A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty

On Thursday, February 28, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NAS) released the results of their nearly two year study on reducing child poverty in the United States, A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty. CWLA President & CEO Chris James-Brown was one of the 15 member committee that studied the issue and wrote

Reports & Hearings Outline Child Sexual Abuse at Federal Immigration Camps

Two House Committees: the Oversite Committee and the Judiciary Committee held hearings last week on family separation at the border. As part of those hearings there were reports that a significant number of children have been subjected to child sexual abuse while being cared for as unaccompanied minors. Figures released indicated that HHS has received

Hill Briefing Highlights Unregulated Transfers Or “Re-Homing”

Tessa Buttram and Nick Cervone On Thursday, February 28, 2019, Congressman Langevin (D-R) and the Congressional Caucus for Foster Youth held a briefing on “Unregulated Custody Transfers of Adopted Youth: Understanding and Preventing “Rehoming.” Panelists included Maureen Flatley, Former Ambassador Susan S. Jacobs, Department of State, Nhi Nguyen, Government Accountability Office (GAO), Trish Maskew, Department

Juvenile Justice 101 Briefing

Jay Williams As a follow-up to the historic passage of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 2018 (JJDPA), the Act-4-JJ Coalition held a Congressional briefing on Tuesday, February 26, 2019, to discuss next steps of implementation for JJDPA and what steps can be taken to improve the still inadequate juvenile justice system further.

Child Trends: 1 in 3 Children Entered Foster Care Parental Drug Abuse

Last week Child Trends unveiled new state data on child maltreatment and child welfare. They also issued an analysis that indicates that one in three children entered for care due to parental substance abuse in 2017. The rate of 131 children per 100,000 represents a 5 percent increase over the previous year. That rate also

House Looks at Homelessness in America

by Tessa Buttram On Wednesday, February 13, 2019, the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing entitled, “Homeless in America: Examining the Crisis and Solutions to End Homelessness.” This was the first hearing of the Committee in the 116th Congress. Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) began the hearing by providing an overview on homelessness in the

New Report Released on Youth Homelessness in America

  by Nick Cervone On February 13th, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (the Law Center) and National Network for Youth (NN4Y) released Alone without a Home: A National Review of State Laws Affecting Unaccompanied Youth, a report concerning the 700,000 minors that experience homelessness every year in America. These minors are identified

New York Agency CEO Speaks Out Against Discrimination Waiver

On February 9, the head of New York City’s JJCA child welfare agency, penned an opinion piece in the Capitol Hill publication, The Hill, calling out an HHS decision to waive anti-discrimination regulations in child welfare placements. CEO Ronald E Richter denounced the recent decision by the Administration to issue the waiver arguing that there

RFK Resource Center: Probation System Review Guidebook, 3rd Edition

The Robert F. Kennedy National Resource for Juvenile Justice has just released the Probation System Review Guidebook, 3rd Edition to support the transformation of probation and juvenile justice policy and practice in your jurisdiction. This new resource features the seminal framework that the RFK National Resource Center has used in partnership with twenty-five jurisdictions across

House Members Call Out HHS on SC Waiver; Lawsuit Filed by Group

On Wednesday, February 13, 95 Members of the House signed a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar criticizing the Departments decision to grant a waiver to South Carolina from nondiscrimination provisions of the federal child welfare programs. A few days later Americans United filed a lawsuit against HHS. The House of

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