As the IRS rolls out the implementation of the economic impact payments, they are still outlining some of the details on who is eligible and how they receive the checks, but coverage will include foster parents who filed either a tax return for 2018 or 2019 (this year’s income tax filing) and had a claim
On Tuesday, March 31, Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) urged the Trump Administration to provide guidance to child welfare agencies during the coronavirus pandemic. The letter was addressed to Vice President Mike Pence and the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) Commission Elizabeth Darling urging for immediate relief for youth, support
On Tuesday, March 31, FosterClub announced the #UPChafee Challenge to bring awareness to the importance of an increase in support for foster youth during the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure the message is heard, FosterClub asked young people with lived experience in foster care to contact their Members of Congress and share why it is so
HR 748, the third COVID-19 emergency spending legislation, includes some human services and state relief, but the targeted human services funding did not go as far as many groups had been seeking. The biggest source of support is a $150 billion Coronavirus Relief Fund that governors had been pushing for, but it is not as
On Thursday, March 19, 2020, the Children's Bureau and Think of Us hosted a Virtual Town Hall for Older Foster Youth. The hosts in order in which they spoke were: Sixto Cancel, co-founder and CEO of Think of Us, Dr. Jerry Milner, Associate Commissioner at the Children's Bureau in the Administration of Children and Families
On Thursday, March 26, 2020, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) released six 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. These practices include mental health services, substance abuse prevention and treatment services, in-home parent skill-based programs, and
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation contracted with Mathematica to provide the Planning Title IV-E Prevention Services: A Toolkit for States that can help states and their partners plan for the new IV-E Prevention Services Program. The toolkit provides information and resources for states
With the unveiling of the Republican coronavirus # 3, CWLA submitted a letter to Congress outlining some key child welfare concerns. It is challenging to make such recommendations because it isn’t clear how current practice and needs will change, and it isn’t clear how much Congress will spend in this third round of emergency funding.
Making recommendations on what actions Congress should take is a challenge because we don’t know how the system will be challenged. Much of child welfare is dependent on relatives for care, whether in formal foster care, kinship care, informal kinship care, and beyond child welfare, child care. Many, but not all, will be older grandparents,
On Wednesday, March 18, 2020 the Children’s Bureau issued new guidance on certain key practices. Dear Child Welfare Leaders: “In light of the extraordinary circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide public health emergency, we are writing to advise you of some adjustments that we hope will allow you to continue to serve the
