This past Congress has certainly had its challenges. Throughout the last Congress, CWLA has joined with national stakeholders and coalitions to increase funding levels across 44 separate funding programs – many of which received an increase in the spending omnibus, and some remained at level funding. While a notable disappointment was the failure to reauthorize
Congress has than four weeks left to pass legislation in the 117th Congress and there are several important items that need to be addressed in that time. Although there are still races that haven’t been called, news outlets have predicted that Democrats will retain control of the Senate and Republicans will gain a narrow majority
On October 19, 2022, the Society for Research in Child Development published new research finding that due to its flexibility, Title IV-B funds can effectively be used to support families’ access to a variety of programs and financial supports that help to prevent child maltreatment and subsequent child welfare involvement. According to the research brief:
On Wednesday, September 21st, 2022 the Ways and Means Committee marked up the Jackie Walorski Maternal and Child Home Visiting Act of 2022, which CWLA has endorsed. With family members of the late Congresswoman Walorski in attendance, members of the committee shared their memories of her and condolences for her loss. She was remembered fondly
For the past few weeks, advocates for home visiting programs have been working with the House Ways and Means Committee staff to make progress on reauthorizing the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program, which expires on September 30th, 2022. On Wednesday, September 14th, the Ways and Means Committee indicated that they had
Major child welfare legislation that is up for reauthorization this year is still pending, with negotiations continuing among the committee staff and leadership. The House has passed the Stronger Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), but the Senate HELP committee continues to negotiate its version of the CAPTA Reauthorization bill. Both the House and
On July 13, 2022, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) Representative Karen Bass (D-CA), and Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the bicameral Children’s Safe Welcome Act. This bill establishes new standards to ensure that the safety and well-being of migrant children in government custody are prioritized, embedding best practices into every stage of
On Tuesday, June 28th, 2022, the Children’s Bureau’s Learning & Coordination Center hosted, “Laying the Groundwork: Paid Family Leave as a Prevention and Promotion Strategy.” During this Digital Dialogue session, Laura Weeldreyer, Executive Director of the Maryland Family Network, discussed how policies that provide universal concrete and economic supports to families have a powerful impact
CWLA joins the country in mourning the tragedies of the past two weeks, first in Buffalo, NY, and now in Uvalde, TX. Once again, senseless gun violence strains our comprehension and calls into question what kind of country and society we want to become. The violence that took the lives of 19 children and two
On April 11, 2022, KHOU in Texas published an article detailing new ramifications of Governor Greg Abbotts’ directive that the Department of Family and Protective Services investigate parents of transgender children: employee resignations. “More than half a dozen child abuse investigators told The Texas Tribune that they either have resigned or are actively job-hunting as