The DREAM and Promise Act was introduced on Tuesday, March 12 by Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), with Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), and Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY) as the lead sponsors out of a total of 202 cosponsors. It takes 218 votes to pass the House. The bill addresses two issues: the fate of young people
A group of 40 senators sent a letter to Health and Human Secretary Alex Azar on Wednesday, March 13, condemning the recent decision by HHS to grant a religious exemption from federal nondiscrimination laws and regulations for state-contracted child welfare agencies in South Carolina. Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-OR, Senator Dianne Feinstein
Shaquita Ogletree The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) is a long-standing federal law protecting the well-being of Native children by upholding family integrity and stability within their community; and the “gold standard” in child welfare policy. October 2018, Judge Reed O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled that
Kylie Hunter The Committee on Homeland Security on Wednesday, March 6, held a hearing, The Way Forward on Border Security. The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Kirstjen Nielsen was the main witness. Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) opened with remarks observing that since the last time the Committee met was a year
Jay Williams While one committee was hearing from the Secretary of Homeland Security last week, the House Judiciary Committee convened a hearing on Protecting Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Recipients. The witness panel included Jim Park - Rhodes Scholar, DACA Recipient, Yatta Kiazolu, UCLA Ph.D. Candidate, DED Recipient,
On Thursday, February 28, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NAS) released the results of their nearly two year study on reducing child poverty in the United States, A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty. CWLA President & CEO Chris James-Brown was one of the 15 member committee that studied the issue and wrote
Shaquita Ogletree The State of Babies Yearbook (The Yearbook), an initiative of the Think Babies campaign, created by Zero to Three and Child Trends is a tool that shows the well-being of babies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The data illuminate the fact that what state a baby is born in
With the NAS report on cutting child poverty in half now released, the U.S. Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) is ready to launch their effort and campaign to make it come true. CWLA is a part of this coalition which announced the launch of End Child Poverty U.S., a national campaign to establish a
Jay Williams As a follow-up to the historic passage of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 2018 (JJDPA), the Act-4-JJ Coalition held a Congressional briefing on Tuesday, February 26, 2019, to discuss next steps of implementation for JJDPA and what steps can be taken to improve the still inadequate juvenile justice system further.
On Thursday, February 28, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine will release the results of their nearly two years study on reducing child poverty in the United States, A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty. The Academy study is the result of a congressional mandate. The report examines the evidence-based programs and policies that