Last Thursday, the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources posted a transcript of the July 24, hearing update on implementation of the Family First Act along with a joint letter highlighting a few key questions and answers on implementation. The letter, is signed by the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee Congressman
Last week, HHS released data on the Adoption-Kinship Incentives awards for FY 2018 (based on FY 2017 data) and the total awarded was $64 million. The $64 million is the largest awards ever provided by the fund since it was created as part of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA). The second biggest
A new report by the HHS Inspector General (IG), released last week, Treatment Planning and Medication Monitoring Were Lacking for Children in Foster Care Receiving Psychotropic Medication was critical of health care services and treatment of children in foster care as it relates to the use of psychotropic medication. The report by the in-house investigator
Shaquita Ogletree The NIH hosted a special screening on Tuesday, September 18, in Washington on Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) based on an HBO Documentary, Risky Drinking. The documentary is a product of Oscar and Emmy winner Ellen Goosenberg Kent and journalist/producer Perri Peltz and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) of the
Negotiations continued last week on the farm bill with the houses divided. Its possible Congress could delay a final deal until a post-election “lame-duck” session. (Lame duck because several legislators will be at the end of their terms due to retirement or defeat and will be consider lame in power due to their inability to
Last week, First Focus released their Children's Budget for 2018. The annual report analyzes and documents historical funding data and spending trends across a wide range of children’s policy areas including child welfare, early childhood, education, health, housing, income support, nutrition, safety and training tracking federal investments in nearly 200 different programs. Some of the
The Senate voted on their opioids legislation on Tuesday, September 18 and passed it by a vote of 99 to 1 (Senator Mike Lee (R-UT)-no). Immediately they began negotiations on the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018, with their House counterparts. The hope is that they can get a quick deal and pass it before
Cutting their week short due to the hurricane, the Senate gave final approval to a Military Construction and Veterans -Energy and Water--Legislative Branch FY 19 spending package sending it back to the House for a final approval. The bill goes to the White House for signature and marks the first FY 2019 bills enacted before
Shaquita Ogletree On Wednesday, September 12, the U.S. Census Bureau released new data on income and poverty in the United States for the year 2017. According to the data released, the U.S. poverty rate declined to 12.3 percent in 2017 for the third consecutive year accounting for 39.7 million people living in poverty. The poverty
Congressman Danny Davis (D-IL) is promoting one-time funding that can assist social workers seeking education loan forgiveness. The temporary funding acts as a patch for some who qualify for loan forgiveness under a ten-year plan that covers some workers (including social workers working within child welfare) if they have paid on their loans over the