Last week, the American Youth Policy Forum unveiled a new web-based resource center called Understanding Foster, Juvenile Justice, and Crossover Youth. The site is part of an effort to educate policy-makers on the needs of foster care, juvenile justice, and crossover youth. The hope is that it will serve as a quick, easy-to-read overview of
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1809, the Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 2017. The bill was adopted on a voice vote reflecting the bipartisan sponsors that they can get a reauthorization done this year. The bill was introduced by Congressman Jason Lewis (R-MN) and House Education and Workforce Ranking Member, Congressman Bobby
If you haven’t seen it before, a coalition group including CWLA has sent Capitol Hill a letter of support of SSBG that will serve as a reminder to Capitol Hill on the importance of SSBG if the Tuesday budget includes its elimination. The letter includes more than 75 national organizations and organizations and agencies from
Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) have reintroducing a bill that is intended to help states identify children who come into contact with both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems (dual status children and youth). The Childhood Outcomes Need New Efficient Community Teams or CONNECT Act would authorize competitive grants to
Just before the spring recess committees in both houses took a go at moving a reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Protection Act (JJDPA). The last time the JJDPA was reauthorized was in 2002 with the current programs operating without an authorization since 2007. In July 2016, the Senate Judiciary Committee had taken the
On Wednesday, March 8, Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) introduced a bipartisan bill to create a National Criminal Justice Commission. The commission would make recommendations on a range of criminal justice issues. In a time of partisan rancor, the bill is cosponsored by 12 Democrats and 8 Republicans. The bill, S 573 is modeled after a
On Tuesday, February 28, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on juvenile justice issues. The hearing began with remarks by the Chairman, Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), who in his opening statement, discussed the fact that last year he, along with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) crafted a bill that garnered bipartisan support to reauthorize the
With some proposing that we defund programs that have not been reauthorized, the Congressional Budget Office issues regular annual reports of how many programs have not been reauthorized. Congress frequently fails to meet the window to reauthorize programs. An occurrence that seems more frequent in recent congresses. In January 2016, the CBO released, Unauthorized Appropriations
The Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention and Treatment Act (JJDPA), a program that seeks to prevent juvenile incarceration through prevention efforts and better and more appropriate sentencing fell short late in the week. The last time the JJDPA was reauthorized was in 2002 with the current programs operating without an authorization since 2007. In July, the
The Senate Caucus on Foster Youth, on Thursday, December 1, held the first of what is expected to be a series of Hill roundtable discussions on the challenges of youth in foster care. The first roundtable was “A Focus on Older Youth and Young Adults in Foster Care.” This forum began with opening comments by