Kinship Care

HHS Seeking Advice: Supporting Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

The Administration for Community Living is seeking input by Friday, February 7, 2020. The Supporting Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Act, passed in 2018, established an Advisory Council to Support Grandparents Raising Grandchildren. That Council is seeking public input. They are particularly interested in opinions from former and current grandparent(s) or other older relative raising children, or

Partnering to Serve Pregnant and Parenting Youth in Foster Care

On Tuesday, November 12, the University Based Child and Family Policy Consortium held a webinar, “Partnering to Serve Pregnant and Parenting Youth in Foster Care in Illinois,” explained the results of the Healthy Families Illinois (HFI) Home Visiting Pilot Program. Speakers included Jaime Russell from Children’s Home and Aid and Amy Dworsky from the University

Family First Transition Act Introduced

Last week S. 2777 and H.R. 4980, the Family First Transition Act was introduced in both houses with bipartisan support. CWLA has endorsed the legislation. The two identical bills will provide $500 million to all states and jurisdictions distributed under Title IV-B, part 1 formula. States will have two years (retroactive to October 1, 2019)

Update on Adoption and Guardianship Awards

Last week we noted that the Children’s Bureau released the latest history of the Adoption and Legal Guardianship Incentives Payment Program—Earnings History by State. The table also shows the state awards for FY 2019. A few days later, the Bureau published the individual categories of awards for each state. The individual categories of awards that

AFCARS Shows Decline of Children in Foster Care

On Thursday, October 24, 2019 HHS released the 26th AFCARS Report indicating 3,788 fewer children in foster care in FY 2018 (437,283) from the 441,071 in FY 2017. The AFCARS reports are based on the number of children in the system as of the last day of the federal fiscal year, which is September 30,

Announcement: The Supporting Evidence Building in Child Welfare Project Evaluation Opportunity

The Supporting Evidence Building in Child Welfare Project invites child welfare agencies and others to nominate themselves and a program or service to be evaluated. The project, funded by the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) in partnership with the Children’s Bureau, conducts rigorous evaluations of interventions for the

Legislative Update

Since the National Conference in Washington, D.C. CWLA has reached out to members of Congress advocating for increase funding in key child welfare priority areas and services and supports on child welfare bills including: the reauthorization and increase funding for the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) and support for the Family First Transition

Boundless Futures: Building a Youth-Focused Child Welfare System

On July 16, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) hosted the 2019 Foster Youth Internship (FYI) Program Congressional Briefing. This was CCAI's 17th annual hearing consisting of policy recommendations from each presenter of the 2019 FYI Cohort including Anthony Abshire, Joshua Christian, Liliana Cory, Ria Esteves, David Samuel Hall, Sheree Hickman, Mackenzie McGeehan, Alexander

Children’s Bureau Says New Guidance Will Allow More Flexible Prevention, For Now

  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

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