July 23rd, 2020
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto is doing what she can to help foster youth. In light of recent reports that foster youth aging out of the system during the coronavirus pandemic are at an increased risk for homelessness, Senator Cortez Masto is cosponsoring legislation to help provide stable housing options for foster care youth transitioning to adulthood.
Full article here.
July 23rd, 2020
One goal was to push for passage of the Emergency Family Stabilization Act, a bipartisan-sponsored bill that would provide emergency funding to community organizations to address the needs of homeless youth during the pandemic. SchoolHouse Connection is urging Congress to include it in the next COVID funding bill.
Full article here.
May 20th, 2020
The Hill
The Trump administration has stepped up deportations of minors detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents along the U.S.-Mexican border amid the coronavirus outbreak and in some cases has reportedly sent minors back to their home countries without notifying parents. One family of a Honduran child who was deported in recent weeks told the Times that their son arrived in the country without any notice, and was forced to borrow a cellphone after arriving to contact a family member.
Read the story here.
This webpage features a range of advocacy resources for use in urging policymakers to act for families with babies and toddlers through this global pandemic.
The Administration for Children and Families released an Information Memorandum (IM-ACF-OA-2020-01) dealing with grant flexibilities in conducting human service activities related to or affected by COVID-19. The guidance provides short-term relief for administrative, financial management, and audit requirements for ACF applicants and grantees/recipients who are conducting human services activities related to or affected by COVID-19.
March 27, 2020 The Children’s Bureau (CB) addresses questions and concerns regarding a number of child welfare issues in light of the COVID-19 public health emergency, including whether the Children’s Bureau can waive statutorily required judicial proceedings. In this letter, the Children’s Bureau urges attorneys, courts, Court Improvement Programs, and administrative offices of the courts to work together to ensure that requisite judicial proceedings continue during the COVID-19 pandemic. It states that the Children’s Bureau expects that courts and states will work together to determine how best to balance child-safety related statutory requirements against public-health mandates. As situations require, courts can and should use flexible means of convening required hearings.
Letter here