In March the Nebraska Foster Care Review Office (FCRO) issued their quarterly report that took an up-close look at children that re-enter foster care. In that closer look at the children and youth in foster care they found a much more significant number of children in foster care who had been in foster care at
On Tuesday Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced a new bill, S. 1964, the Child Welfare Oversight and Accountability Act of 2017. Its basic features are a de-link of Title IV-E kinship/subsidized guardianship from the AFDC eligibility, create a different and more flexible kinship care licensing standard for kinship
On Thursday, January 19, HHS released the 2015 Child Maltreatment Report. In Fiscal Year 2015, approximately 683,000 children were victims of abuse and neglect. Comparing the national estimate of victims from 2011 (658,000) to the rounded number of reported victims in 2015 (683,000) shows an increase of 3.8 percent. The change in victim counts from
Although the new Congress can repeal all regulations issued since early June 2016, the Administration continued to issue key guidance on human service programs through HHS. On Wednesday, December 14, HHS published final regulations for the updated Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) regulations and requirements. AFCARS data reported by states annually
On Wednesday, December 14, HHS published final regulations for the updated Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) regulations and requirements. AFCARS data reported by states annually helps to build a profile of the “child welfare” population by producing annual numbers on children in out-of-home (foster) care, adoptions and youth aging out to
On Monday, September 26, the White House was the site for the eighth annual White House Tribal Nations Conference. It was also the second White House Tribal Youth Gathering. The national convening is the result of a 2008 campaign promise by then candidate-Obama who made the commitment to hold regular convening’s when he made a
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a new report on how tribal governments are addressing the eventual restrictions on the foster care placement category of “another planned permanent living arrangement” or APPLA for youth in foster care. The report, Most Tribes Do Not Anticipate Challenges with Case Goal Changes, but HHS Could Further Promote
On Wednesday the House Appropriations Committee Approved a bill that would fund the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (Labor-HHS). The bill and committee report 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
On Wednesday, June 8, the Bureau of Indian Affairs released a long awaited set of regulations or final rule on the Indian Child Welfare Act. The Final Rule which will be implemented in 180 days, is the result of more than 2000 comments submitted after a proposed rule had been published in March 2015. CWLA
On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee, as part of National Foster Care Month held a hearing, Supporting Youth in the Foster Care and Juvenile Justice Systems. In opening the hearing Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) said that he hoped the hearing would result in some new information and strategies to better coordinate services between the child