The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) five-year reauthorization ran out in FY 2010 but it is currently extended until the end of FY 2016 on September 30. Since it expired Congress and the Administration have agreed to a series of short term extensions ranging from a few months to a year at a time.
A new policy brief by Chapin Hall and the Chadwick Center, Using Evidence to Accelerate the Safe and Effective Reduction of Congregate Care for Youth Involved with Child Welfare was released in the past week. The research could be important in light of the Senate Finance Committee’s still-in-development Families First Act which could potentially open
On Tuesday, February 2 the American Enterprise Institute and Save the Children cosponsored an event, “Pay for Success: A New Approach to Finding Social Welfare Programs.” The Capitol Hill discussion provided a forum to discuss new strategies to address intractable social problems. Pay for Success or what others call Social Impact Bonds are relatively new
Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) are introducing new legislation likely this week, the Excellence in Mental Health Act. The bill that would fully fund 24 states that qualified for a planning grant to create parity between community mental health services and physical health services. The bill is a follow up to
On Thursday, February 3 Capitol Hill was the site of a press conference introducing a new child care bill, the Child Care Access to Resources for Early Learning Act (Child C.A.R.E. Act). If the legislation becomes law it would provide significant investment into child care subsidies improving the quality, the supply, and the workforce. In
The latest data from HHS through the annual Child Maltreatment report indicates that the number of children substantiated as abused or neglected increased to 702,000 in 2014 compared to 682,307 in 2013. Consistent with the past several years the vast majority of children were victims of neglect (75 percent) compared to physical abuse (17 percent)
On Wednesday, January 27, the Senate Judiciary Committee focused on heroin and the prescription drug abuse issue during a hearing labeled, “Attacking America’s Epidemic of Heroin and Prescription Drug Abuse” As noted previously, the President in his State of the Union address singled out the drug use issue as one area both parties could work
Days after leading groups started to re-circulate a letter by more than 80 organizations, including CWLA, in support of action on a Senate bill to reauthorize the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA, S 1169), the President took action to ban solitary confinement of juveniles in federal prisons. At nearly the same time the
A majority-minority report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Homeland Security Committee was released on Thursday, January 28 detailing abuse and lack of safeguards for children who came into the U.S. unaccompanied. According to the report and the hearing that accompanied its release unaccompanied minors have been subject to various forms of
On Wednesday, January 20 it was all bipartisan with voice votes in approving a jointly drafted committee bill, the Improving Child Nutrition Integrity and Access Act of 2016. The substitute bill draft was submitted by Committee Chairman Pat Roberts(R-KS) and Ranking Democrat Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). The unnumbered bill extends a number of child nutrition