On Thursday, June 6, the Senate Focus Youth Caucus and Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative (JCYOI) of the Annie E. Casey Foundation sponsored the congressional briefing “Chafee Plus 20” to examine the role the Chafee program has had in supporting better outcomes for youth and facilitate discussion about what how policy can continue to recommend
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
As a partnering member of the U.S. Child Poverty Action Group, CWLA joins child advocates dedicated to ending child poverty, stands opposed to a recent proposal being explored by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget to enact a new poverty calculation that would underestimate the number of children living in poverty and result in
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 Tuesday, March 8, Congresswoman Kim Schrier (D-WA) and Congresswoman Lori Trahan (D-MA) began circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter to House offices seeking signers onto a letter to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education requesting significant increases in CAPTA funding. CWLA members and other advocates can call or send an e-mail to their member
On Thursday, February 28, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NAS) released the results of their nearly two year study on reducing child poverty in the United States, A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty. CWLA President & CEO Chris James-Brown was one of the 15 member committee that studied the issue and wrote
FY 2019 is now complete with 25 percent of the budget agreed to by a combination of a Republican-run Senate and a Republican-run and Democratic-run House of Representatives spread over two congresses (See details below). The fractured process closes a book on the agreed to spending targets set for FY 2018 and FY 2019 and
On Thursday, February 7, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, co-chair of the Baby Caucus and Chair of the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee sponsored and moderated a Capitol Hill briefing on the State of Child Care in America. DeLauro offered opening remarks focusing in on how support for expanded child care has grown since the early days of
Last week the House of Representatives passed a short term extension of the Temporary assistance for Needy Families (TANF), HR 430. The bill would extend the block grant through June 30, 2019. It is unclear if Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY) will let it pass. TANF block grant has run out despite the full funding
On Tuesday, January 8 at the Association of State and Tribal Home Visiting Initiatives (ASTHI) held one of the first briefings on Capitol Hill for the new Congress. The focus of the briefing was to explain to members of Congress—including many of the new members—what research demonstrates when it comes to home visiting program. The