By Dana Mandolesi on March 29, 2010
[from the Child Welfare League of America, Child Monitor Online 3.29.10]
Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA), leaders of the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth, circulated a press release and letter last week urging the inclusion of foster youth views in the upcoming education reauthorization legislation. Ten other senators joined Grassley and Landrieu on the letter. As the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee holds hearings on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (formerly designated the No Child Left Behind Act), the letter requests that youth in foster care be invited to testify about their educational experiences and their suggestions for reform. In a letter to the HELP Committee, senators pointed out, “Youth in foster care report multiple school changes as they move from placement to placement. Because they change schools so frequently, youth in foster care are more likely than their peers to underachieve academically, repeat grades, and eventually drop out of school. Youth who do not graduate are more likely to be unemployed, have no health insurance, be single parents, and rely on public assistance.”
Landrieu specifically cites the invaluable influence of foster youth in passing the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, saying, “We must empower youth to educate Congress about their unique experiences in foster care and the obstacles they face. They help us make better policy decisions.”
The Fostering Connections Act includes several mandates for child welfare agencies to follow in order to improve educational stability for children in care. Because the law does not place the same mandate on the school districts, there is an imbalance of awareness and resources to ensure proper cooperation and coordination that leads to successful educational experiences.
Posted in Community Opportunities, Federal Foster Care Policy Updates | Tagged child welfare league of america, cwla, fostering connections to success act, grassley, landrieu, senate
By admin on March 16, 2010
[from the Children's Welfare League of America, Children's Monitor Online 3/14/10]
Congressman Pete Stark (D-CA) sponsored a briefing on Thursday, March 11, on his legislation, the Every Child Deserves a Family Act. The bill, H.R. 4806, prohibits states from discriminating in the placement of foster and adoptive children on the basis of sexual preference and allows federal funding to be cut off if such discriminatory practices are in place.
As part of the briefing, participants heard from several panelists including Martin Gill, an adoptive parent, who along with his partner of more than eight years has been raising two foster children since 2004. In 2008 a Florida court granted the adoption after hearing that it would be in the two children’s best interest. The state of Florida went to court to challenge the adoption and Gill is currently involved in a lawsuit against Florida’s law that automatically denies adoption by gays and lesbians. Gill was featured in the November/December edition of CWLA’s Children’s Voice magazine. Currently Florida is the only state with a statutory prohibition on adoptions by lesbian and gay parents. Gill told how the state had asked to place two foster children in his care six years ago in an emergency. The court case is scheduled for a late August hearing in an appeals court with the case expected to land in the Florida Supreme Court. CWLA weighed in on the earlier case through the filing of an amicus brief.
In addition to Gill, the panel included Leslie Cooper from the American Civil Liberties Union, who has been involved in the suit; Charlotte J. Patterson, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia; Gary J. Gates, senior research fellow at the Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law; and Uma Ahluwalia, director of the Department of Health and Human Services for Montgomery County, Maryland. Ahluwalia talked about the practice in both Montgomery County and the state of Maryland where such discrimination is not practiced. The other panelists refuted some claims that there is psychological and other forms of harm to children placed with gay or lesbian couples, and used research to argue that there is a potentially large pool of prospective adoptive parents available among couples who are gay or lesbian if discrimination is not practiced. Through the end of FY 2007 there were 133,000 children in the foster care system nationally awaiting placement in an adoptive home.
Posted in Federal Foster Care Policy Updates | Tagged adoption, cwla, every child deserves a family act, gay, hr 4806, lgbt, permanency, pete stark
By admin on February 23, 2010
[from Benzinga.com, 01/27/10]
WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Kicking off the year, the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA), the nation’s oldest and largest membership-based child welfare organization, announced its top challenges and opportunities for 2010, during its “Children 2010: Leading a New Era” National Conference. CWLA’s Top 5 list captures events and trends are shaping the future for foster children this year…and beyond.
“The Top 5 are key issues affecting foster children. Even though the economy continues to take its toll, we do see promising changes in the way our nation treats children and tackles child welfare issues,” said CWLA’s CEO Chris James-Brown. “As President Obama reports on the State of the Union, we encourage him to continue embracing changes that help children succeed. Smart and sustained investments in children are critical to our nation’s future.”
Click on the article title to see the top 5 trends
Posted in Federal Foster Care Policy Updates, Foster Care Library | Tagged challenges, cwla, foster youth
By admin on February 9, 2010
Fourth National Incidence Study Shows Overall Decrease in Maltreatment
[from the Child Welfare League of America, Children's Monitor Online 2/08/10]
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released the Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-4). The last NIS was published in 1996, and, like that one, this congressionally mandated study surveys professionals from dozens of U.S. counties. The analysis includes children who were investigated by CPS agencies, but it also obtains data on children seen by community professionals who were not reported to CPS or who were screened out by CPS without investigation. This means NIS estimates provide a more comprehensive measure of the scope of child abuse and neglect known to community professionals, including abused and neglected children who are in the official statistics and those who are not.
The study indicated that the incidence of maltreatment between this and the 1996 study went down by 19%, compared to an increase of 56% between the second and third studies. Overall 1.256 million children experienced maltreatment during the study year, 2005-2006. Of that total 44% (553,000 children) were abused, 61% (771,000 children) were neglected. Of the abused children 58% (323,000 children) experienced physical abuse and 24% (135,300 children) were sexually abused. Of the children that were neglected, 47% (360,000 children) experienced educational neglect, 38% (295,000 children) experienced physical neglect and 25% (193,400 children) were subjected to emotional neglect. All the figures represent higher numbers then the annual National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) data released every spring. The last NCANDS report, based on 2007 information, indicated that just fewer than 800,000 children were substantiated as abused or neglected.
The full NIS-4 is more than 400 pages. To download a PDF of the full report, read an executive summary, or choose access other related materials, visit the study’s website.
Posted in Federal Foster Care Policy Updates, Foster Care Library | Tagged cwla, Federal Foster Care Policy Updates, maltreatment
By admin on January 21, 2010
[from the Children's Monitor Online from Child Welfare League of America 1/11/09]
One of the differences between the House and Senate bills on health care is that the House legislation includes language that protects the use of therapeutic foster care under Medicaid. The Senate version of health care that came out of Finance Committee contained some of the same protections, but when the two Senate bills were combined the Finance Committee language was not included. As a result, Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) is circulating a letter to fellow senators asking that a final health care bill include the House language found in section 1727 of the House bill. At press time, more than 10 of Stabenow’s Democratic colleagues had signed on. Stabenow’s office is still seeking additional signatures through the close of business today, Monday, January 11. To call your senator to ask them to sign on to the letter, call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121.
Posted in Federal Foster Care Policy Updates, Uncategorized | Tagged child welfare league of america, cwla, debbie stabenow, medicaid, therapeutic foster care
By admin on January 20, 2010
[from the Children's Monitor Online, of the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) 1/11/09]
The Children’s Bureau has now approved amended state plans from Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee that will allow the states to utilize Title IV-E funds for the new kinship-guardianship option as provided for through last year’s Fostering Connections Act (P.L. 110-351). Ten other states along with the District of Columbia have also submitted state plan amendments. These states are Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington.
The kinship-guardianship option became effective shortly after Fostering Connections was signed into law in October 2008, but there is no timeframe or deadline for states to take the option. While some were expecting states to act more quickly, enactment coincided with the recession, which has had a delaying impact. Factors that may inhibit states include some states requiring legislative changes, other states contemplating dramatic cuts in human service funding, and other states awaiting greater instruction and clarification from HHS, including on an important issue as to whether or not children already in kinship placements and otherwise eligible being covered once a state has taken the option or whether coverage extends only to new kinship arrangements established after a state plan has been amended. HHS has stuck by the December 2008 guidance, requiring the narrower eligibility, but some states such as California are seeking a broader interpretation.
Posted in Federal Foster Care Policy Updates | Tagged child welfare league of america, cwla, fostering connections to success act, guardianship, kingap, kinship
