In honor of National Children’s Week, on Tuesday, June 12, First Focus on Children, Comic Relief USA, and Child Poverty Action group hosted Spotlight on Child Poverty in America. The event featured Members of Congress, thought leaders, advocates and service providers who are all actively working to address child poverty on the national, state, and
On Wednesday, June 5, Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) and Congresswoman Jennifer Gonzalez-Colon (R-PR) introduced the Every Child Deserves a Family Act (ECDF). The legislation prohibits discrimination against children, youth, families, and individuals on the basis of religion, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), and marital status in the administration and provision of child welfare
A June 6, 2019 letter from Children’s Bureau Commissioner Jerry Milner to child welfare leaders indicates some broader flexibility in funding Family First Prevention Services in the initial implementation. The key part of the letter is the last paragraph where Commissioner Milner states: “Therefore, the CB plans to issue guidance allowing a state to
On Thursday, June 6, the Senate Focus Youth Caucus and Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative (JCYOI) of the Annie E. Casey Foundation sponsored the congressional briefing “Chafee Plus 20” to examine the role the Chafee program has had in supporting better outcomes for youth and facilitate discussion about what how policy can continue to recommend
On Tuesday June 4, the House of Representatives passed HR 6, the Dream and Promise Act by a vote of 237 yes votes and 187 nays. The vote totals included all Democrats and 7 Republicans. The legislation was voted out of committee on May 22 shortly before the Memorial Day break. It includes protection
As Congress returned on Monday, June 3, one of their first actions was to extend the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant until the end of this fiscal year. The vote was not without opposition with 357 yes votes to 55 no votes (all Republicans).The extension which now has to go to the
The House will begin to pass the first of the 12 appropriations bill this week. To speed up the process House Leadership has decided to combine 5 of the 12 FY 2020 bills into one package for debate and vote. The creation of the “mini-bus” will package the Labor-HHS-Education, Defense, Energy-Water, Legislative Branch, and State-Foreign
On Monday, May 20, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2480 – Stronger Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) by voice vote and now it heads to the Senate. It proposes robust funding increases for states and local communities to implement strategies and programs that prevents child abuse is critical to strengthen families and
On Wednesday May 22, the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth and Congressional Baby Caucus sponsored a Capitol Hill briefing on “Supporting Foster Families in the Time of Opioids” The focus of the briefing was infant-toddler court team models that have shown great success in helping families remain together with their infants and toddlers. The four
While there is much debate in the child welfare world regarding the fate of expiring waivers for approximately half the states, a more significant source of state flexibility continues to be under assault in the Administrations’ budget: the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG). While representatives of the administration tout their current budget proposal that would