Families Need to File Tax Returns for Rest of 2021 Child Tax Credit (CTC

While Senator Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) opposition to a continuation of the expanded CTC has put at least a temporary stop on the 2021 version of that tax credit, all qualifying families still have six months of the CTC coming from 2021. The CTC has been federal law since the mid-1990s, but last year’s expansion added

Legal Representation Guidelines Released

Last week, the National Association for the Counsel for Children (NACC) published recommendations on how to approach legal protections and representation for children involved in the child protective services system.  The Recommendation for Legal Representation of Children and Youth in Neglect and Abuse Proceedings.  The new recommendations were designed with NACC’s National Advisory Council on Children’s

Reconciliation, Voting Rights, Appropriations

Both houses of Congress return this week as the House joins the Senate in an early return.  Facing members is a list of challenges some are a carryover while Covid-19 returns in another variant. On the Build Back Better Reconciliation, the House will have to wait on Senate action and that does not seem likely

Letter in Support of Build Back Better’s Childcare and Pre-K Investments

With the Build Back Better bill stalled in the Senate, many historic gains for children and families are now in jeopardy, including the proposed investments in child care and early education. The National Women’s Law Center, in partnership with the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and other national organizations, has distributed

The Child Tax Credit: Family Impact Stories

Has the Child Tax Credit impacted your personal life or the life of a loved one? Personal stories about the direct impact of policies can be an effective strategy in advocating for change with lawmakers, because they cut to the heart of the issue in a way that data often can’t, at least not on

ACA Enrollment Reaches High As Open Enrollment Continues

Last month CMS announced new records for people signing up for health care coverage through the federal and state exchanges under the Affordable Care Act with more than 13.6 million people signing up for ACA health insurance coverage for 2022. From the start of Open Enrollment on November 1, 2021, through December 15, 2021, more

CMS Rejects Georgia Medicaid-Work Requirements

On Thursday, December 23, 2021, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) formally rejected the state of Georgia’s Medicaid waiver to impose work requirements on people as a condition of Medicaid coverage.  CMS had given the state a waiver approval near in end of the Trump Administration in October 2020. In part the 79 page

HHS Releases Guidance and Awards on Mobile Response Units

In April of 2021, The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) reported findings on the effectiveness of mobile responses - “an alternative to using law enforcement to respond to mental health and social crisis.”  In December CLASP generated a letter (that CWLA joined onto) to CMS to support these efforts. On December 28, 2021 HHS issued guidance and announced

Build Back Better Pushed to 2022? CTC In Peril

At first talks between the President of the United States and a single senator last week did not result in an agreement on a reconciliation bill and, as a result, the legislation was delayed until January at the earliest.  That senator, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), first appeared to be taking aim at the Child Tax

CWLA Joins Effort: CMS Support for Police-Free Youth Mobile Response

The Child Welfare League of America has signed onto the letter/request by the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) and other organizations in urging the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to prioritize police-free youth mobile response services that are fully reimbursable under the new Medicaid mobile crisis incentive established in the American

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