On Wednesday, June 12, 2024, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing, “Youth Residential Treatment Facilities: Examining Failures and Evaluating Solutions.” Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) opened the hearing by announcing the publication of a report, Warehouses of Neglect: How Taxpayers are Funding Systemic Abuse in Youth Residential Treatment Facilities. The Senate Finance Committee and Senate
On Wednesday, June 5, 2024, CWLA submitted comments for the record about the recent Senate Finance Committee hearing, “The Family First Prevention Services Act: Successes, Roadblocks, and Opportunities for Improvement.” From the comments: “While this legislation offers important advancements in child welfare policy, orienting Federal funding and attention toward the prevention of foster care, the
On May 22, 2024, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing, “The Family First Prevention Services Act: Successes, Roadblocks, and Opportunities for Improvement.” Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR), one of the original sponsors and champions of the legislation, opened the hearing with some of the history of the passage of the bipartisan Family First Prevention Services
On May 10th, 2024, the House Ways and Means Committee held a Field Hearing on “Empowering Native American and Rural Communities,” in Arizona, the first Ways and Means Committee hearing ever to be held on sovereign Tribal land. Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) opened the hearing and outlined the issues being discussed, particularly child support, child
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 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 Thursday, December 14, 2023, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law held it’s fourth hearing on foster care as part of the bipartisan inquiry into Georgia’s child welfare system. Subcommittee Chairman Jon Ossoff (D-GA) opened the hearing by reminding those in the room that “we are talking about the most vulnerable
On November 30, 2023, the House Ways and Means Committee held a markup to examine HR 2426 the “Find and Protect Foster Youth Act” and HR 3058 “Recruiting Families Using Data Act of 2023.” Both bills are bipartisan and bicameral, and both were passed out of committee and will proceed to the full House of
On November 15, 2023, CWLA submitted comments for the record regarding the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on “The Human Rights of Foster Children.” From the testimony: “The National Blueprint states that children have rights to survival, protection, and participation in decision-making regarding their care. Several of the rights championed by CWLA are relevant to the
Between November 13 and December 4, 2023, there were six Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRMs) deadlines that were directly related to child welfare. CWLA submitted comments in support of four of the six proposed rules: Discrimination on the Basis of Disability in Health and Human Service Programs or Activities Safe and Appropriate Placements Requires for