JohnS

About John Sciamanna

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

CWLA To Shine Bright Light On Child Welfare Workforce

On Tuesday, April 19, as part of the CWLA National Advocacy Summit, Washington DC: Investing in What It Takes: A Full Continuum of Care  CWLA will provide a special focus on the significance of the child welfare workforce and its role in assisting vulnerable families. CWLA will sponsor a Capitol Hill briefing on Tuesday, April

House CAPTA Bill Urges Greater HHS Monitoring Absent New Enforcement

When House Education and the Workforce members introduced, the Improving Safe Care for the Prevention of Infant Abuse and Neglect Act  last month, after a recent action by the Senate HELP Committee, they took a more targeted approach.  Targeted toward HHS.  Both bills focus on the “safe care” plans for children born and identified as

Discussion Focuses On Growth In Use of Evidence-Based Human Services

Wednesday, March 30 Results for America and that William T Grant Foundation sponsored a Capitol Hill discussion on how to strengthen and promote the use of evidence-based practice in human services. The briefing titled Building State and Local Capacity for Evidenced-Based Policy Making: How Can the Federal Government Help, featured a panel of five individuals

Congress Breaks, Budget-Appropriations Path Unclear

The House of Representatives joined the Senate in a Spring break this past Wednesday with a great deal of uncertainty on how Congress will move forward on appropriations.  There still is no agreement between Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WS) and the Freedom Caucus on a plan to move a budget resolution and that means delay for

House Members Introduce Safe Care-CAPTA Bill

 Last week a bipartisan group of House Members joined in on the effort to address the substance abuse-child welfare issue when they introduced a bill to amend CAPTA. The bill address the safe care plans that are required under CAPTA but it focuses its attention on HHS and information and data collection. The bill, the

CWLA Continues Annual EITC Outreach 

CWLA continues to join the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities to conduct an annual tax credit outreach initiative to provide updated information and outreach tools to organizations that can help spread the message about refundable tax credits and free tax filing assistance to low income families.  The Center is in its 25th year of promoting the tax

Groups Highlight Immigration and Unaccompanied Minors

By Dusty Murphy On Wednesday, March 23 a number of groups including the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), First Focus, National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) held a briefing on the impact of ongoing raids by U.S. immigration, the Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE), as well as the

Commission Releases Final Report On Child Fatalities

On March 17, the Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities (CECANF) released its final report, “Within Our Reach: A National Strategy to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities.”   Of key emphasis the commission report highlights: Infants and toddlers are at high risk of an abuse or neglect fatality compared to other age groups.

House Committee Adopts ICPC Bill In Bipartisan Move While………

Before consideration of more partisan issues, the House Ways and Means Committee passed in bipartisan fashion a bill that will make improvements in the interstate placement of children, HR 4472. CWLA has endorsed legislation, The Modernizing the Interstate Placement of Children in Foster Care Act, HR 4472 and its Senate version S 2574.   The House

…Same Committee Votes To Eliminate SSBG In Partisan Move

After the ICPC vote, the House Ways and Means Committee approved a bill HR 4724 that would eliminate the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG). The vote and the bill was part of a strategy to get a budget resolution adopted (see below). Members of the Republican conservative caucus (Freedom Caucus) have told Speaker Paul Ryan

Value prop about becoming a member