Late Friday afternoon a group of House and Senate Republicans and Democrats released the, Family First Prevention Act along with a summary. The legislation includes three overarching pieces: a reauthorization of the Title IV-B programs (Promoting Safe and Stable Families, Child Welfare Services), new definitions of foster care including greater oversight and limitations of residential/institutional
On Monday, May 23 as part of the ongoing efforts to talk about foster care for Foster Care Month, Youth Villages and the American Youth Policy Forum sponsored a briefing, Scaling Up active practices for youth transitioning out of foster care". UVLifeSet is a program started originally 1999 by Youth Villages. The goal of the
On Thursday, May 17 the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) focused on, Preventing Harm to Children through Predictive Analytics. A somewhat formal definition of predictive analytics would define it as a practice of taking data and the information gathered from that data to determine patterns and predict outcomes and trends. It predicts or forecasts what might
On Wednesday, May 17, Mathematica, a policy research think tank, hosted a National Foster Care Month briefing, Welfare Through Prevention: An Evidence-Based Perspective. The presentation including remarks by Kimberly Boller, Mathematica, Matthew Stagner, Mathematica, Becky Shipp, (Senator Orrin Hatch, R-UT), and Laura Berntsen, (Senator Ron Wyden, D-OR). Much of the discussion focused on the draft
On Wednesday, May 17 the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources held their own hearing on the substance-abuse issue and the relationship to child welfare. It follows last week’s Senate Finance Committee hearing on the use of evidence-based services and its relationship to child welfare. In his opening statement, the Chairman, Congressman Vern
On Tuesday, May 10, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on evidenced-based programs and strategies in human services. In his opening remarks Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) highlighted the substance abuse Regional Partnership Grants (RPGs) as well as home visiting programs as examples of using evidence based practices to have an impact. He also strongly
The Senate Caucus on Foster Youth held the third of its Congressional Briefing Series, Part Three: Promising Solutions for the Future: What Can Be Done to Meet Child and Family Substance Abuse and Mental Health Needs? Panelists included Nancy Young, Children and Families Futures, Mark Casas, student and former foster youth, Tianna Van Tassel, Bridges
On Monday, April 18, CWLA members focused on the National Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities. Dr. David Sanders Ph.D., Chairman of the Commission, Executive Vice President, Casey Family Programs, presented some of the key findings and recommendations of the recently-released commission report. After Dr Sanders’ power-point presentation, discussion began with panel comments
During the Capitol Hill Day, while CWLA members handed out Hot Topics on key policy issues, members could also break to attend a briefing that focused on the significance of the child welfare workforce. CWLA was focusing Capitol Hill attention on the significance of the workforce in advancing the many outcomes within child welfare and
After the Tuesday evening dinner with Commissioner Lopez and reporter Christopher Walker, on Wednesday, April 20, CWLA members wrapped-up with a morning session focused on the substance use issue. With Congress continuing its focus on the prescription drug and opioids addiction issue (see following story) and a number of bills introduced in various committees including