On Tuesday, May 5, the Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin and the Secretary of Interior David L. Bernhardt announced how billions of dollars in Coronavirus Relief Fund money will be distributed to Native American tribal governments throughout the country. The CARES Act, which passed on March 25, included a set aside of $8 billion for tribal governments
On Wednesday, May 6, Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Representative Kim Schrier (D-WA), and colleagues introduced the Emergency Funding for Child Protection Act that would bolster efforts by child protective services and non-profits to prevent abuse. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) provides funding to states to improve child protective services and funds community-based
When CWLA sent its recommendations for the next COVID-19 relief legislation last month (CWLA’s letter and this descriptive letter of child welfare needs) to Congressional leaders, one of its first and prominent asks was for an increase to the federal matching rates for state Medicaid health care programs, usually called the FMAP. Now trends are emerging across states
On Monday, April 27, 2020, Associate Commissioner for the Children’s Bureau Jerry Milner, after receiving several inquiries related to the Title IV-E program on addressing the needs of children and youth during the COVID-19 pandemic, announced a series of actions states can take to help this population. Title IV-E agencies have the flexibility to allow
On Wednesday, April 29, 2020, CWLA hosted the “Kinship Navigator Response to Covid-19 Pandemic: Virtual Assistance Kinship Navigator” webinar. It is the first of a two-part series, highlighting the importance of virtual assistance for kinship caregivers and what kinship navigators are doing to help these caregivers virtually during Covid-19. The webinar was facilitated by CWLA’s
An analysis by the Center on American Progress suggests that the nation’s child care system could lose millions of child care slots permanently as a result of the pandemic and accompanying recession. In the analysis, Coronavirus Pandemic Could Lead to Permanent Loss of Nearly 4.5 Million Child Care Slots, the authors point to a survey
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) announced Tuesday, April 28, 2020, that the House would delay returning on Monday, May 4, after discussing the situation with the Capitol Hill physician. The Congressman pointed to the continuing increases in coronavirus cases in Washington, DC, going from 3,098 to 3,994 between April 20 and April 27. Washington
On Monday, April 27, 2020, the US Supreme Court upheld a provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that Congress had blocked. The issue involved the “Risk Corridors” provisions of the ACA and whether or not Congress could renege on a provision that sought to level health insurance financing in the first years of the
On Tuesday, April 21, a fourth COVID-19 relief package was agreed to and began to move through Congress for final approval on Thursday. Some are referring to it as coronavirus bill 3.1 or 3.5 because it refills some of the funding initiatives created in the first three bills. The bill does not add additional state
While some in Congress are calling for a slow-down in passing the next bill, there is also the possibility the new installment of $320 billion in the loan program could run out rapidly depending on who you believe in their projections. In addition, the bill passed last Thursday does little to address state and local
