With the unveiling of the Republican coronavirus # 3, CWLA submitted a letter to Congress outlining some key child welfare concerns. It is challenging to make such recommendations because it isn’t clear how current practice and needs will change, and it isn’t clear how much Congress will spend in this third round of emergency funding.
Making recommendations on what actions Congress should take is a challenge because we don’t know how the system will be challenged. Much of child welfare is dependent on relatives for care, whether in formal foster care, kinship care, informal kinship care, and beyond child welfare, child care. Many, but not all, will be older grandparents,
On Wednesday, March 18, 2020 the Children’s Bureau issued new guidance on certain key practices. Dear Child Welfare Leaders: “In light of the extraordinary circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide public health emergency, we are writing to advise you of some adjustments that we hope will allow you to continue to serve the
The Child and Family Service Agencies (CFSA) in Washington, D.C. has made changes to services in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. While the government agency is still providing services, the front-line staff and supervisors of Program Operations are under partial telework status. While the building is closed to the public, supervisors are still required to
The U.S. Supreme Court, on Monday, March 16, 2020, put off oral arguments scheduled for at least two weeks. Arguments were scheduled for March 23, March 25, and March 30 to April 1. Included in the cases were arguments on the President’s financial and tax records, deportation relief for unauthorized immigrants, the extent to which
Dear CWLA Colleagues, CWLA was founded 100 years ago by a group of child- and family-serving organizations who were committed to improving the health and well-being of children and families across the country. As we approach our 100th anniversary conference, we are confronted with a global crisis that challenges this important commitment. It is with
On Thursday, March 12, 2020, Associate Commissioner for the Children’s Bureau, Jerry Milner, called on child welfare agencies to look out for youth in foster care or formerly in foster care who are now on college campuses that may be closing. In many instances, these students may not have a home to return to if
After several days of back and forth, the House of Representatives passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, HR 6201, on Friday night. The House vote was 363 to 40. The Senate left on Thursday but is expected to take the legislation up this week after canceling their one week break. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
The Constitution requires an accurate count of the nation’s population-–a census–every ten years. Unfortunately, the 2010 census missed more than 10 percent of young children, about 2.2 million children, age four or younger. Unless we act, we might miss even more young children in 2020. When we miss young children in the census it has
On Wednesday, March 11, 2020, the House Ways and Means Worker and Family Support Subcommittee held a hearing on “Combating Child Poverty in America.” The hearing focused on how we can work to end child poverty and ways in which Congress can work “together with researchers, local leaders, and the communities themselves to meet that
