Following CWLA’s 2021 Virtual Conference will be Virtual Hill Day on Wednesday, May 12th, in which we are asking CWLA members and Conference registrants to go to Capitol Hill to virtual meet their members of Congress to educate them on key child welfare legislation. The 2021 CWLA Legislative Agenda, which lays out key priorities for
On Wednesday, April 21, 2021, the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing entitled ‘In Their Own Words: Paid Leave, Child Care, And An Economy That Failed Women.’ The hearing showcased stories of struggles experienced by working moms before and during the pandemic. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) began
On Thursday, April 22, 2021, Zero to Three held the State of Babies Summit to release the State of Babies Yearbook: 2021, which shows that even before the economic and social fallout of COVID-19, the babies of our nation did not have the supports needed to thrive. The pandemic has only further exacerbated disparities that affect
On Thursday, April 15, 2021, the House Subcommittee on Appropriations for the departments of Labor-HHS-Education heard testimony from the new HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. The testimony builds on the previous week's White House overview of the FY 2022 appropriations. The House focused several Thursday hearings on the FY 2022 appropriations meaning we are now in the full
Last week two organizations released a new study, “A Lifetimes Worth of Benefits,” a report that details the effects of quality child care on family income, the gender gap, and women’s retirement security. The report, authored by the National Women’s Law Center and the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University, analyzed the
Recently Bethany Christian Services released a report detailing what their agencies have learned over this past year due to the pandemic. The report includes a number of observations and some proposed reforms. One of those reforms is a revaluation of a 1994 law called the Multi-Ethic Placement Act (MEPA) and, more specifically, a rollback of changes made
In the last year, it has become impossible to shield ourselves from the role of law enforcement, mental health systems, and their relationships to racial justice. Historically, both systems have harmed communities of color and continue to do so today. Complicit in racism and discrimination, both law enforcement and mental health systems continually perpetuate "negatives
The Children’s Bureau hosted a webinar on Tuesday, April 13, 2021, to introduce the 2021/2022 Prevention Resource Guide. The guide shows how the most important thing we can do is support families in ways that build upon their strengths and enable them to care for their children safely before maltreatment is even a possibility. When
Mathematica and Child Trends have unveiled a new database that allows a deeper understanding of each state’s child protection systems and laws. The State Child Abuse & Neglect Policies Database allows researchers, analysts, advocates, policymakers to broaden their understanding of how differences in state laws and policies might influence state variability in reported rates of child abuse
We’re excited to announce that NAEYC’s Week of the Young Child is here! During the week of April 10-16, join us in celebrating young children and the systems that support them. This is an opportunity to draw public attention to the challenges children face and the people and programs that help meet their needs—especially