Throughout the year we have been following the Governor’s Task Force on the Protection of Children from its creation through the debates and now to the final report and recommendations that were released in March. All of the recommendations have an impact on either statute, practice, training, the social service information system, the Department of [...]
While SF 4 and HF 191 are companion bills that implement several recommendations from the Governor's Task Force on the Protection of Children, the bill text in SF 4 (modified after the introduction of a delete-all amendment at the Senate committee hearing on Jan. 26) differs slightly from the bill text in HF 191. You [...]
Updated Jan. 5, 2015, to reflect the Initial Recommendations report, released December 31, 2014. Changes and additions are highlighted yellow , and deletions are marked as strikethroughs. The Screening & Transparency Workgroup preliminary recommendations are listed below, grouped under general themes (which are found in the light gray boxes). Each of these recommendations [...]
Today's highlighted bill, H.R. 3766: Jeremy Bell Act of 2011, was introduced on December 23rd by Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick. The proposed bill would penalize by fine, imprisonment, or both, public and private school employers who complete interstate transfers of employees who are child sex offenders. The bill also addresses sexual conduct reporting standards for employees [...]
On December 20th, Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL) introduced H.R. 3741: Rilya Wilson Act (no relation to the Representative), which aims to "protect foster children and to ensure that every state has a procedure in place to promptly report their disappearance." Essentially, this bill would require child welfare agencies to report missing or abducted children to [...]
Yesterday, The U.S. Senate HELP Subcommittee on Children and Families held a hearing on child abuse, which Sen. Bob Casey requested back in November in the wake of the Penn State sexual abuse scandal. The purpose of this hearing was to examine child abuse laws to determine whether or not all adults should be mandated [...]
(Updated November 26 with new legislation. -HNO) Due to the intense media coverage of the child sexual abuse scandal at Penn State, it seems that a blog post on mandated reporting in child welfare might be quite relevant and useful. Although the media can be helpful in bringing child welfare issues to the top of [...]
The House passed the Health and Human Services Omnibus bill this week, SF760. Here are some of the key Child Welfare elements: Streamlining the Children and Community Services Act (CCSA), see line 30.21 Appropriation of $64.3 million for each biennium. For American Indian Child Welfare projects, see line 281.10 Subd. 14b. The amounts of the [...]