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
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
Two House Committees: the Oversite Committee and the Judiciary Committee held hearings last week on family separation at the border. As part of those hearings there were reports that a significant number of children have been subjected to child sexual abuse while being cared for as unaccompanied minors. Figures released indicated that HHS has received
On Thursday February 7, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held their first hearing in the 116th Congress on family separation policies in regard to immigration enforcement. According to testimony from the Inspector General’s Office at HHS, Ann Maxwell, “…the total number of children separated from a parent or guardian by U.S. immigration authorities and
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has re-introduced the Families Not Facilities Act, legislation that CWLA endorsed in the last Congress and now in this 116th Congress. • The bill prohibit the Department of Homeland Security from using U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) information provided by an unaccompanied child, or initially obtained to evaluate
It looks as if the third year of the Trump Presidency will start out for the third time with a delayed budget and appropriations process. The government shutdown means that the budget will not be released in the first week of February as required. When it does come out it will likely include a hodgepodge
On Thursday, January 17, 2019, the chairs of Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth held a welcome back event with the staff on Capitol Hill and advocates to discuss issues affecting youth in the child welfare system. The National Foster Youth Institute (NFYI) shared the success of 2018 work and efforts planned for 2019 with the
The ongoing government shutdown is a mixed bag in terms of human services funding and which programs, and, by extension, people are most vulnerable. As part of the five appropriations bills that were signed on time last fall, the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Education and Department of Labor are all funded.