Legislation

Kinship Care Celebrated At Children’s Bureau

September as National Kinship Care Month was celebrated at the Children’s Bureau on Friday, September 30.  More than a dozen states have joined onto a national effort to celebrate kin families in the month of September. The Bureau celebration, which was also webcast, including comments by several kinship care givers from several cities including New

HHS Publishes New Child Care Regulations

The Administration on Children and Families has now issued final regulations on the Child Care and Development Block Grant, CCDBG.  The regulations are a result of the 2014 reauthorization of the CCDBG. Based on the numerous changes in that 2014 law, the regulations strengthen health and safety requirements, increase and stabilize access, takes steps to improve

Congress Now In Race To Budget Deadline

After weeks of Congressional dreams of an early departure, Congress is now in a race to make sure the government does not shut down on October 1. No one is really expecting a shutdown but the process has gone on for weeks after leaders had floated the possibility of an early departure.  On Thursday, September

No Change On Families First Act As Fall Session Winds Down

There was no news regarding the passage of the Family First Prevention Services Act, (HR 5456, Conference Report 114-628) as time in this session winds down to a pre-election pause. There were on-going discussions regarding potential amendments and verbal or written assurances to fix the legislation but there did not seem to be any clear

House Passes A JJDPA Reauthorization

While a Senate bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) has been held up in the Senate by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), the House of Representatives approved a bipartisan bill last Thursday on H.R. 5963, the Supporting Youth Opportunity and Preventing Delinquency Act of 2016. The bill was voted out of

Preventing Child Abuse the Focus on Capitol Hill

KPJR films along with Prevent Child Abuse America held a Capitol Hill briefing, Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope.  The briefing focused on a new documentary on child abuse and neglect but included a panel discussion on prevention of child maltreatment. Resilience is a documentary that premiered at the Sundance Film

Shrinking Spending For Children, Child Welfare: 2 Percent of 10 Percent

On Tuesday, September 20, the Urban Institute was the scene for a discussion of the 10th annual report on how federal spending for children’s programs is doing in Washington DC budgeting. The Kids Share  Report and a panel discussion that accompanied the release of the report suggests that children are not doing well, at least

Brookings Brings Key Participants to Discuss TANF

On Thursday, September 22, the Brookings Institute hosted a day long discussion, The 20th anniversary of welfare reform: Lessons and takeaways., Along with the Brookings Institution, the University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research. The daylong session broke out the analysis and discussion along the lines of, child well-being, marriage and families, work and poverty,

December 9 CR Struggles to Finish Line

Congressional dreams of an early departure last week rapidly dissipated when several issues emerged that slowed down a final deal.  Once again there are members, particularly senators, who are hoping this will be the final week of session until the post-election lame duck session.  The Senate will use a substitute bill to adopt the CR

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