On March 4, President Obama released his budget for fiscal year 2015. In sum, the budget allocates $77.1 billion to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is $0.8 billion less than the 2014 enacted level. Child welfare-related highlights of the presidential budget are listed below. Medicaid Demonstration Project for Youth in [...]
In addition to Article 3 and Article 17 (Northstar Care for Children), there are other areas within Chapter 108 (the omnibus Health and Human Services finance bill) that are directly applicable to children and families involved in the child welfare system. These are just a few. Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Youth The Safe Harbor [...]
Yesterday Governor Dayton signed the omnibus Health & Human Services (HHS) Finance bill, making it Chapter 108 in the 2013 Session Laws. The main point of this bill was to establish the HHS budget, but there are also policy changes that will impact child welfare. One big change from earlier versions of the bill is [...]
September is National Infant Mortality Awareness Month. This is an important awareness campaign, and on September 23rd, the Senate passed a Resolution supporting its values and goals. However, you may be wondering what it has to do with Child Welfare policy. Well, I'm glad you asked! First, some background. This observance was established by the [...]
Last update: 8-19-2011 (updates highlighted in yellow) This is a list of current adoption-related bills in the U.S. Congress. Although I attempted to ensure that it is an exhaustive list, I may have missed one or more. If you know of an adoption-related bill that is not in this list, please let me know! Also, [...]
Minnesota is racing toward the Monday, May 23rd, deadline. Governor Dayton has indicated that he will reject any legislative budget proposals that resolve the deficit using cuts only; Dayton is calling for an approach that includes cuts and increased revenue. See Politics in Minnesota and MPR. Yesterday, the legislators passed to Governor Dayton their final [...]
It is a contentious week at the Capitol in the high-stakes budget debate. Health care is the main focus of the Health and Human Service discussions, since it comprises the majority of spending in that portion of our state's budget. Child Welfare elements of the bills appear to have moved through unchanged*. So that you [...]