Washington – By voice vote, the U.S. House of Representatives voted today to pass the Family First Prevention Services Act (HR.5456), a bipartisan bill to improve prevention and support services for children at risk of being placed in foster care.

The Campaign for Children strongly supports the Family First Prevention Services Act (HR.5456/S.3065 in the Senate), the result of more than a year of bipartisan discussion in the House and Senate that will allow states to be reimbursed for providing preventive mental health, substance abuse, and in-home counseling services to children who are candidates for foster care, as well as their parents or caregivers, among several other important provisions. The legislation also extends the Title IV-E program to provide support services for foster youth transitioning to adulthood.

“We commend the House for supporting evidence-based prevention programs that help keep kids at home in family settings, where studies show that children have a greater chance of short- and long-term success at home and in school,” said Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus Campaign for Children. “For the first time, significant federal dollars will be available to states to address the root causes that are putting children in foster care.”

The Family First Act also addresses the over-reliance of placing children in group care or congregate care homes. Studies have shown that children living in such facilities have poorer outcomes than their peers in family-based foster homes. The bill requires states that are using federal dollars for foster care programs to conduct an assessment of the child by a qualified individual to determine whether a residential treatment setting is needed for the child. Court reviews are also required to ensure that children are not unnecessarily placed in a group care setting.

A number of other provisions aimed at reforming and strengthening the child welfare system include the extension of the Title IV-B program, improving supports for youth transitioning to adulthood, establishing model foster care licensing standards, and calling for a GAO review to examine compliance of states in reinvesting savings from the federal adoption assistance reimbursement for special needs kids.

This legislation has the potential to have a far-reaching impact in the lives of foster youth and their families and is an important step towards reforming federal child welfare financing.

Last week, the First Focus Campaign for Children sent a letter to the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees expressing its strong support for the bill. A diverse coalition of more than 50 state and national child welfare and advocacy organizations have also expressed their support for the legislation.

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The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are a priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.campaignforchildren.org.

Washington – The First Focus Campaign for Children welcomes the proposed one-year extension of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, approved in the U.S. House of Representatives by voice vote today as part of H.R. 5170, the Social Impact Partnerships to Pay for Results Act.

TANF provides critical support to children of poor and low-income working class families in the United States. TANF provides cash assistance to families, funding for child welfare programs, aid to children at risk of abuse, and child care assistance. However, increased resources for TANF are needed in order to increase the program’s effectiveness in helping families achieve economic mobility and improve child wellbeing. TANF has fallen in value by 32 percent due to inflation since 1996, and caseloads have decreased significantly since 1996. In addition, while children make up a majority of the recipients of TANF, child poverty reduction is not an explicit goal of the program.

“We’re pleased to see the House’s approval of a one-year extension of TANF and encourage lawmakers to continue seeking long-term and economically realistic funding solutions to this critical funding source for programs that benefit children,” said Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus Campaign for Children. “The reality is that TANF positively impacts the lives of millions of children, but funding levels have remained flat since 1996 and don’t reflect the hardships of the economic crisis that many families face today with 21 percent of the nation’s children living in poverty.”

House Members voted for the one-year extension of TANF as part of the Social Impact Partnerships to Pay for Results Act, legislation that calls for public-private social impact partnerships, or “Social Impact Bonds,” that fund evidence-based projects designed to improve broadly-defined “social outcomes.” The First Focus Campaign for Children applauds the inclusion of an amendment offered by Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, that directs at least 50 percent of “social impact partnerships” be used for programs that directly benefit children.

“We applaud Representative Doggett for going to bat to protect funding that directly benefits kids,” Lesley said. “And we continue to urge Congress to move in the direction of strengthening its support and funding for programs that benefit children – children after all, are the future of this country and their wellbeing is critical.”

• Read the First Focus 2015 Statement for the Record to Reauthorize TANF
• Read the First Focus Report: “Speaker Ryan’s Poverty Agenda: Not the Better Way for Children”

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The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are a priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.campaignforchildren.org.

Washington – The First Focus Campaign for Children applauds the introduction of the Family First Prevention Services Act (HR.5456/S.3065), a bipartisan, bicameral commitment to investing in and improving prevention and support services for children at risk of entering the foster care system.

The Family First Prevention Services Act (HR.5456/S.3065), which is expected to be voted on in the House this week, is the result of more than a year of bipartisan discussions and proposals led by the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee. Among other provisions, the bill allows states to be reimbursed for providing preventive mental health, substance abuse, and in-home counseling services to children who are candidates for foster care, as well as their parents or caregivers. The legislation also addresses the over-reliance of placing children in group care or congregate care homes and extends the Title IV-B program to provide support services for foster youth transitioning to adulthood.

“The Family First Prevention Services Act has the potential to have a far-reaching impact in the lives of foster children and youth and their families,” said Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus Campaign for Children. “We commend Senators Wyden and Hatch and Representatives Buchanan, Brady, and Levin, as well as the bill co-sponsors and committee members, for promoting evidence-based prevention services to keep children in family settings and out of foster care. We strongly encourage the House and Senate to pass this legislation. Research shows that children at risk of entering the foster care system who stay in family settings have a better chance to succeed at home and at school.”

Last week, the First Focus Campaign for Children sent a letter to the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees expressing its strong support for the bill. A diverse coalition of more than 50 state and national child welfare and advocacy organizations have also expressed their support for the legislation.

Click here for a summary draft of the bill.

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The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are a priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.campaignforchildren.org.

Read the letter

The First Focus Campaign for Children and 21 other members of the Children's Budget Coalition today sent a letter to Sens. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Reps. Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., urging them to support robust funding under a bipartisan compromise on federal programs that impact children under the jurisdiction of the Appropriations Subcommittees on Labor, Health & Human Services and Education.

According to the 2015 Children's Budget Book published by First Focus, total government spending on children in the last five years, when adjusted for inflation, is down 9.4 percent, more than twice the rate of overall spending decreases of 4 percent. Members of the Children's Budget Coalition are concerned that disproportionate cuts to children’s programs will have a long-term impact on the future of our nation’s children and families.

Signatories to the letter include:

Alliance for Strong Families and Communities
Child Welfare League of America
Children’s Health Fund
Easterseals
First Focus Campaign for Children
Institute for Child Success
MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership
Moms Rising
National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth
National Education Association
National Network for Youth
National Title I Association
Public Advocacy for Kids
Save the Children
Save the Children Action Network
Share our Strength
United Way
National WIC Association
YMCA of the USA
Youth Villages
American Academy of Pediatrics

Read the letter here.

Several proposals before Congress have been introduced recently to address the nation's widespread child lead poisoning epidemic following the tragic public health disaster in Flint, Mich.

Some proposals would provide funding to replace lead pipes in contaminated water systems, establish mandatory testing and reporting of lead levels, and update federal law to require local governments to notify the public of lead in their water system. Other proposals would help schools and childcare centers test their drinking water for lead by establishing a new grant program.

The First Focus Campaign for Children strongly urges legislators to consider these and all other common-sense proposals that protect children in American from lead poisoning in their homes, schools, and natural environment.

Los Alamos Daily Post

4/28/16

WASHINGTON, D.C. ― U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham introduced legislation to ensure stable and increased federal funding for emergency food banks that distribute food to communities throughout the state.

Lujan Grisham drew attention to the need for the funding last month at a food distribution site at Pajarito Mesa.

As a member of the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Lujan Grisham voted for the 2014 Farm Bill that dedicated money for food purchases, along with $100 million a year for food banks to distribute food to communities. But the distribution money is usually whittled down to about $50 million a year, forcing organizations like the Roadrunner Food Bank to look for other sources of money.

Rep. Lujan Grisham’s Food Bank Assistance Act of 2016 (H.R. 4967) would ...

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On April 22, 2016, the First Focus Campaign for Children sent a letter to members of the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee strongly stating its opposition of the Improving Child Nutrition and Education Act of 2016.

We believe healthy nutrition is an essential building block of a healthy childhood and that no child in America should ever go hungry. Students who have access to healthy and nutritious food perform better in school. Twenty percent of American children live in poverty and more than 15 million children live in food-insecure households. Child nutrition programs play an essential role in providing healthy meals to kids both in and out of school.

As introduced, the House Improving Child Nutrition and Education Act of 2016 (H.R. 5003) would put access to many essential children's food programs at risk. The bill also weakens nutrition standards that help children thrive academically and developmentally. Specifically, the provisions to increase both verification requirements and community eligibility thresholds will undoubtedly result in children losing free and reduced price meals during the school day.

We must continue to improve access to healthy and nutritious foods for all kids, rather than create additional barriers for the families who need it most.

.@EdWorkforce We should improve access to healthy food. Children can't learn if they're hungry! http://bit.ly/23OzwF0 v/ @Campaign4Kids
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Los Alamos Daily Post

By Chris Clark

3/23/16

WASHINGTON, D.C. ― U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico’s Third District introduced legislation today to help hard-working families save for college.

At a time when 70 percent of graduating seniors have an average student loan debt of $28,950, the Save for Success Act reforms the American Opportunity College Tax Credit (AOTC) to increase its impact and encourage saving for college.

Created in 2009, the American Opportunity College Tax Credit allows families with college expenses to receive a $2,500 tax credit for a student’s first four years of post-secondary education, for a total credit of $10,000. This assistance, however, only comes after students have already incurred higher education expenses. In fact, students don’t often receive assistance until months after they have paid their tuition bills. Partly because of this, the latest research shows that the AOTC fails to boost college success.

Luján’s Save for Success Act improves the AOTC and makes higher education ...

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H.R. 4722 would deny millions children access to the refundable portion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC).

Currently, immigrant parents who are ineligible for a Social Security Number (SSN) pay their taxes using an Individual Identification Number, and are able to claim the CTC and its refundable portion for qualifying children. By requiring a SSN, more than 5 million children living in low-income immigrant families, the vast majority of whom are U.S. Citizens, would be directly harmed.

The CTC and the ACTC were designed to benefit children, and we are opposed to any change in eligibility that would undermine the best interest of children.

These 300 leading national, state, and local organizations wrote to Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) thanking them for introducing the Hygiene Assistance for Families of Infants and Toddlers Act of 2015 (H.R. 4055).

Nearly half of infants and toddlers in the United States are living in low-income families. This means that over 5 million young children are living in families that have a hard time covering the cost of their family’s basic needs, including diapers for their young children.

The Hygiene Assistance for Families of Infants and Toddlers Act would address diaper need in the United States by creating a demonstration program for distributing diapers to eligible families. States will have flexibility in developing and implementing their program. These demonstrations will reveal the best ways to help eligible families access diapers for their young children.

I stand w/ 300+ orgs in support of Hygiene Assistance for Families of Infants and Toddlers Act: http://bit.ly/1VndFwh v/ @Campaign4Kids
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