Last fall when HHS released the new ACFARS Report Number 23, they pointed out that nearly three quarters of states reported an increase in the numbers of children entering foster care from 2014 to 2015. They went on to highlight that the five states with the largest increases were Florida, Indiana, Georgia, Arizona, and Minnesota;
Efforts to better coordinate access to education for children and youth in foster care may have suffered a setback last week Thursday. The Senate approved a roll-back of Obama Administration regulations to implement the new education law. The regulations covered numerous parts of the newly reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education ACT (ESEA). In part the
A coalition group including CWLA has sent Capitol Hill an updated letter of support of SSBG on Thursday. The letter includes more than 75 national organizations and organizations and agencies from all fifty states. CWLA has created a new resource on the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG). The new resource are state-by-state fact sheets found
On Wednesday, March 8, Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) introduced a bipartisan bill to create a National Criminal Justice Commission. The commission would make recommendations on a range of criminal justice issues. In a time of partisan rancor, the bill is cosponsored by 12 Democrats and 8 Republicans. The bill, S 573 is modeled after a
The President’s desire to provide a ten percent increase in the Defense Department budget could devastate a number of human services and domestic programs. Unless Congress agrees to fund the increase through deficits, the $54 billion will create enormous pressure on the annual appropriations (discretionary spending) which totals only $1.1 trillion out of a federal
Under criticism that they are drafting an ACA repeal in secret, House Republicans are crafting legislation that they could begin to move out of the two key House committees later this week. The White House may also release its official plan which is expected to mirror what Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WS) is pushing. The plan that
CWLA has created a new resource on the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG). The new resource are state-by-state fact sheets found on the advocacy site as a separate tab. Each state there is a sheet that provides a simple description of how much a state receives in SSBG-human services funding and gives a broad view
On Tuesday, February 28, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on juvenile justice issues. The hearing began with remarks by the Chairman, Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), who in his opening statement, discussed the fact that last year he, along with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) crafted a bill that garnered bipartisan support to reauthorize the
When the President addresses Congress and the nation on Tuesday, it will likely bring in a broader discussion of the federal budget which has had limited debate thus far into the new Administration. It is expected that the Administration will outline a budget proposal for FY 2018 when they release a slimmed down version of
Last week the Center on Budget Policy and Priority released an analysis of federal block grants and their negative consequences. The analysis, Block-Granting Low-Income Programs Leads to Large Funding Declines Over Time, History Shows, examined 13 different block grants including TANF, Child Care, SSBG, Housing as well as some other human service funding sources and
