On Tuesday, June 11 the Senate Caucus on Foster Care and the Camelot Community Care held a youth-led discussion on “What’s next for me? Facing my future as I age out of care.” The panel was comprised of seven young adults between 19-22 years of age, who were in the foster care system for anywhere
On Wednesday, June 5, Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) and Congresswoman Jennifer Gonzalez-Colon (R-PR) introduced the Every Child Deserves a Family Act (ECDF). The legislation prohibits discrimination against children, youth, families, and individuals on the basis of religion, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), and marital status in the administration and provision of child welfare
A June 6, 2019 letter from Children’s Bureau Commissioner Jerry Milner to child welfare leaders indicates some broader flexibility in funding Family First Prevention Services in the initial implementation. The key part of the letter is the last paragraph where Commissioner Milner states: “Therefore, the CB plans to issue guidance allowing a state to
On Tuesday, June 4, the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth sponsored briefing on Right to Counsel in Child Abuse and Neglect Dependency. The focus of this meeting was to educate individuals about the importance of high-quality legal representation for children and parents. The five panelists included Frank Utomo and Levi Zwick-Tapley, former foster care
On Wednesday May 22, the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth and Congressional Baby Caucus sponsored a Capitol Hill briefing on “Supporting Foster Families in the Time of Opioids” The focus of the briefing was infant-toddler court team models that have shown great success in helping families remain together with their infants and toddlers. The four
While there is much debate in the child welfare world regarding the fate of expiring waivers for approximately half the states, a more significant source of state flexibility continues to be under assault in the Administrations’ budget: the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG). While representatives of the administration tout their current budget proposal that would
The Family First Transition and Support Act (HR 2702/S 1376) bipartisan cosponsored by Congressman Don Bacon (R-NE), Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence (D-MI), Jim Langevin (D-RI), and Congresswoman Deb Haaland (D-NM) in the House and sponsored by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) in the Senate.
On Thursday, May 23, AEI hosted, “After the fanfare: Family First one year later,” to discuss the challenges and opportunities of implementing the historic legislation – the Family First Prevention Services Act by October 1, 2019. Panel of experts included Naomi Schaefer Riley from AEI, Sean Hughes from Social Change Partners, Mark Mecum from Ohio
On May 1, 2019, Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) introduced legislation that addresses many of the issues that we have heard about from states as they work towards implementing Family First. While this bill might not address all of the concerns being raised, it is a critical and important step to address
The latest details on the Administration’s budget includes a continuation of last year’s optional waiver that would convert Title IV-E foster care into a block grant on a state by state basis. The goal is that converting foster care funds into a fixed five-year block grant would allow states to spend money on primary prevention