Reducing Caseworker Turnover: Nationwide, 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.
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