Headlines
Health Reform Moves Forward; Home Visiting and TFC Remain
Champions Stroll for Children's Health
Youth PROMISE Act Moves One Step Closer
Helping Children of Incarcerated Parents
Engaging Youth in Policymaking
Interior Appropriation Bill Extends CR to December 18
Congressional Leaders Plan Sessions to Thanksgiving
Attend CWLA's 2010 Advocacy Day!
Act Now to Help CWLA Win America's Giving Challenge
Key Upcoming Dates for Congress
Health Reform Moves Forward; Home Visiting and TFC Remain
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced last Monday that the final Senate health reform bill will contain a form of the public option. The so-called "public option" is a government-run or government-overseen plan that individuals could buy into as an alternative to private insurance. Supporters urge that a public option is necessary to keep competition ripe and private insurers honest and affordable. Reid stated that the Senate's public option will contain an opt-out provision, whereby states could choose to not offer the public option to their residents.
Reid did not guarantee that the Senate has the 60 votes necessary to move the bill forward in the Senate and therefore will have to work to gain each Democratic senator's vote. The plan has been sent to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to get its "score" (essentially, its price tag), and strategy moving forward will largely depend on that.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) unveiled the House's merged health reform bill last Thursday and the House is expected to begin debate as early as this week. Under the House bill, the Medicaid program would be expanded to cover individuals below 150% of the federal poverty level (around $33,000 for a family of four). CWLA is pleased that both the home visiting and therapeutic foster care provisions that we advocated for are still contained in the House health reform bill. For resources and background information on the various health reform proposals including how they would impact children and families, see CWLA's Advocacy page.
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Champions Stroll to U.S. Capitol for Children's Health
This Wednesday, November 4, CWLA will join children, parents, and champions for children in a stroll to the U.S. Capitol to ensure that millions of uninsured and underinsured children are not left behind in health reform. The event Champions for Children's Health Stroller Brigade is being organized by the Children's Defense Fund. In addition to the walk in Washington on November 4, events are being planned from November 6 to 8 in several states including Arkansas, California, Florida, Louisiana, Montana, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, and Texas.
The main points the group will be asking Congress for in regards to children's health and health reform include: seamless, simple enrollment for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP); a guarantee that all children have the full range of child health benefits; and a health safety net for all children in families below 300% of the federal poverty line ($66,000 for a family of four). For more information on the Stroller Brigade and to learn how to get involved in your state, visit the event website.
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Youth PROMISE Act Moves One Step Closer
On Wednesday, October 28, Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA) was featured as a guest on CWLA's weekly radio blog, On the Line with CWLA. He spoke with great passion and conviction regarding the criminalization of youth for nonviolent crimes. The discussion centered around his bill, The Youth PROMISE Act (H.R. 1064/S. 435), which is key legislation that would provide resources and support for prevention and intervention strategies to combat juvenile delinquency and gang activity. PROMISE stands for Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education. He highlighted some of the key components of the bill and spoke to their effectiveness when compared to some of the more punitive practices that are currently being used, and have been proven to in fact increase youth involvement in criminal activity. Scott said he was convinced that the current policy has a counterproductive plan for deterring youth violence.
Last week, the Subcommittee on the Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security also marked up H.R. 1064, the Youth PROMISE Act, where it passed out of the subcommittee with a vote of 6 to 1. This was a great first step towards moving the bill forward. It now has to pass out of the full Judiciary Committee, and then it will have to go to the Education and Labor Committee, which also has jurisdiction over the bill. This will be the first step to moving the Youth PROMISE Act to passage in the U.S. House.
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Helping Children of Incarcerated Parents
Children of incarcerated parents sometimes face negative unintended consequences that are of no direct doing of their own. The Council of State Governments Justice Center recently held a briefing to discuss the needs of children of incarcerated parents and highlight strategies for federal policymakers to improve policies and practices that affect these children. We know the harsh realities for youth who grow up with disadvantaged circumstances put them at risk for poorer outcomes in the future. For example, children of incarcerated parents are more likely to drop out of school, engage in delinquency, and subsequently be incarcerated themselves. The report, Children of Incarcerated Parents: An Action Plan for Federal Policymakers, attempts to raise awareness regarding these vulnerable families. Research indicates that on any given day more than seven million children may have a parent in prison or jail, or under parole or probation supervision.
One of the barriers to keeping contact between children and their parents has a great deal to do with the displacement of parents during their incarceration. In some states, parents are housed in institutions that are hours away from where their children are located, which in some cases cause children to lose contact with the parent because their current caretaker may not have the transportation means to get them to the prison. As a result of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA), incarcerated parents are having their parental rights terminated, and in some cases, children are subsequently placed with relatives or put into the foster care system. In addition, many of these youth face barriers to enrolling in school, accessing health care, and other vital services.
The report recommends that the AFSA law be amended to take into account the effect that terminating parental rights has on children and families, recognizing what is consistent with the safety and well-being of children. Some states are taking a proactive approach and amending their state law to ensure that incarceration alone cannot cause a parent's rights to be terminated.
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Engaging Youth in Policymaking
Last week America's Youth Council Network gathered in Washington, DC to discuss how to engage youth in federal policymaking. America's Youth Council Network is made up of more than 25 Youth Councils from around the country. These Youth Councils represent a diverse constituency and are influential in the decision-making process, whether they are providing advice on state budgets, or drafting and proposing legislation. While the structure varies from council to council, they share some of the same objectives. Some of the most recent accomplishments of the councils include their work on legislation regarding anti-bullying, suicide prevention, school-based health centers, the Youth Promise Act, and preventing high school drop-outs. They also discussed ways to ensure that their elected officials invite them into the conversation regarding laws that affect young people, hear their voice, and take them seriously. One of the group's goals is to establish a federal Youth Policy Council to carry on the hard work that is currently being done at the state and local levels.
They provided opportunities for incorporating the youth voice in policymaking at the federal level, by creating legislation that is modeled after successful state and local councils; encouraging federal policymakers to connect with existing state and local Youth Councils in their district; and establishing federal support via grants or other funding streams to continue the work of these councils.
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Interior Appropriation Bill Extends CR to December 18
The Interior and Environment appropriations bill (H.R. 2996) passed last week, making it the fifth appropriations bill out of 12 to be enacted. More significantly it extended the continuing resolution (CR) to maintain federal funding for the remaining seven bills through December 18. The first CR ran out on October 31. Congressional leaders indicated they would like to wrap up all appropriations by Thanksgiving. The Labor-HHS bill (which funds the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education) is likely to end up in an omnibus bill that would include the last four or five appropriations bills.
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Congressional Leaders Plan Sessions to Thanksgiving
Leaders in both houses announce preliminary plans to continue this session of Congress deep into November. While Congress will not be in session on Veteran's Day on November 11, they will be likely in session both the day before and after. It is also possible the two houses will have votes on the weekend of November 7 and 8. The House calendar indicates that votes could be held as late as November 24, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
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Register for CWLA's 2010 National Conference and Attend Advocacy Day!
Registration is open for CWLA's 2010 national conference, Children 2010: Leading a New Era. The national conference is a month earlier this year--January 24-27, 2009--so it is important to register soon! At the conference, more than 120 child and family experts will report on timely and important topics like adoption, foster care, technology, executive leadership, early childhood and mental health, juvenile justice, and residential services.
Advocacy Day will be held in the middle of the national conference, on Tuesday, January 26. CWLA's Advocacy Day is the largest national advocacy event of the year for child welfare advocates and CWLA encourages all conference attendees to go to Capitol Hill and carry the message for the children, youth, and families you serve. Learn more about Advocacy Day, and register for the national conference now--early-bird rates are still available through November 30 on the Conferences page.
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Act Now to Help CWLA Win America's Giving Challenge More than 1.8 million people have raised more than $17,000 dollars for CWLA through the Facebook cause Prevent Abuse Against Children. The cause is entered in America's Giving Challenge, which may win an additional $50,000 for CWLA. America's Giving Challenge is sponsored by Parade Publications, the Case Foundation, and Facebook's causes.org. This national competition encourages people to leverage their personal networks and online social media to help win cash awards that will total $170,000 on behalf of their favorite nonprofit. Causes compete for daily and overall cash awards based on the number of donations generated for a cause, not dollars raised. Awards will be made based to the causes that garner the highest number of unique daily donations before 2:59 p.m. ET on November 6, 2009. Here's how you, your family and friends can help: to support CWLA, just join the Prevent Abuse Against Children cause page and donate. Then share the link with your friends on Facebook! If you don't belong to Facebook it takes just a minute to join!
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Key Upcoming Dates for Congress
November 11: Veterans Day
December 11: Hanukkah Begins
December 18: Second continuing resolution expires
December 25: Christmas Day
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