The National Health Collaborative on Violence and Abuse (NHCVA) hosted a Capitol Hill briefing on Wednesday on the Impact of Exposure to Violence and Abuse on Children and Youth : Implications for Health and Education Policy. Dr Robert Block, University of Oklahoma and the American Academy of Pediatrics, focused on the ACEs (adverse childhood experiences)
Last week the Senate cast more votes to overcome a filibuster on S 178, the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. It ran into major problems over an abortion-related issue. That became even more complicated early last week when Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) tied a delay in a vote to confirm attorney general designee
On Friday, March 12, a number of groups spearheaded by the Child Welfare League of America, Generations United, the National Association of County Human Service Directors, Zero to Three, Easter Seals and the National Adult Protective Services Association, sent a letter to all members of Congress in support of the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG).
The Senate spent last week debating S 178, the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act but ran into major problems. S 178 attempts to establish new funding through the use of the Crime Victims Fund to provide services to victims of all human trafficking (not limited to sex trafficking), it also creates greater law enforcement
On Tuesday, the House, absent much debate, passed an appropriations bill that will fund the Department of Homeland Security through the rest of the fiscal year. The action to adopt a “clean” bill—without any restrictions on the President’s executive order regarding immigration—was adopted 257 to 167 with Democrats providing the bulk of the vote (182
A report by the Inspector General (IG) for HHS indicates that children in foster care are not receiving required health screenings. The report comes after a November 2014 IG report that found that there were significant shortfalls in health screening for all children enrolled in Medicaid. The new report, Not All Children in Foster Care
On Tuesday February 24, the Senate Judiciary Committee considered the issue of human trafficking and two bills that approach the issue beyond what was debated within child welfare in 2014 through amendments to child welfare law. Under the hearing title, Human Trafficking in the United States: Protecting the Victim, senators focused attention on providing services,
On February 20, the Administration for Children and Families issues new guidance on the intersection between child welfare requirements and immigration enforcement. The guidance (ACYF-CB-IM-15-02) comes via an Information Memorandum and offers resources and advice on case planning and service delivery for families and children with parents or legal guardians who are either detained or
Some in Washington are advocating the elimination of SSBG as a way to fund child welfare services. The theory is that eliminating the $1.7 billion in SSBG dollars might free up some funds for child welfare and perhaps also cut federal spending at the same time. Such calculations however ignore the fact that SSBG funds
One of the first human service issues to be taken up by Congress will be education. The Senate HELP Committee has been in deep discussions with the Chairman, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) hoping to move quickly on a bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in the next month. The last time