JohnS

About John Sciamanna

John Sciamanna is CWLA's Vice President of Public Policy.

CWLA Members Discuss Commission On Child Fatalities Findings

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

The Child Welfare Workforce

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

CWLA Members Discuss Substance Use With Hill, States and Programs

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

Senate, House Begin Appropriations Process

Without any official announcement both the House of Representatives and Senate have begun the appropriation process despite not passing a budget resolution.  A budget resolution would have streamlined some of the appropriations process and aligned what the Senate and House do as far as spending allocations between the twelve appropriations bills.  Because of last year’s

CWLA Holds National Advocacy Summit: Join Virtual Effort

Today starts the CWLA National Advocacy Summit.  If you can’t be there, then take a virtual trip to the CWLA National Advocacy Summit! Join along with Summit participants on Tuesday, April 19 as they go to Capitol Hill. Contact your elected representatives and officials on this day and share our message. We are using #VirtualHillDay16

HHS Releases New Study on Homeless Youth

Last week, HHS through the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB), issued a Data Collection Study gathered through that Bureau’s Street Outreach Program.  The results provide an over view of the grim circumstances for homeless and runaway youth. The study indicated: The average youth spent nearly two years living on the streets. More than 60

Senate Foster Youth Caucus Discusses Substance Abuse

On Tuesday, April 5 the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth held a briefing on Capitol Hill. The briefing is part of a series focused on why children are coming into foster care, this briefing highlighted, “The Impact of Substance Use and Mental Disorders on Child Welfare Involvement.” The panel presentations included comments by Dr Nancy

HHS Adds Supplemental Regulations of AFCARS-ICWA Regulations

On Thursday, April 7, 2016, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) published an add-on in proposed regulations to last year’s (February 9, 2015) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) The original notice, and still under evaluation, are regulations that would modify the requirements

CWLA Releases Annual National and State Fact Sheets Ahead of Summit

The Child Welfare League of America has released its annual national and state fact sheets. The state and national fact sheets are released every spring in conjunction with the national conference. The National Fact Sheet includes twelve categories that help measure how children and youth are doing based on the latest categories of data. The

New Annual Report on SSBG Released

The 2013 Annual Report for SSBG has been released. The annual report documents overall expenditures of the $1.7 billion in funding (approximately $1.6 billion in 2013 due to the sequestration cuts). In addition, each states breakout of how they spend SSBG and the number of adults and children served are listed. Overall the report summary

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