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The Chronicle of Social ChangeBy John KellySenate and House leadership received a letter today, signed by 750 organizations and local politicians, urging them to maintain a federal program meant to assist struggling young mothers and mothers-to-be.The Home Visiting Coalition asked leaders in the letter to fund the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program at its current level of $400 million “in the lame duck session or as one of the first acts of the 114th Congress before the MIECHV program funding expires in March 2015...Read more

Politico PulseBy Paige Winfield CunninghamFunding for the federal Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program will end in March without action by Congress. First Focus Campaign for Children headed up a letter being sent to congressional leaders today urging them to extend the funding and citing evidence that home visiting improves the health and development of young children. It’s signed by more than 700 organizations nationwide including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association. The letter: http://politico.pro/1zljdMHRead more

Contacts:Ed Walz, First Focus Campaign for Children, 202-657-068Brent Ewig, Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, 202-266-3041Don Owens, Zero to Three, 202-302-5928Washington – The national Home Visiting Coalition today sent a letter with more than 750 signatories to congressional leadership, urging timely action to extend funding for the federal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program. MIECHV supports evidence-based home visiting initiatives that provide information, coaching and support for parents struggling to meet their children’s basic needs. The letter includes signatories from every state and four territories, including national, state, local and tribal organizations and elected officials....

The $400 million allotted to the federal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program will end in March, unless Congress acts during the lame-duck session or in the early days of the new congress, says a group of more than 750 groups hoping to preserve the funding.The program known as MIECHV was established in 2010 with an initial $1.5 billion budget and in March 2014, funding was extended for an additional year. It is administered through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and supports state and local programs to address issues such as school readiness, maternal health,...

Stateline.orgBy Teresa WiltzChances are you won’t see one of the nation’s fastest growing homeless populations camped out on a park bench or queuing up at a local shelter. One in 30 of American children is homeless—an all-time high of 2.5 million, according to a new report by the National Center on Family Homelessness (NCFH). But these kids are often invisible, crashing with their families on friends’ couches, sleeping in all-night diners or hopping from motel to motel from week to week.Some states have begun to focus on helping such children, but their efforts are being complicated by the way...

The Bergen DispatchBy Paul NicholsChances are you won’t see one of the nation’s fastest growing homeless populations camped out on a park bench or queuing up at a local shelter. One in 30 of American children is homeless—an all-time high of 2.5 million. These kids are often invisible, crashing with their families on friends’ couches, sleeping in all-night diners or hopping from motel to motel from week to week.New Jersey gets high marks ranking 5th among the 50 states, according to a new report by the National Center on Family Homelessness (NCFH)...Read more

The HillBy Rita SoronenEarlier this month, voters turned out to voice their opinion on the current state of our country. Issues of foreign policy and ISIS, the economy, health care and immigration were discussed at length. Largely ignored were the issues faced by our country’s children. With more than 100,000 children waiting in the foster care system for adoptive families, a record number homeless and an alarming increasing number of children in this country going hungry, it is time to make positive, permanent changes on behalf of children.Two child welfare priorities need to be top of mind for policymakers:...

Politico PulseBy Paige Winfield CunninghamAdvocates for children with asthma are urging HUD Secretary Julian Castro to issue regulations making all government-subsidized housing smoke-free. Exposure to secondhand smoke aggravates asthma symptoms in as many as a million children every year, they wrote. The groups also say the move could address racial disparities in health outcomes, noting that asthma rates for African American and Puerto Rican children are double the asthma rates for white children. The letter, from the Childhood Asthma Leadership Coalition, led by First Focus Campaign for Children: http://politico.pro/1xJeztg...Read more

Issaquah-Sammamish ReporterBy Bruce LesleyWith all the big-money lobbyists in D.C., it’s sometimes hard to find a public servant who’s looking out for the little guy. But this year, Washington’s congressman Dave Reichert spent a lot of time and energy looking out for the littlest of us all: children.Rep. Reichert authored and shepherded through Congress important legislation that will improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of children — including more than 6,500 in Washington every year — scarred by abuse or neglect. Foster children and youth have faced trauma most of us cannot imagine and no child should have...

YouthTodayBy Gary GatelyChild homelessness in the United States hit a record high in 2013, afflicting nearly 2.5 million children, or one in 30, according to a report released Monday.“Child homelessness may result in a permanent Third World in America,” said the 130-page report, “America’s Youngest Outcasts,” released by the National Center on Family Homelessness...Read more