Youth and Families

Less than a year after landmark federal legislation quietly transformed the child welfare field, tensions about the future of federal support for foster care emerged again in California. At a meeting of the state’s influential County Welfare Directors Association, Jerry Milner— one of the the nation’s top child welfare officials— laid out his vision for overhauling the country’s foster care system in the wake of the passage of the Family First Prevention Services Act.

When a series of family crises left her 3-year-old niece in need of a permanent home, April Funches opened her doors. Although the move was in the works for months, the little girl arrived lacking enough clothes and other necessities, which meant Funches’ budget took an immediate hit.

After a confirmation process that included a standoff over the Trump administration’s delay of new data collection on foster care and adoption, Lynn Johnson was confirmed to lead the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) just before the Labor Day weekend.

President Trump has announced that Elizabeth Darling is his choice to serve as the commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF), one of the top child welfare jobs at the U.S.

Earlier this month, a Rhode Island state senator introduced a bill that would compel the state’s foster care agency to split the cost of transporting foster youth to school with the education system.

In June, the Trump administration hired Jerry Milner to lead the federal agency within the Department of Health and Human Services that oversees federal child welfare funding and policy. The Administration for Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) was established in 1977 and oversees the Family and Youth Services Bureau as well as the much larger Children’s Bureau, which was created by President William Howard Taft back in 1912.

Last week, during a reception at a sleek house off of Washington D.C.’s Embassy Row, I found myself in the kitchen talking with Winnie Wechsler. Wechsler, who runs the Pritzker Foster Care Initiative, which funds a slew of child welfare related non-profits including the one I run, was amped up.

The Administration for Children and Families, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, plans for the first time to collect national data and information about Native American children involved in state and local child welfare systems.

The Family First Act has the support of the organizations representing state human services agencies and state advocacy groups. It is endorsed by the membership group representing many of the nation’s child welfare providers, many of which provide residential care.