The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) five-year reauthorization ran out in FY 2010 but it is currently extended until the end of FY 2016 on September 30. Since it expired Congress and the Administration have agreed to a series of short term extensions ranging from a few months to a year at a time.
President Obama will release his final budget on Tuesday for the Fiscal Year 2017. The budget year begins on October 1. The overall spending caps for domestic and defense spending have been set as part of last year’s budget deal but that does not mean that the Administration and their Congressional counterparts won’t try and
A new policy brief by Chapin Hall and the Chadwick Center, Using Evidence to Accelerate the Safe and Effective Reduction of Congregate Care for Youth Involved with Child Welfare was released in the past week. The research could be important in light of the Senate Finance Committee’s still-in-development Families First Act which could potentially open
On Tuesday, February 2 the American Enterprise Institute and Save the Children cosponsored an event, “Pay for Success: A New Approach to Finding Social Welfare Programs.” The Capitol Hill discussion provided a forum to discuss new strategies to address intractable social problems. Pay for Success or what others call Social Impact Bonds are relatively new
Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) are introducing new legislation likely this week, the Excellence in Mental Health Act. The bill that would fully fund 24 states that qualified for a planning grant to create parity between community mental health services and physical health services. The bill is a follow up to
On Thursday, February 3 Capitol Hill was the site of a press conference introducing a new child care bill, the Child Care Access to Resources for Early Learning Act (Child C.A.R.E. Act). If the legislation becomes law it would provide significant investment into child care subsidies improving the quality, the supply, and the workforce. In
The Department of Education (DOE) began the process of producing regulations as a result of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) now referred to as, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). DOE sought advice and recommendations from the public on which areas need regulation and implementation. The request resulted in written comments
When Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WS) became Speaker he left his powerful position on the House Ways and Means Committee and set in place a series of shifts and changes. In the end it means that the Human Resources Subcommittee, the key Subcommittee in the House when it comes to child welfare and welfare legislation, had
The latest data from HHS through the annual Child Maltreatment report indicates that the number of children substantiated as abused or neglected increased to 702,000 in 2014 compared to 682,307 in 2013. Consistent with the past several years the vast majority of children were victims of neglect (75 percent) compared to physical abuse (17 percent)
On Wednesday, January 27, the Senate Judiciary Committee focused on heroin and the prescription drug abuse issue during a hearing labeled, “Attacking America’s Epidemic of Heroin and Prescription Drug Abuse” As noted previously, the President in his State of the Union address singled out the drug use issue as one area both parties could work
