On Wednesday, February 28 the Senate HELP Committee took up and passed The Supporting Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Act”. The bill, S 1091, has a dozen co-sponsors and is led by Senator Susan Collins (R-ME). It establishes a Federal Task Force to Support Grandparents Raising Grandchildren. The task force would be directed to identify, promote, coordinate,
The adoption incentive was created by the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) in 1997 and was expanded to some kinship placements because of the 2014 reauthorization. States are awarded if they increase adoptions from foster care over the previous year. That incentive also includes now increased placements into Title IV-E kinship placements. The last
The Family First Act made it into the CR/budget agreement after the House inserted it in their slimmed down CR proposal. The Senate picked up the package. It is close to the version that had been considered in late 2016 with some additional behind the scenes modifications added into the final version. It includes the
Recently one of our members passed along this 2017 article based on the experiences of child protection workers in one overburdened county in Ohio—one of those areas overwhelmed by the spread of opioids. ‘It’s just horrific’: caseworkers break their silence to reveal toll of addiction on children Read the article by The Guardian, and understand
The Senate and House have now approved similar tax bills. There are several provisions within this legislation that could have a major impact on children and families. CWLA is most concerned about the following: The Senate version of this legislation would undercut health insurance coverage. According to the Congressional Budget Office, 4 million people next
On Saturday, December 3, the Senate gave final approval to their tax package by a vote of 51 to 49. It now will be negotiated with the House. The tax legislation being considered by Congress would not only have major implications for a range of issues and families reliant on the current tax structure but
Last week the Chronicle of Social Change released a new report and survey, The Foster Care Housing Crisis that focused new and much needed attention on the dramatic increase in foster care placements and the challenge some states are having finding enough placements for children and youth in foster care. The report focused on capacity
On Tuesday Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced a new bill, S. 1964, the Child Welfare Oversight and Accountability Act of 2017. Its basic features are a de-link of Title IV-E kinship/subsidized guardianship from the AFDC eligibility, create a different and more flexible kinship care licensing standard for kinship
The President on, Thursday October 12, took two actions designed to weaken the individual insurance market. Although the first action of the day, an Executive Order to deregulate markets, drew the most initial attention, it is the second action on Cost Sharing Reductions (CRS) that could have the most immediate impact. The Executive Order is
The Senate is expected to vote on the Graham-Cassidy-Johnson-Heller Medicaid block grant/per capita cap this week, with shifting odds of passage. Over the weekend, more questions than answers were being raised about its prospects, especially after Senator John McCain (R-AZ) said on Friday that he could not vote for the bill yet due to the
