On Wednesday, February 24, 2021, Foster Club and the Juvenile Law Center cohosted a webinar to support state advocates successfully implementing funds from the Consolidated Appropriations Act. This webinar focused on how New Jersey implemented funds from the CARES Act to young people. New Jersey received $2.4 billion block grant to address emergent needs and New
On Wednesday, February 24, 2021, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the National Review Institute hosted Lynn Johnson in her first public conversation since leaving Washington. Lynn Johnson served as the Assistant Secretary at HHS’s Administration for Children and Families and discussed a wide array of topics, including extensive paperwork inhibiting agency effectiveness, lack of
Last week the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) released, Freeing Children for Adoption within the Adoption and Safe Families Act Timeline explores how frequently states make exceptions to the federal requirement that child welfare agencies file to terminate parental rights for children who remain in foster care for at least 15
On Wednesday, February 17, 2021, Foster Club and the Juvenile Law Center co-hosted another Older Youth Pandemic Relief. This session discussed the extension of foster care services provisions from the Supporting Foster Youth and Families Through the Pandemic Act included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act legislation passed in December 2020. Presenters included Jennifer Pokempner from
Last week, nine House Committees acted on their parts of a reconciliation bill that will make up President Biden’s COVID-19 relief measure. Within the package are key CWLA priorities, including more than $39 billion in child care funding, year one of a Children’s Allowance, $350 billion in state and local government relief, $350 million more in
Young people with experience in foster care have suffered significantly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Supporting Foster Youth and Families Through the Pandemic Act was passed on December 27, 2020 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 following months of advocacy by young people. This law promises to provide relief
On Wednesday, February 10, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) released four more Title IV-E Prevention Services programs and services ratings for the Title IV-E Prevention Services in accordance with the Family First Prevention Services Act. The Family Check-UP® is a brief, strengths-based intervention model for children ages 2 through 17. Family Check-Up
Generations United conducted a webinar on February 9, 2021, in collaboration with the Children’s Defense Fund and the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law. This webinar discussed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 and its implications for "grandfamilies." Divisions of the Appropriations Act outline provisions to help relative caregivers and allow the
This past week the Senate and House began to lay the groundwork for a budget reconciliation that could lead to the enactment of a Biden-COVID-19 relief package. The House began the process when it passed a budget resolution that provides the legislative authority to use reconciliation on Wednesday, and the Senate took up that resolution
President Biden’s American Rescue Plan includes expanding of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) with recommendations that the credit be made fully refundable and that the maximum benefit be increased from the current level of $2,000 per child for children zero to 16 years old to $3,600 per child under six years old and $3,000 per child ages
