On September 21,2021 the Senate Finance Committee asked the public for their comments on ways to address substance use and mental health services. In the letter Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-ID) asked members of the behavior health community and other interested parties about how the committee can best address
In drafting comments on how we can improve behavior health services for children, youth, and their families (especially child welfare) there are some important sources of recommendations Earlier this year, Child Trends issued: A National Agenda for Children’s Mental Health. The paper says that “Efforts to promote children’s mental health are often spread across
On Wednesday, September 29, 2021, the House of Representative Bipartisan Addiction and Mental Health Task Force Announced a 2021 Legislative Agenda. According to the group led by Congresswoman Annie Kuster (D-NH), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), David Trone (D-MD), and Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA). Congresswoman Kuster announced the agenda that includes more than 60 separate bills, outlines
When the CR was passed last Thursday, it did not extend pandemic relief funding for youth exiting foster care including additional $400 million in Chafee-pandemic relief funding (annual mandatory Chaffee funds are set at $143 million). The addition $400 million expired at the end of fiscal year 2021. It is not clear how much of
A House companion bill to address the IMD/QRTP issue was introduced in the House on Wednesday, September 29, 2021. The bill H.R. 5414, is the same as the Senate version (S. 2689) with Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL-12) and Congresswoman Kathy Castor (D-FL-14), as primary sponsors. Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) and Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
November is national adoption month. This year’s theme is “Every Conversation Matters”, which means engaging youth in permanency plans through open conversations about adoption. As Adoption Month approaches, the Children’s Bureau kickstarted the conversation by hosting the webinar Every Conversation Matters featuring two young women with lived experience and an adoption supervisor. The first young
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) released a new report, Foster Care Entry Rates Grew Faster for Infants than for Children of Other Ages, 2011-2018, that found that infants accounted for more than 70 percent of the total increase in foster care entries in recent years at the national, state, and
Last week the House Ways and Means Committee released and then worked on perhaps the biggest parts of reconciliation and the Biden Administration’s “Build Back Better” agenda when they published the tax provisions. The tax pieces can be divided into two broad parts, tax deductions and incentives and tax increases to pay for the tax
ASPE released a new brief, How Some States Use Title IV-E Foster Care Funding for Family-based Facilities that Treat Substance Use Disorders, highlighting four states, California, Minnesota, Montana, and Utah. The Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) allows states to claim reimbursement from the federal title IV-E foster care program for foster care maintenance payments
Last week the House Ways and Means Committee and other committees began to work on their parts of the reconciliation package. The Ways and Means Committee began work on their version of family and medical leave, trade, retirement, and Medicare expansion, but they have left other actions for this week. The House Education and Labor started their work