On Thursday, November 4, 2021, Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-CA) introduced 21st Century Children and Families Act (HR 5856). The bill bans discrimination in placement and recruitment of foster and adoptive parents and places added emphasis on kinship care. It requires states to substantiate with clear and convincing data and analysis that the child welfare agency
On October 27, 2021, The American Bar Association (ABA) and Women’s Refugee Commission conducted a briefing on The Impact of Increased Immigrant Enforcement on Child Welfare. As of 2016, out of the 70 million children under the age of 18 in the U.S. more than 18 million reside with at least one immigrant parent. The
On November 3, 2021, First Focus on Children hosted the Children’s Budget Summit to highlight the release of their 15th annual Children’s Budget Analysis. Over the last 10 years, the Children’s Budget analysis has documented federal spending for children. Typically, this means watching federal spending for children be cut at a high rate. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic caused devastation across the world, Congress was compelled to make investments in early childhood, child care, education, family
CWLA joined over 300 other state and national organizations in calling on Congressional leadership to support the historic inclusion of the child care and pre-kindergarten expansions in the Build Back Better plan. The groups tell Congress: “The historic investment and policies outlined in the framework would support the transformative work of building a strong,
On Tuesday, November 2, 2021, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra announced an HHS Overdose Prevention Strategy. That strategy includes a four-pronged effort around primary prevention, evidence-based treatment, harm reduction and recovery support. Each category of the strategy outlines what HHS is doing in the respective areas. Under prevention one of the efforts focus on reducing the
A new CDC report, Vital Statistics Report showed a slight decrease in suicides in 2020 in comparison to 2019. The year 2020 had 45,855 suicides which was 3 percent lower than in 2019 (47,511). The largest percentage difference between monthly numbers for 2019 and 2020 occurred in April, where the provisional number in 2020 (3,468)
Early on Thursday, October 28, 2021, the White House released a new final framework for the reconciliation bill, the President’s Build Back Better agenda. The rest of the day was spent working out details and strategies with the end game still not finalized. The good news for the President was that the House Progressive Caucus
Last Tuesday, October 26, 2021, Congressman Danny Davis (D-IL) and Congresswoman Jackie Walorski (R-IN) introduced a new bill (HR 5661) to extend the temporary relief for youth exiting foster care. On Wednesday it passed the House by a fast-track voice vote. The December 2020 Covid-19 relief package included flexibility in certain programmatic services for Chafee-eligible
November is National Adoption Month and this year’s theme is Every Conversation Matters. Every Conversation Matters is about engaging youth in permanency plans through open conversations about adoption, asking youth their perspectives, and understanding their journey. Honoring of adoption began in 1976 when Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis declared an Adoption Week to spread awareness about
On Monday, October 25, 2021, the National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC) started a new campaign, Counsel for Kids. According to a statement by the organization, “With 673,000 children navigating America's child welfare courts every year and enduring concerns about unequal access to justice, today the National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC) launches