. Its basic features are a de-link of Title IV-E kinship/subsidized guardianship from the AFDC eligibility, create a different and more flexible kinship care licensing standard for kinship
The Senate is expected to vote on the Graham-Cassidy-Johnson-Heller Medicaid block grant/per capita cap this week, with shifting odds of passage. Over the weekend, more questions than answers were being raised about its prospects, especially after Senator John McCain (R-AZ) said on Friday that he could not vote for the bill yet due to the
On Wednesday and Thursday of last week the Senate Appropriations Committee acted on their version of an FY 2018 Labor-HHS-Education bill. Now that the Congress has approved (on Friday) a CR that extends all FY 2018 funding until December 8, this bill will serve as a negotiating point with the House and Administration. The bill,
Child Welfare Services (Title IV-B part 1) and Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF, Title IV-B part 2) expired last year and they have a temporary extension through the end of this fiscal year. As a result of this most recent CR current funding including the court funds will continue for now. The Court Improvement
Child Welfare Services (Title IV-B part 1) and Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF, Title IV-B part 2) expired last year and they have a temporary extension through the end of this fiscal year. At risk are some smaller programs attached to PSSF, the Court Improvement Program (CIP) and grants for drug treatment and workforce
The Senate cut short their extended work schedule on Thursday when they finished work on several nominations including some from HHS. They will be out until after Labor Day. When Congress returns in September they will have a long list of items many that must be addressed by the end of the month or at
The Administration released their full 2018 budget on Tuesday, May 23, titled A New Foundation for American Greatness. The good news is that they do not propose converting Title IV-E into a block grant and most of the core discretionary funding for specific child welfare programs is at the same level as 2017. The bad