The Joint Economic Committee held a hearing on Wednesday April 10, 2024 entitled, Building Blocks for Success: Investing in Early Childhood Education. The goal of this hearing was to address the need for funding in the world of early childhood education and those families who need child care. Four witnesses came to testify before the
On March 20, 2024, the Administration for Children and Families released the AFCARs data for 2022. Again this year, the report shows a significant decrease in foster care placements from the 2021 figure of 391,641 to 368,530 children in care in 2022, a 5.9 percent decrease from 2021 and a more than 15.6 percent decrease
On Saturday, March 23, 2024, President Biden signed the final six appropriations bills into law, bringing the drawn-out FY 2024 appropriations process to a close at last. Although government funding ran out at midnight on Friday March 22, because it was a weekend and the bill was signed quickly, the impact of the brief government
The Institution for Research on Poverty hosted a webinar on Wednesday, March 20, 2024 entitled “Interrupting Intergenerational Poverty: New Research And Recommendations For Policy and Practice”. The panelists included Greg Ducan from University of California, Irvine, Mary E. Pattillo from Northwestern University, Michael R. Strain from American Enterprise Institute, and Rita Hamad from Harvard School
The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act, the tax bill that includes a small but significant expansion to the child tax credit, continues to be stalled in the Senate after passing the House in a 357-72 vote, a major win in a Congress that has not been marked by bipartisan agreement and has
In the webinar entitled, Giving Children a Voice, there was a discussion regarding the benefits of client directed council among the panelists. Two of the panelists were Allison Green and Natalece Washington from the National Association of Counsel for Children. The other three were, J. Kendall Seal, Tom Jose, and Tim Keller representing the Center
On March 14, 2024, Think of Us in partnership with the Children’s Bureau hosted the National Convening on Kinship Care to discuss the new rule on Separate Licensing Standards for Relative or Kinship Foster Family Homes, which was finalized last fall. The convening kicked off with remarks from leadership of the Administration for Children and
On March 5, 2024, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO), joined by Work and Welfare Subcommittee Chairman Darin LaHood (R-IL), called for the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) to launch an investigation into how the influx of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) crossing the southwest border may be
On February 28, 2024, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Child Care (OCC) announced the final rule that will lower costs for families that receive child care subsidies, improve payment practices to child care providers, and increase families’ child care options. The new rule makes updates to the Child Care and Development
The House and Senate will return from their Presidents’ Day recess this week without an agreement on the four funding bills that expire on March 1st, 2024, the end of this week. As previously reported, the House and Senate leadership were able to agree on topline numbers for the total FY 2024 budget that closely
