On Wednesday, July 24, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) released two more Title IV-E Prevention Services programs and services ratings for the Title IV-E Prevention Services in accordance with the Family First Prevention Services Act. Healthy Families America (HFA) is a nationally accredited home visiting program that was developed by Prevent Child
On Thursday, July 25, 2019 the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine released their new report, Vibrant and Healthy Kids: Aligning Science, Practice, and Policy to Advance Health Equity. The report outlines steps needed to move all children toward positive health paths and reducing health gaps. Children are the foundation of the United States,
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released a new report on Tuesday, July 23 titled, "Beyond Suspensions: Examining School Discipline Policies and Connections to the School-to-Prison Pipeline for Students of Color with Disabilities" calling on the Trump Administration to replace the Obama Administration 2014 school discipline guidance. The comprehensive 224-page report examines how federal
On Thursday, July 18, 2019 the Children’s Bureau released guidance to states on how they can include in their state plans procedures to allow for “transitional payments” for prevention services and programs that have not yet been listed in the Family First Prevention Services Clearinghouse. Program Instruction ACYF-CB-PI-19-06: says that the instruction allows a
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) in HHS has released new findings on Therapeutic Foster Care that analyzes the benefits and challenges of TFC. Therapeutic Foster Care is intended to help children in care who have behavioral or emotional disorders. It is provided in a family-based setting by an
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued an opinion on July 15, 2019 telling Congress that recent changes the Administration made to the ACA waiver authority were significant enough to allow for congressional review because it is a new federal “rule.” As a result, it is subject to congressional oversight and requires certain reporting to
On July 16, the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security held a hearing on “Women and Girls in the Criminal Justice System” to examine the exponential growth of women being incarcerated for nonviolent offenses since the 1980s. In Chairwoman Bass’ (D-CA) opening statement, she noted many consequences of mass incarceration, such as
A new study published in PEDIATRICS offers evidence that states with stricter gun laws including laws requiring universal background checks for firearm purchase had lower firearm-related pediatric mortality rates. Pointing out that firearms are the second lead cause of pediatric deaths, the authors said: “In this 5-year analysis, states with stricter gun laws and laws
A new report by Avalere analyzed the impact of a Medicaid block or per capita cap’s effect on health care funding. The results are very negative especially for children. The study shows that between 2020 and 2029 federal funding lost under a Medicaid block grant would result in a $163 to $143 billion cut
Last month, when the House of Representatives approved a four-bill appropriations package that included appropriations for the Department of Health and Human Services (by a vote of 226-to 203) they included an important improvement for child abuse prevention. The final House appropriation for the Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CB-CAP) received a $35 million increase to