Older Youth

Families Need to File Tax Returns for Rest of 2021 Child Tax Credit (CTC

While Senator Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) opposition to a continuation of the expanded CTC has put at least a temporary stop on the 2021 version of that tax credit, all qualifying families still have six months of the CTC coming from 2021. The CTC has been federal law since the mid-1990s, but last year’s expansion added

The Pandemic’s Toll on Children’s Mental Health: Dr. Nadine Burke Harris

On January 11, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, Surgeon General of California, joined NPR’s Morning Edition to discuss the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of children. Dr. Burke Harris is known for her work to incorporate Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) screenings in health care settings throughout California. During her interview, Dr. Burke Harris

The Child Tax Credit: Family Impact Stories

Has the Child Tax Credit impacted your personal life or the life of a loved one? Personal stories about the direct impact of policies can be an effective strategy in advocating for change with lawmakers, because they cut to the heart of the issue in a way that data often can’t, at least not on

The Child Tax Credit: Research Roundup

The Center on Policy and Social Policy at Columbia University has released an important new report that rounds up the wide range of available research about the expanded Child Tax Credit. Since the introduction of the expanded credit in July 2021, there has been a significant amount of research conducted to measure the impact on

CWLA Joins Effort: CMS Support for Police-Free Youth Mobile Response

The Child Welfare League of America has signed onto the letter/request by the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) and other organizations in urging the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to prioritize police-free youth mobile response services that are fully reimbursable under the new Medicaid mobile crisis incentive established in the American

GAO on Student Bullying, Hate Speech, Crimes, and Victimization in Schools

Last week the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a new report: Students’ Experiences with Bullying, Hate Speech, Hate Crimes, and Victimization in Schools, indicating that about one in five students aged 12 to 18 were bullied annually in school and of students who were bullied in school about one in four students experienced bullying related

Adoption/Kinship Incentive Payment Dropped Last Year

The Adoption and Legal Guardianship Incentives released earlier this year provided just $24 million in incentive funding for states that placed children in adoptive families or in legal subsidized guardianship during 2020. In recent years the awards have exceeded over $60 million.  In fact, in recent appropriations, Congress has appropriated additional funding ($75 million) so

Report on Effectiveness of Youth Mobile Response

In April of 2021, The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) reported findings on the effectiveness of mobile responses - “an alternative to using law enforcement to respond to mental health and social crisis.”   This week CLASP started a letter to CMS to support these efforts (see following article for what you can do). In the report, CLASP dissects successful mobile response systems

ProPublica Article Raises Concerns on “Shadow Foster Care”

On December 1, 2021, ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine published an article titled, ‘They Took Us Away From Each Other’: Lost Inside America’s Shadow Foster System” by reporter Lizzie Presser.   The article details what some have labeled diversion from foster care by using informal kinship care placements. It doesn’t question kinship care, but

Sound The Alarm Campaign for Kids

A coalition of health care associations and providers are starting a campaign to SOUND THE ALARM FOR KIDS: WE ARE IN A NATIONAL MENTAL HEALTH EMERGENCY Organizations can go to the website to join the campaign and access information and social media and other resources to get the message out. The campaign states: “We invite

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