WE WILL BE BACK NEXT ON AUGUST 22-- On Monday, August 1 the Child Welfare League of America opened its annual 2016 conference, What Works for Families Affected by Substance Use, in Orange county, California. Orange county, as the sixth largest county in the country with over 800,000 children, was an appropriate setting for the
More than 550 attendees at the CWLA Conference were welcomed by opening remarks of Commissioner Rafael Lopez, Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), HHS. Lopez offered praise to the many participants made up of state and local agencies and service providers. In his first day comments he said that what was most important and
The “CARA” legislation under title five includes amendments to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) regarding a plan of safe care for infants exposed to substances. It does not reauthorize CAPTA but amends current provisions around a plan of safe care. The plan of safe care for infants requires a state that receives
The final conference report on the “CARA” legislation includes changes under nine titles. Its emphasis, unlike past anti-drug initiatives, is more on prevention and treatment. It is a distance from some of the efforts of the 1980s when crack-cocaine was attracting all the attention in regard to substance use. Actions then and into the 1990s
On Friday the Office on Adolescent Health (OAH) released the results of 41 rigorous evaluations on the effectiveness of teen pregnancy prevention programs. The studies, 90 percent of which were randomized controlled trials between 2010 through 2015, is expected to offer a significant contribution to the field’s knowledge of where, when, and with whom programs
Holding Pattern in Senate Last week efforts to adopt the House version of the Family First Prevention Services Act, (HR 5456) (Conference Report 114-628) continued but success has stalled—at least temporarily. By week’s end the only thing that was clear is that they had not yet reached unanimous support for the bill and passing it.
Squeezed in between last week’s presidential politics, the House and Senate were trying to work out final deals on mental health and drug legislation. House-Senate Conferees agreed to a bill or conference report on the “CARA” legislation although the Democrats were holding out for increased appropriations that would fund the new provisions. The House adopted
On Thursday the House Subcommittee on Appropriations for the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (Labor-HHS) approved a bill that reduces spending below current year funding and attaches a number of provisions the President would reject. Overall the bill provides $161.6 billion which is a cut of $569 million below this year.
On Friday afternoon, June 24, the National Prevention Science Coalition sponsored a briefing, Fighting the Opioid Epidemic on Multiple Fronts by Leveraging Empirical Evidence. Panelists included Scott P Novak, RTI International, Terrence Watson, National Association of Drug Court Professionals, and Kenzie Preston, National Institute of Drug Abuse. Dr. Novak presented some of the history of
On Wednesday, May 17 the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources held their own hearing on the substance-abuse issue and the relationship to child welfare. It follows last week’s Senate Finance Committee hearing on the use of evidence-based services and its relationship to child welfare. In his opening statement, the Chairman, Congressman Vern