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May 27, 2014

NACHSA e-Alert

 

Greetings NACHSA Members!

Federal Update: The House last week adopted five bills addressing child sex trafficking. Among the bills, the 'Preventing Sex Trafficking and Improving Opportunities for Youth in Foster Care Act' (H.R. 4058) contains a number of provisions affecting child welfare agencies, including changes to child welfare practice overall. Provisions include: developing and implementing policies to identify screen and provide services for children in the child welfare system who may be, or are at risk of becoming child sex trafficking victims; implementing a "reasonable and prudent parent standard' for all foster children so that foster parents are able to allow foster youth to participate in more activities which are age-appropriate without having to seek agency approval; providing foster youth 14 or older with greater involvement in their case-planning by allowing the youth to select two additional individuals for their case; and, eliminating the current option to make Another Planned Permanent Living Arrangement (APPLA) the permanency goal for youth under age 16. Click here to read a two-page summary. Information on the other bills may be found here

 
The Senate Finance Committee passed a bill similar to H.R. 4058.It is expected that the House and Senate will adopt a compromise measure at some point this session.

 

And, House and Senate leaders have negotiated a compromise agreement to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). Discussions occurred behind the scenes. WIA was due to be reauthorized 11 years ago. A House and Senate press release with links to additional information on the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) may be found here. A Statement of the Managers which provides more detail on the new measure may be read here.

 

NACHSA Networker Articles Requested: NACHSA will be publishing a Networker next month and we need your contributions! Stories typically feature a county human services program you are proud of, a statewide initiative that is occurring, a collaboration with a community-based organization, or other health and human services topics garnering attention in your community. Articles are typically 750-1500 words. Please feel free to contribute something written in your state association news, or a local story about a community-based initiative that is timely and could be re-printed. Please contact  Tom Joseph soon if you are able to contribute an article (photos are also welcome!) Copy is due June 11. 

 
Read the Networker Winter Edition here.

In This Issue
Health Reform Resources
Human Services Resources
Human Services Jobs
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Health Reform Resources
Toolkit for Former Foster Youth and ACA Coverage: Youth formerly in foster care are eligible for health care coverage through Medicaid until age 26, regardless of income, due to a provision in the Affordable Care Act. The Former Foster Care Youth and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Toolkit, developed by the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, presents an array of resources for service providers that describes the new health-care provision. Links to videos, PowerPoint presentations, factsheets, and webinars are available.

Medicaid Expands in Non-ACA States: Medicaid enrollment has grown even in most of the states rejecting the ACA Medicaid expansion. Seventeen of the 26 states that hadn't expanded Medicaid as of the end of March saw their rolls increase by a combined 550,300 new beneficiaries, according to a new analysis. 
Human Services Resources
Reducing Caseworker TurnoverNationwide, an estimated 20 to 40 percent of child welfare caseworkers leave their jobs every year while 90 percent of agencies report difficulty hiring and retaining qualified staff. One 2005 study from Milwaukee found that children entering foster care who had only one caseworker achieved permanency three quarters of the time, while those with two workers achieved permanency in fewer than a fifth of cases. Children unlucky enough to have six or seven caseworkers were almost assured to become permanent wards of the state. A City Limits article entitled Looking After the Welfare of Child Welfare Workers, describes New York City's Children's Corps, a program used to help reduce caseworker turnover.

 

SNAP Numbers Decline: The number of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients has dropped to 46.2 million, the lowest level since August 2011, and the pace at which recipients are moving out of the SNAP program is speeding up. The government has paid out $5.8 billion in SNAP benefits since February, the lowest level since 2010. This Wall Street Journal chart documenting the recession's meteoric rise in SNAP is worth the click.

 

War on Poverty Anniversary Stories: 

Numerous stories have been written about the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty. These two stories are about the changing nature of what it is to be 'poor' in the U.S.  

 

This Washington Post article begins, 'Politics in America broadly divide the poor into two groups: those who struggle for reasons beyond their control and those who remain poor because they haven't tried. The distinction separates the earnest from the lazy... But exactly who we're talking about as deserving of help in America has changed with time. And, as a result, our welfare system now no longer primarily serves the poor who are most in need of aid, research suggests. As federal support for AFDC plummeted, funding for programs like the EITC, the Child Tax Credit and Supplemental Security Income rose. The result? The distinction between who we're effectively helping and who we're not has grown sharper since the 1980s. Today, the "deserving" are working, married and have children. The undeserving are single parents, childless adults and anyone who's out of work and so doesn't qualify for tax breaks. 

 

And, from NPR, this story entitled the Changing Picture Of Poverty: Hard Work Is 'Just Not Enough' notes that there are 46 million poor people in the U.S., and millions more hover right above the poverty line - but go into many of their homes, and you might find a flat-screen TV, a computer or the latest sneakers. And that raises a question: What does it mean to be poor in America today? Take Victoria Houser, at first glance, her life doesn't look all that bad. She lives in a cozy two-bedroom apartment. She has food, furniture and toys for her almost 2-year-old son, Brayden. But there's one thing Houser doesn't have, and that's a lot of hope for the future. She says she feels stuck in a never-ending cycle, constantly worried that one financial emergency - like a broken-down car - will send everything tumbling down. "Poor to me is the fact that I'm working my butt off. I'm trying to go to school. I'm trying to take care of my son, and that's just not enough," she says.

 

Foster Care Placements Shift: The Kids Count News for May describes how during the past decade, the number of children in foster care has steadily declined, with approximately 400,000 kids in care in 2012. Of these, 47% were placed in nonrelative foster homes, 27% in state-supervised homes with kin caregivers and 15% in group homes or institutions. Today, states are relying on kinship at a higher rate than in the past. Since 2000, the percentage of children living with kin in state-supervised placements increased 8%, and the use of group homes declined by 17%. Kentucky had the lowest rate of children living with kin at 5%, while Hawaii had the highest at 48%. Click here to view charts and the story.

 

Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Website Launched: HHS has launched a new Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood website. It contains the latest information on programs, including current data, briefings, and other resources, including resources on ex-prisoner reentry.

 
Webinar on Child Welfare Involvement Among African American Boys: A recent paper published by the Center for the Study of Social Policy and the Alliance for Racial Equity in Child Welfare summarizes information about African American males involved with the child welfare system; outlines an approach to more effective action to improve outcomes for them; makes recommendations to state and local public agency leaders, policymakers, and funders; and highlights examples of agencies and interventions that have demonstrated success in engaging with and supporting improved outcomes. On Wednesday, May 28 at 12:30 PM ET, the Alliance for Racial Equity in Child Welfare will host a webinar to provide a closer look at these experiences, and the structural features of effective system responses. Featured during this discussion will be a detailed description of efforts undertaken by the Guilford County (North Carolina) Department of Social Services to improve system responses to and supports for African American males. To register, follow this link
 
Home Visiting Webinar: On June 19, from 1pm - 2:30pm ET Mathematica Policy Research and Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago will co-present a policy forum hosted by The Pew Charitable Trusts on findings from a national cross-site evaluation of replication and costs of evidence-based home visiting programs. High-quality home visiting programs can help strengthen families and buffer risk factors and family stress. Evidence-based programs also have strong potential to promote early learning and child development. Implications for home visiting policy, practice, and research will be discussed. Click here to learn more. Register here.
Human Services Jobs
NACHSA posts senior human services job opportunities free for NACHSA dues-paying members. To post a position, please send the announcement (preferably in PDF format) to Tom Joseph at [email protected].
Tom Joseph
National Association of County Human Services Administrators