SNAP Benefits to Decrease:  The 2009 Recovery Act's temporary boost to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits is scheduled to end on November 1, 2013, resulting in a benefit cut for every SNAP household. For families of three, the cut likely will be $20 to $25 a month - $240 to $300 a year. Without the Recovery Act's boost, SNAP benefits average only about $1.30 per person per meal. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reviews the cut here.

SNAP Supports Work:  In addition to increasing food purchasing power, SNAP has become effective in supporting work. The overwhelming majority of SNAP recipients who can work do so. Among SNAP households with at least one working-age, non-disabled adult, more than half work while receiving SNAP - and more than 80 percent work in the year prior to the year after receiving SNAP. The rates are even higher for families with children - more than 60 percent work while receiving SNAP, and almost 90 percent work in the prior or subsequent year. Click here to read the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities brief.

Rate of Texas Foster Kids on Psychotropic Drugs Falls: In a 2004 report titled "Forgotten Children" that highlighted the overuse of psychotropic medication by foster children in Texas, then-state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn wrote of a foster child who was prescribed 11 medications in one month, including two antidepressants and two stimulants to treat ADHD, at a cost of $1,088 to the state's Medicaid program. Since that critical report, Texas has instituted massive reforms. And though the changes have improved the state's health care system for foster children, child welfare advocates say, the rate of foster kids prescribed psychotropic drugs remains high, and accountability gaps regarding prescriptions of the psychiatric medicines persist. This Texas Tribune story covers the issue.

 Child Welfare: States Use Flexible Federal Funds, But Struggle to Meet Service Needs: This new Government Accountability Office report reviewed the federal child welfare services law to illustrate the variety of financing and service delivery approaches state and local child welfare officials use. It analyzed HHS expenditure data and program evaluations; and interviewed HHS officials, child welfare experts, and state and local child welfare officials in 4 states and 13 localities. Click here to read the one page summary and here to view the entire report.

Indian Child Welfare Act Subject of NY Times Article: Under the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, local agencies must try to place Indian children with Indian families whenever possible, and tribes may intervene in certain custody proceedings. Congress passed the law after generations of Indian children were wrested from their homes and placed in non-Indian foster facilities and boarding schools. The law's supporters say it has worked in many instances - allowing Indian children to remain connected to their heritage, even when families fall apart. But a chronic shortage of licensed Indian foster families in states, coupled with the poverty and substance abuse endemic to American Indian communities, has also made it challenging to apply. Recently, the law's interpretation has been tested in a case that will be heard by the United States Supreme Court this year and is being watched closely by child welfare experts. Read the rest of the story here.

Revealing the Real TANF: The Nation's Greg Kaufmann wrote about TANF in his This Week in Poverty blog. He reported on a Center for American Progress (CAP) panel on the program. Click here to view the presentations.

Assets & Opportunity Scorecard Released: TheCorporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) Assets & Opportunity Scorecard finds that nearly half (43.9 percent) of U.S. households are "liquid asset poor" with almost no savings to fall back on in the event of a job loss, health crisis or other income-depleting emergency. CFED notes that while most of these families are living below the poverty line, nearly a quarter would be considered middle class. The Scorecard includes state-by-state data on how residents are faring and assesses asset-building policies that are making a difference.