First Star - Research

First Star strives to promote accountability among child protection and foster care systems, challenging the federal and state legislatures to adopt best practices via evidence-based policy. First Star's seminal publications: The National Report Card on Legal Representation for Children (2007) and State Secrecy and Child Deaths in the United States (2008) are intended to provoke conversation and to prompt swift action on behalf of vulnerable children.

These reports serve two crucial purposes: To alert child advocates, policy makers, the media, and the general public about where the system is failing children and to stimulate discussion of how changes can be made.

Congress Passes Landmark Child Welfare Legislation
Last week, Congress unanimously passed the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (HR 6893), legislation that makes substantial improvements to the child welfare system. The bill, introduced by Representatives McDermott (D-WA-7th) and Weller (R-IL-11th), was the result of intense bipartisan negotiations between the House and Senate.

The bill addresses a range of issues related to the child welfare system, including making federal Title IV-E foster care and adoption dollars available to more children and reauthorizing the Adoption Incentives program. First Star joined over 520 national and state organizations in endorsing HR 6893, and we applaud Congress for passing the legislation with such overwhelming support.

Highlights:

Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payments. Allows states to claim federal reimbursement of Title IV-E foster care dollars to cover some of the costs associated with providing assistance to every eligible child who leaves foster care for placement with a family member who has become the child’s legal guardian.
Older Children. Allows states the option to extend federal foster care support to individuals who do not have permanent families when they turn 18. Support could be provided up to the age 21 if the individual meets certain criteria, such as being employed or in school.
Tribal Youth. Permits Native American tribes to make claims directly to the federal government for eligible foster care adoption assistance payments rather than going through their state.
School Stability. Requires states to plan for educational stability for children placed in foster care.
Health Coordination. Requires each state to ensure the coordination of health care services for children in foster care.
Adoption Incentives. Reauthorizes the Adoption Incentives program through FY 2013 at $43 million per year.

A more thorough analysis and summary from our friends at Child Welfare League of America is available at:
http://www.cwla.org/advocacy/adoptionhr6893.htm.

First Star Asks Candidates to “Step Up For Kids”

On September 16th, First Star joined with Every Child Matters in a national “Step Up For Kids Day” to urge Senators John McCain and Barack Obama to address the needs of children in the presidential campaign.

As part of this effort, Amy Harfeld, Executive Director of First Star, participated in a press conference at the National Press Club where she emphasized the role of prevention in ensuring child well-being.

“The next administration simply must attend to the needs of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens- our abused and neglected children,” said Harfeld. “That’s why we’re partnering with Every Child Matters to urge the presidential candidates to address child welfare issues and funding.”

Other speakers included:

Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, author, pediatrician and founder, BrazeltonTouchpoints Institute;
Dr. Renee R. Jenkins, president, American Academy of Pediatrics;
Elizabeth J. Clark, PhD, ACSW, executive director, National Association of Social Workers; and
Michael R. Petit, author, “Homeland Insecurity” and founder/president, Every Child Matters Education Fund.

The national news event took place on the same day that similar Step Up for Kids Day events were being held in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. You can listen to the full press conference at: http://www.everychildmatters.org/National/Campaigns/Step-Up-4-Kids.html.

Congress Punts FY 2009 Spending Into Next Year

With October 1st marking the official start of the 2009 federal fiscal year (FY) and none of the twelve FY 2009 appropriations bills enacted, Congress chose to pass a long-term continuing resolution that will keep the majority of federal funding at FY 2008 levels. The legislation (HR 2638) includes the text of three FY 2009 spending bills: Defense; Homeland Security; and Military Construction-VA. Funding for the remaining nine appropriations bills, including Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (Labor-HHS-Ed), will be remain at FY 2008 levels through March 6, 2009. Congress did provide an additional $22.9 billion to some domestic programs for disaster relief.

The majority of federal discretionary funding for prevention is appropriated through the Labor-HHS-ED bill, so through March 6th of 2009, funding levels will continue at the following FY 2008 levels for Prevent Child Abuse America’s priorities:

$63 million for the Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) discretionary grant;
$26.5 million for Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) State Grants;
$41.6 million CAPTA Community-Based Prevention Grants;
$37.1 million for CAPTA Discretionary Grants, with $10 million allocated to support home visiting;
$1.7 billion for the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG). On top of the funding for the base block grant, an additional $600 million will be appropriated to states through SSBG for disaster relief.

The House passed the continuing resolution on September 24th; the Senate is expected to pass the bill over the weekend. The Administration has not issued a statement on the package, but the expectation is thatthe President will sign the bill.

Oprah Provides Jolt to Combating Child Exploitation Act
The September 15th episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, Internet Predators: How Bad Is It?, featured information about keeping children safe online. In the episode and on her website, Oprah Winfrey urged Congress to pass the Combating Child Exploitation Act of 2008 (S. 1738), also referred to as the PROTECT Our Children Act.

Among other provisions, the legislation instructs the Attorney General to create and implement a national strategy for child exploitation prevention and intervention. The national strategy would have to include:

Comprehensive long-range goals for reducing child exploitation;
A five-year projection for program and budget goals and priorities;
A review of the policies and work of the Department of Justice (DOJ) related to child exploitation crimes;
A description of DOJ efforts to coordinate with international, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and private entities on child exploitation prevention and interdiction efforts;
A review of federal programs for child exploitation prevention and education; and
A review of data indicating the overall magnitude of U.S. and international child pornography trafficking.

Since the Oprah episode aired, an additional 39 Senators have signed on as cosponsors to S. 1738. Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) attempted to bring the bill to the floor for a vote on September 23rd under a “unanimous consent” agreement (UC). A UC agreement sets the parameters for the debate and is generally used to expedite consideration on the Senate floor. It is typically the last hurdle a bill must jump before a floor vote can take place. All Senators must agree to the UC for the bill to move forward. Senator Coburn (R-OK) objected to the UC agreement for S. 1738, citing the overall cost of the bill as an issue. With Congress expected to wrap up their business for the year next week, it is unclear at this point if the bill will have another opportunity for a Senate floor vote.

The House passed their version of the bill (HR 3845) last November by a vote of 415-2.