The House Appropriations Committee Funds Adoption Opportunities at $39 million which is a rejection of the Administration’s proposed cut of $9 million. Adoption/Kinship Incentives is funded at $37.9 million, the same as last year. The lack of increase for Adoption/Kinship Incentives fund continues to build on a recent and growing problem of underfunding. Since its
The Dream Act of 2017 has been introduced in the Senate by Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Called the United We Dream Act, it would offer a route to permanent legal status for millions of undocumented immigrant youth. The bill comes as ten Attorneys General sent a letter to Donald Trump
When and if Congress moves forward on a tax package late this year or next year one of the more vulnerable tax provisions is the Adoption Tax Credit. CWLA has been a longtime supporter of this tax credit which has taken on various forms and sizes over the past two decades. At times, it has
Last Tuesday, June 20, the House of Representatives adopted a series of bipartisan child welfare bills. The five bills were all taken from last year’s Families First legislation that had been adopted by the House last summer. Taken together the bills would speed up placements across state lines, improve regional partnership substance use treatment grants
Late on the evening of Thursday, June 15, the Secretary of Homeland Security announced what appeared to be an extension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Reacting to some news reports, the Administration later said they had not made a final decision on DACA but wanted to clarify their policy in another immigration
On Tuesday, a coalition of groups including CWLA sponsored a Capitol Hill briefing, Understanding and Meeting the Needs of Families Experiencing Homelessness. The briefing included Mary Haskett (NC State), Carmela DeCandia (Artemis Associates), Grace Whitney (IMH-E Schoolhouse Connections), Preston Britner (University of Connecticut), Anne Farrell (Chapin Hall, Chicago) and Ruth White (National Council on Homelessness
On Wednesday, June 7, the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, along with Florida-based Camelot Community Care, hosted a discussion, REAL kids, REAL voices, REAL time – Roundtable Discussion by Youth in Foster Care. The discussion focused on the experiences of nine young people in foster care. The hour-long dialogue included question and answers by Tavyla
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 Thursday, May 25, Congressman Danny Davis (D-IL) introduced new legislation that attempts to develop and promote strategies to reduce the rate of teen and unplanned pregnancies within the foster care population. The legislation, which has been endorsed by CWLA, is called the Supporting Foster Youth in Successful Parenting Act of 2017, would direct states
The new Davis bill addressing an important need comes on the heels of an Administration budget that cuts a key program that promotes evidence-based teen pregnancy reduction programs. The budget includes the elimination of the evidence-based Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program, currently funded at $101 million. Ginny Ehrlich, CEO of the National Campaign to Prevent