On March 1, 2023, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) with an in-person gathering and a livestream, available here. Assistant Secretary January Contreras opened the event by welcoming federal partners, state, territorial and tribal leaders, other partners, and those with lived
On Thursday, February 9, 2023 the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) celebrated its fifth anniversary of being signed into law as part of Public Law 115-123. Since 2018, it has enhanced states’ efforts to support families by reducing the use of congregate care, building the capacity of communities to support children, and helping children
On February 14, 2023, the Senate held a full committee hearing in an attempt to discover how to protect our children online. Several witnesses who spoke about either lived experience, scientific research, or implementation practices, stressed the importance of addressing the danger of social media and its role in the mental health crisis. Led by
On January 11th, 2023 the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness held an introductory seminar to discuss President Biden’s All In federal plan to prevent and end homelessness. All In is a roadmap for federal action to ensure that state and local agencies have resources and the ability to help end homelessness once and for all.
This past Congress has certainly had its challenges. Throughout the last Congress, CWLA has joined with national stakeholders and coalitions to increase funding levels across 44 separate funding programs – many of which received an increase in the spending omnibus, and some remained at level funding. While a notable disappointment was the failure to reauthorize
On December 14th, 2022, with only a handful of days left in the 117th Congress, Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC) introduced the Parental Right to Protect Act, which would introduce gender-affirming care issues into the Child Abuse Protection and Treatment Act (CAPTA). The bill seeks to make states ineligible for CAPTA funding if they allow Child
On Thursday, December 14th, the Children’s Bureau announced new program ratings in the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse. Five new programs were found to meet the standards for inclusion among the evidence-based programs that can be utilized under the Family First Prevention Services Act. One new program was categorized as “Well-Supported,” the highest rating in
A new report from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) presents estimates of the number and percentage of children whose parents engage in problematic substance use. Estimates are also provided for each state. The results can support policy, programmatic, and budgetary decision making as leaders seek to provide solutions to
Congress has than four weeks left to pass legislation in the 117th Congress and there are several important items that need to be addressed in that time. Although there are still races that haven’t been called, news outlets have predicted that Democrats will retain control of the Senate and Republicans will gain a narrow majority
The Alliance for Early Success has released an inventory of state policies that impact family economic security. It is designed to spark ideas for state policymakers and will be updated periodically as additional policies are enacted. “According to some measures, child poverty fell nearly 60 percent between 1996 and 2019. Then came a pandemic that