CWLA has joined with a number of groups including First Focus in forming a new Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG). The coalition website states, “One of the biggest challenges facing our nation today is the persistently high number of children living in poverty. Nearly 1 in 5 children are living in families with incomes below
Last week CWLA called on the Office of Management and Budget to include new funds in the 2018 budget to better address key child maltreatment strategies. The preparation of the 2018 budget is a placeholder for the new administration. The new President will be sworn in on January 20 and as a result the 2018
In regard to letters to OMB, CWLA has signed onto a letter by the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST) in support of increased funding to address trafficking including prevention and treatment. The lengthy request covers a range of programs across the departments including the Victim Services Grants & Human Trafficking Task Forces, Minor
The Administration on Children and Families has now issued final regulations on the Child Care and Development Block Grant, CCDBG. The regulations are a result of the 2014 reauthorization of the CCDBG. Based on the numerous changes in that 2014 law, the regulations strengthen health and safety requirements, increase and stabilize access, takes steps to improve
KPJR films along with Prevent Child Abuse America held a Capitol Hill briefing, Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope. The briefing focused on a new documentary on child abuse and neglect but included a panel discussion on prevention of child maltreatment. Resilience is a documentary that premiered at the Sundance Film
The best news regarding the passage of the Family First Prevention Services Act, (HR 5456, Conference Report 114-628) is that Congress did not get a budget deal and adjourn last week giving supporters and opponents at least one more week to find a path forward. Behind the scenes discussions have continued but it is unclear
A potential long-term result of the current debate on the Families First Prevention Services Act is the pitting of the need for front end prevention of child maltreatment against the need for intervention services that prevent foster care. In reality true comprehensive reform of the nation’s child welfare systems requires both of these vastly underfunded
At the end of August, HHS issued an information memorandum (ACYF-CB-IM-16-0) to inform and assist states in implementing a “Plan of Safe Care” under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) as amended by the recent Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 the “CARA” legislation. The drug treatment reform bill amended CAPTA in
Some critics of the Families First Prevention Services Act have recently argued that the proposed bill does not truly provide prevention services. In part this depends on how the individual defines prevention. CWLA views the Families First Act as providing an important part of the child welfare continuum, intervention services that can prevent placement into
The two Title IV-B programs along with the adoption and kinship incentive fund expire on October 1, 2016 and so they need to be reauthorized either through the Families First Act or or another measure which could include a short term extensions included any CR. A CR however may just extend the program for a