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| Greetings NACHSA Members! |
Federal Update: Congress is nearing its summer recess and will return after Labor Day. Within the past week, the House adopted the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (HR 4980) which contains a number of adoption assistance, child welfare and youth sex trafficking provisions. The bill was expected to pass by voice vote in the Senate before recess, but Senator Coburn (R-OK) placed a hold on final consideration. The Senate is still expected to adopt the bill after Labor Day. And, the Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee issued its plan for spending in FY 2015, but that measure is stalled along with all other appropriations bills. When Congress returns in September, it is expected to approve a short-term bill funding the federal government at current levels through the November elections.
This week, the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on subsidized jobs programs and their ability to move families off of income assistance. Click here to read the testimony and view the webcast.
NACHSA Scholarships Available: NACHSA is pleased offer scholarships to attend this fall's human services conference to be held by the County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA). Slated for October 8-10 in Anaheim, CA, the conference - Protecting Families, Building Prosperity, Restoring Hope -- will continue the work done in recent years during CWDA's poverty symposiums and conferences, and will explore policies and strategies that best serve families across communities.
The scholarships include registration, meals provided during the conference, up to three nights lodging and roundtrip airfare to an Anaheim vicinity airport. To learn more about the conference, click here. If you are interested in being considered for a scholarship, please click here to complete a brief application form. Applications are due August 25, 2014.
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| Human Services Resources |
Webinar on Unaccompanied Children Crisis: On Monday, August 4, 2014, at 3 p.m. ET, the National Association of Counties (NACo) will host a webinar/conference call on the unaccompanied children crisis. On this call, White House and Administration officials will provide an update on the unaccompanied minors and Central American migrants along the US/Mexico Border. County officials will have the opportunity to ask questions regarding this issue. Register here.
Placements of Central American Unaccompanied Minors: The federal government continues to reach out to localities to temporarily house and process the thousands of unaccompanied minors from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. HHS recently published a state-by-state list of the numbers of children placed with sponsors. It may be accessed here.
2014 KIDS COUNT Chartbook Released: How are kids in your state doing? Check out the 2014 KIDS COUNT Data Book and its ranking of states on 16 indicators of child well-being. The publication raises concerns about the development of children living in low-income families and high-poverty communities. Child poverty rates in the U.S. are on the rise, but health and education trends are showing improvements-including teen pregnancy reaching a historic low. Learn more.
Improving Behavioral Health Care for Child Welfare Kids: It is widely recognized that children and youth in the US foster care system are at high-risk for significant behavioral health challenges. As a result, these children and youth --generally covered by Medicaid -- are more likely to use behavioral health services, including psychotropic medications. How likely? A new infographic from the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) contrasts the differences between behavioral health care use and expense for a typical Medicaid-enrolled child and a child in foster care. Children using behavioral health care represented under 10 percent of the overall Medicaid child population, but an estimated 38 percent of total spending for children in Medicaid; Children in foster care and those on SSI/disability together represented one-third of the Medicaid child population using behavioral health care, but 56 percent of total behavioral health service costs; and, almost 50 percent of children in Medicaid who were prescribed psychotropic medications received no identifiable accompanying behavioral health treatment. Read a fact sheet here.
USDA Outlines New SNAP Provisions: This USDA brief details the major Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provisions in the 2014 Farm Bill.
Differential Response Final Report Available: The National Quality Improvement Center on Differential Response in Child Protective Services (QIC-DR) has released the final report from the Cross-Site Evaluation on Differential Response. Not unlike the debate over family preservation more than twenty years ago, states are implementing the practice in differing ways sometimes with much less fidelity to established models but critics are bundling all programs into one set of conclusions and criticisms. As a result there is a growing debate with some arguing that all DR practices are endangering children. To read materials from past webinars on the topic, including efforts in Colorado, Illinois and Ohio, click here.
How Home Visiting Achieves Cost Savings Through Reduced Child Maltreatment: A new study from Mathematica Policy Research and Chapin Hall explores evidence that certain home visiting models may help prevent child maltreatment and prove cost-effective for governments. The study presents the estimated costs of implementing these models and states what additional information is needed to assess whether they are cost-beneficial through reductions in child maltreatment and other outcomes.
Addressing Homelessness: Ending individual and family homelessness is of paramount importance to United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) and all of their local, state, and federal partners. To assist in this effort, the USICH hosts a series of resources available to assist local communities begin or enhance their efforts to prevent and homelessness. An updated toolkit may be accessed here.
Leveraging Title IV-E To Support Juvenile Justice Programs: On August 21, 2014, at 3 p.m. ET, the Coalition for Juvenile Justice will present "Using Title IV-E for Juvenile Justice: The Multnomah County Experience." This Webinar will focus on how jurisdictions can leverage Title IV-E of the Social Security Act to support home- and community-based programs and services in their juvenile justice system. Participants will learn what programs and services are eligible for IV-E reimbursement, explore ways that stakeholders can support implementation of IV-E programs in their communities, and gain insights from IV-E implementation in Multnomah County, OR. Learn more and register.
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Tom Joseph
National Association of County Human Services Administrators
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