CWLA hosted a seminar featuring the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) sponsored SOAR for Children Program on Thursday, October 13th. The aim of the SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access and Recovery (SOAR) program is to streamline and speed up SSI/SSDI applications to assist those in need of the funds. The program certifies direct practitioners
On October 3rd, Senators Hassan (D-NH), and Young (R-IN) introduced the bipartisan Senate companion bill to the Foster Youth and Driving Act, originally introduced in the House by Representative Danny K. Davis (D-IL) and Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE). The Senate companion bill makes no changes to the House bill. As previously covered, H.R. 7932 Foster
For the past few weeks, advocates for home visiting programs have been working with the House Ways and Means Committee staff to make progress on reauthorizing the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program, which expires on September 30th, 2022. On Wednesday, September 14th, the Ways and Means Committee indicated that they had
On June 22, 2022, Representative Judy Chu (D-CA) introduced the Access to Foster Care to 21 Act, which would extend nationally the age of which a youth is eligible to remain in foster care to 21. This bill would provide financial assistance to states by de-linking youth ages 18-21 from the antiquated Aid to Families
Every year, thousands of kids are incarcerated for “status offenses” including truancy, breaking curfew or running away from home—acts that would not be considered crimes if they were committed by an adult. The Prohibiting Detention of Youth Status Offenders Act of 2022, introduced by Senator Casey (D-PA) and Representative Cardenas (D-CA), would phase out and
The CLWA recommends Congress extend foster care to age 21 so that every young person in foster care will have an option to stay in care, resulting in improved education, housing, and employment outcomes. In 2008, Congress passed the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (PL 110-351). That law gave states the option
On Tuesday, February 15th, 2022, the full Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on “Protecting Youth Mental Health: Part II- Identifying and Addressing Barriers to Care,” which continued the conversation and efforts of Congress to address the growing mental health crisis. CWLA previously reported on part one of this series. The witnesses called to testify
On Wednesday, February 2nd, the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on "America's Mental Health Crisis." The full 42-member Committee heard testimony from: Dr. Wizdom Powell (Director of the Health Disparities Institute and Associate Professor of Psychiatry) focused on four main points, youth as a target population in the mental health crisis, the
Two Senate Committees and one House Committee are focusing on the challenges of access to mental health and substance use services in the next few weeks. The Senate HELP Committee, the Senate Finance Committee and the full House Ways and Means Committee are all focused on the subject and what can be done. The HELP
In April of 2021, The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) reported findings on the effectiveness of mobile responses - “an alternative to using law enforcement to respond to mental health and social crisis.” In December CLASP generated a letter (that CWLA joined onto) to CMS to support these efforts. On December 28, 2021 HHS issued guidance and announced
