In February I wrote about the Health and Human Services omnibus bills. If you've been keeping up with the goings on in the Minnesota House and Senate, you know there has been a need for consensus before moving forward with what will make it in to the final Health and Human Services appropriations bill. The [...]
Throughout the last few days and continuing into next week, the House Health and Human Services (HHS) Finance Committee has been discussing the delete-everything (DE) amendment to HF 1638, which would turn this bill into the omnibus HHS finance bill. The DE amendment is 354 pages long; what follows is the child welfare–related components. This [...]
Today's guest blogger is Hannah Burton. Article Title: From the System to the Street: The factors and figures behind the so-called “foster care to prostitution pipeline” Author: Lauren Kirchner Date Published: February 12, 2015 This article focused on children who have runaway or aged out of the foster care system and their relationship with [...]
The House and Senate introduced their 2015-2016 Health and Human Services (HHS) Omnibus Bills that will establish the HHS budget for the next two years: SF 825 and HF 850. The bill covers everything from child protection to health care to food services. This post will highlight the proposed policy changes to past child welfare [...]
Today's guest blogger is Ashley Booker. The article “Stopping the Foster Care to Child Trafficking Pipeline” by Malika Saada Saar was posted on the Huffington Post October of 2013 (Saar, 2013). The article began with Saar sharing that most of the children being sexually exploited in the United States are children who have been involved with [...]
This post was written by Heather Thornton. Sex trafficking has rapidly become a massive human rights issue, affecting the lives of children, youth and families, both nationally and internationally. On March 25th, 2014, the Los Angeles Times published an article by writer Abby Sewell addressing the harsh reality that foster care providers and group home [...]
Today's guest blogger is Jodie Glaspie. The article "Protecting foster kids from sex trafficking" by Thanh Tan, focuses on foster kids being more susceptible to being coerced by sex traffickers into prostitution. Every month, more than 100 kids in Washington run away from foster care. In Washington’s King County at least 500 minors work in [...]
Our Friday recap of highlighted legislation on our Facebook page: H.R. 2012/S. 420: Foster Care Mentoring Act of 2011Bill description: To support the establishment or expansion and operation of programs using a network of public and private community entities to provide mentoring for children in foster care.Bill status: Waiting for a hearing in the House [...]