On June 12, 2025, the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Work and Welfare held a hearing, “Aging Out is Not a Plan: Reimagining Futures for Foster Youth,” which explored recommendations to reform and improve the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood (the Chafee program). The purpose of Chafee is
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 October 12, 2023, CWLA submitted comments for the record on the Ways and Means Subcommittee hearing on, “Modernizing Child Welfare to Protect Vulnerable Children.” Our comments explained the history and background of the programs in Title IV-B of the Social Security Act and highlighted a number of key areas of focus for a potential
On Thursday, September 28, 2023, the House Ways and Means Subcommittee held a hearing about Title IV-B of the Social Security Act entitled, “Modernizing Child Welfare to Protect Vulnerable Children.” Title IV-B is a small but important source of funding for child welfare agencies and community-based organizations, and it is due to be reauthorized this
In celebration of National Reunification Month, the American Bar Association hosted a free informational webinar titled “What Child Welfare Agencies Can Do to Support Reunification Parent Partnerships and Reunification Practices” on June 7, 2023. The Oregon and Georgia Departments of Human Services shared steps their organizations have taken to best support children and families in
Of the more than 5,000 children who, court documents say, were separated from their parents under the previous administration's zero-tolerance policy for unauthorized border crossers and those who presented themselves legally at ports of entry, about 180 children have yet to be reunited with their parents, according to VOA News, though the ACLU believes the
National Reunification Month was created in 2010 by the American Bar Assocation (ABA) to celebrate the people and efforts around the country that help families stay together. According to AFCARS data, reunification is the most common permanency option achieved by children in the child welfare system. Visit the ABA's National Reunification Month website for webinars,
