When House Education and the Workforce members introduced, the Improving Safe Care for the Prevention of Infant Abuse and Neglect Act last month, after a recent action by the Senate HELP Committee, they took a more targeted approach. Targeted toward HHS. Both bills focus on the “safe care” plans for children born and identified as
Wednesday, March 30 Results for America and that William T Grant Foundation sponsored a Capitol Hill discussion on how to strengthen and promote the use of evidence-based practice in human services. The briefing titled Building State and Local Capacity for Evidenced-Based Policy Making: How Can the Federal Government Help, featured a panel of five individuals
The House of Representatives joined the Senate in a Spring break this past Wednesday with a great deal of uncertainty on how Congress will move forward on appropriations. There still is no agreement between Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WS) and the Freedom Caucus on a plan to move a budget resolution and that means delay for
Last week a bipartisan group of House Members joined in on the effort to address the substance abuse-child welfare issue when they introduced a bill to amend CAPTA. The bill address the safe care plans that are required under CAPTA but it focuses its attention on HHS and information and data collection. The bill, the
By Dusty Murphy On Wednesday, March 23 a number of groups including the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), First Focus, National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) held a briefing on the impact of ongoing raids by U.S. immigration, the Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE), as well as the
On March 17, the Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities (CECANF) released its final report, “Within Our Reach: A National Strategy to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities.” Of key emphasis the commission report highlights: Infants and toddlers are at high risk of an abuse or neglect fatality compared to other age groups.
Before consideration of more partisan issues, the House Ways and Means Committee passed in bipartisan fashion a bill that will make improvements in the interstate placement of children, HR 4472. CWLA has endorsed legislation, The Modernizing the Interstate Placement of Children in Foster Care Act, HR 4472 and its Senate version S 2574. The House
After the ICPC vote, the House Ways and Means Committee approved a bill HR 4724 that would eliminate the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG). The vote and the bill was part of a strategy to get a budget resolution adopted (see below). Members of the Republican conservative caucus (Freedom Caucus) have told Speaker Paul Ryan
As part of the Senate HELP Committee’s debate of a mental health reform measure (see below), senators also endorsed S 2687, the Plan of Safe Care Improvements Act. The legislation, introduced by Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) would alter CAPTA and the current language around safe care plans and existing directives to states to have a
While the Senate HELP Committee was debating mental health legislations and amendments to CAPTA, on Tuesday, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce used testimony from Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell to raise questions in regard to enforcement of the same CAPTA provisions. In his opening remarks Chairman John Kelley