Administration

Executive Order on the Care Economy

On April 18, 2023, the White House released a statement outlining a new executive order to expand and improve the care economy. The order includes directives to officials to increase the accessibility and affordability of child care, improve veteran care, support early educators and care staff, and much more. The Biden Administration, through the American

End Date for IV-B and IV-E COVID-19 Flexibilities: IM

On April 19th, 2023, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) issued an Information Memorandum (IM) informing title IV-B and IV-E agencies that the Stafford Act flexibilities offered by the Children’s Bureau in response to the COVID-19 pandemic disaster declarations will expire June 30, 2023. These flexibilities included meeting fingerprint-based background check requirements, caseworker visits

Secretary Becerra Testifies Before Appropriations Subcommittee

On Tuesday, March 28, Secretary Xavier Becerra of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education about the fiscal year 2024 budget. Chairman Aderholt (R-AL) opened the hearing with the goal of identifying the programs most critical to our population, creating

Ways and Means Committee Hears from Secretary Becerra

On Wednesday, March 28th, the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on President Biden’s FY24 Budget proposal with HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. Although Chairman Jason Smith [R-MO] and Ranking Member Richard Neal [D-MA] raised diverging criticisms, there was bipartisan agreement on preventing “surprise billing,” providing Alzheimer treatments, and holding corporations accountable for migrant

Services to Support Children Living in Kinship and Nonrelative Foster Care

On March 29th, 2023, the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) published a new brief highlighting information from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, Second Cohort (NSCAW II) on service needs and receipt for children in kinship care and non-relative foster care in 2008 and 2009. OPRE sought to answer the following

Agency Leaders Respond About Impact of Budget Cuts

In January, House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro sent letters to Federal agency heads asking for information about how the agencies would be impacted by the House Republicans’ proposal to cap spending at the FY 2022 funding levels. “The American people and Members of Congress deserve to know the real impact this policy would

Senate Appropriations Hearing with HHS Secretary Becerra

On March 22, 2023, the Senate Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee held a hearing with the Honorable Xavier Becerra, Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as the witness. Both Democrats and Republicans expressed their concerns over the President’s FY2024 budget requests for the Department of HHS.

Medicaid and CHIP Renewals Restarting

Based on current trends regarding COVID-19, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is planning for the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), as declared under Section 319 of the Public Health Service Act, to end on May 11, 2023. On March 17, 2023, Assistant Secretary for Children and Families January Contreras issued a Dear

New Program Instruction on Funding for Kinship Navigator Programs

The Children’s Bureau (CB) has released Program Instruction ACYF-CB-PI-23-07 (Fiscal Year 2023 Title IV-B, Subpart 2 Funding Available to Develop and Enhance or to Evaluate Kinship Navigator Programs) which provides guidance to state, territorial and tribal title IV-E agencies on the actions required to apply for title IV-B, subpart 2 funding to support the development,

President’s Budget Summary and Chart

CWLA released the Summary of the President's FY2024 Budget Proposal and the FY 2024 Federal Budget Chart. Each year, CWLA compiles this targeted summary and budget chart explaining the President's budget proposal, with a particular focus on spending and legislative requests that directly impact children and families. President Biden released his FY 2024 budget on

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