A new policy brief by Chapin Hall and the Chadwick Center, Using Evidence to Accelerate the Safe and Effective Reduction of Congregate Care for Youth Involved with Child Welfare was released in the past week. The research could be important in light of the Senate Finance Committee’s still-in-development Families First Act which could potentially open
Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) are introducing new legislation likely this week, the Excellence in Mental Health Act. The bill that would fully fund 24 states that qualified for a planning grant to create parity between community mental health services and physical health services. The bill is a follow up to
On Thursday, February 3 Capitol Hill was the site of a press conference introducing a new child care bill, the Child Care Access to Resources for Early Learning Act (Child C.A.R.E. Act). If the legislation becomes law it would provide significant investment into child care subsidies improving the quality, the supply, and the workforce. In
The Department of Education (DOE) began the process of producing regulations as a result of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) now referred to as, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). DOE sought advice and recommendations from the public on which areas need regulation and implementation. The request resulted in written comments
On Wednesday, January 27, the Senate Judiciary Committee focused on heroin and the prescription drug abuse issue during a hearing labeled, “Attacking America’s Epidemic of Heroin and Prescription Drug Abuse” As noted previously, the President in his State of the Union address singled out the drug use issue as one area both parties could work
A majority-minority report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Homeland Security Committee was released on Thursday, January 28 detailing abuse and lack of safeguards for children who came into the U.S. unaccompanied. According to the report and the hearing that accompanied its release unaccompanied minors have been subject to various forms of
On Wednesday, January 20 it was all bipartisan with voice votes in approving a jointly drafted committee bill, the Improving Child Nutrition Integrity and Access Act of 2016. The substitute bill draft was submitted by Committee Chairman Pat Roberts(R-KS) and Ranking Democrat Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). The unnumbered bill extends a number of child nutrition
Last week more than 80 organizations, including CWLA, started to recirculate a letter of support for S 1169 a bill to reauthorize the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA). The legislation introduced early last year and passed out of committee is sponsored by Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). If enacted,
The Republicans in Congress held their annual retreat in Baltimore late last week in an effort to plot out their strategy for 2016. There is a desire to focus on trying to pass each of the 12 appropriations bills on time by October 1. That is something that has not happened since 1994 when there
In his January 12, State of The Union address President Obama shied away from a list of specific policy proposals but he did single out a few areas including the drug use issue that is starting to rattle the foster care numbers. President Obama said, "Helping people who are battling prescription drug abuse and heroin