Governors’ Budgets: Federal Aid Needed to Prevent Job Loss

States are facing an estimated $180 billion budget gap for FY 2011 (which begins July 1st, 2010 in most states). A new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Governors’ New Budgets Indicate Loss of Many Jobs if Federal Aid Expires, outlines the significant cuts proposed in governors’ FY 2011 budgets. The cuts will predominately affect education, health care, and programs that serve low-income families and the elderly. According to the report, reducing funding in these areas would lead to a further weakened economy, including significant job-loss. The report outlines the impact of the funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in preventing job-loss and increasing demand. The report emphasizes the need for Congress to provide additional fiscal relief to states facing record revenue declines.

Policies to Expand Economic Opportunity.

Increasing Access to Public Benefits: Important for Families and States

A new issue brief, Improving Access to Public Benefits: Helping Eligible Individuals and Families Get the Income Supports They Need, prepared by The Ford Foundation, the Open Society Institute, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, addresses untapped resources that, if utilized, would provide support to low-income families. The brief highlights research suggesting that $65 billion in government services and supports remain unclaimed – a problem effecting eligible families, as well as local communities and state governments. The brief details the problem, gives examples of innovative outreach efforts, and provides information on replicating successful benefit access models.

Policies to Support Family Economic Success

Funding Child Welfare: A New Resource from CLASP

The Center for Law and Social Policy recently released, State Fact Sheets on Child Welfare Funding, 2010. The fact sheets include information on child welfare expenditures and funding sources by state, but also include contextual information about child welfare including the percentage of children living in poverty, types of abuse and neglect, the number of children in foster care, and the average length of stay in care for all 50 states.

Policies for Building Strong and Stable Families

Who’s Covered and How?: Health Insurance Coverage for Kids

A recent brief from the Carsey Institute brief examines the health insurance coverage of children under age 18. Using data from the 2008 American Community Survey, the authors found that rural and urban children have lower rates of coverage and, of children with health insurance, nearly two-thirds are covered by public health insurance plans. With major health care reforms under consideration, it is crucial to understand and support the health care needs of young children.

Policies to expand health insurance coverage for children.

Parental Incarceration and Child Development: Unique Needs and Specialized Supports

Two new publications from The Bendheim Thoman Center for Research on Child Wellbeing (CRCW) at Princeton University, examine the effects of parents’ incarceration on their children, a relationship that suggests the need for holistic, multi-system supports for families affected by incarceration Parental Incarceration and Child Well-Being: Implications for Urban Families finds that children of incarcerated parents face unique hardships, including more economic and residential instability than their peers, and that sons of incarcerated fathers demonstrate more behavioral problems. Beyond Absenteeism: Father Incarceration and its Effects on Children’s Development presents further consequences for children’s development. The authors find evidence that children of incarcerated fathers are significantly more likely than peers to externalize problems at age five, among other effects. Both publications point to the need for specialized supports for children of incarcerated parents and the potential for effective interventions at the point of incarceration.

Policies to help build strong and stable families and encourage family economic success. Visit our homepage to sign up for email updates about our new content on prisoner re-entry—coming soon!

Federal Child Nutrition Programs and Rural Households: Ensuring Children in Need are Served

Soon, Congress is scheduled to reauthorize the Child Nutrition and Women, Infants, and Children Reauthorization Act of 2004, the funding legislation for federal food assistance programs for children. A new issue brief from the Carsey Institute argues for the necessity of these programs to children in rural households in particular, identifying barriers to participation and effect program delivery to these households. The authors’ key findings include:

• Of the estimated 6.2 million rural households with children in the United States, approximately 29 percent participate in at least one of the four major federal child nutrition programs.
• Although about 2.8 million rural households with children are income-eligible for the child nutrition programs, roughly 43 percent of those eligible do not participate in any of the four programs.
• Rural household participation rates in the South are higher than the rates nationally for all four programs.

Policies to expand food assistance.

Fostering Connections: New Resources and Training Opportunities

There are several new resources available to help support the implementation of the Fostering Connection Act in the States. (Hat tip: Children’s Defense Fund)

• February 8 Webinar. The Fostering Connections Resource Center will be hosting a series of webinars to support implementation of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act. On Monday February 8th State leaders from Illinois, Iowa and Tennessee will share how their states are designing foster care services for 18 to 21 year olds. To reserve a seat for this webinar.
• February 10 Teleconference: The National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections will be holding a monthly teleconference series to provide a forum for sharing information and experiences in implementing improved child welfare practices and to learn about national trends and research findings. To register.
• Sample Legislation to Implement the Kinship Guardianship Assistance Option.The Children’s Defense Fund in collaboration with others has developed this sample legislation that outlines the components that are required by the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act. Policymakers and administrators can use this tool in order to access the federally supported kinship guardianship program.
• Guidance from the Children’s Bureau in the Administration on Children and Families: Implementing the Fostering Connections Act. A reference guide to locate Children’s Bureau policy, guidance and other implementation activities.

Reframing Youth Violence as a Preventable Public Health Issue

Moving From Them to Us: Challenges in Reframing Violence Against Youth, commissioned by the Prevention Institute on behalf of Urban Networks to Increase Thriving Youth (UNITY), describes the media’s framing of youth, race, and crime and the related challenges of violence prevention. The authors discuss portrayals of youth and violence and how they are affected by framing of race and government. Ultimately, they proffer ideas for shifting public understanding of youth violence from a purely criminal justice issue to one of public health and prevention.

Hat tip to the Reclaiming Futures blog!

Policies for preparing youth to succeed in life.

Would Longer Schools Days or Years Mean Greater Student Achievement?

The National Center on Time and Learning’s report, Tracking An Emerging Movement: A Report on Extended-Time Schools in America, analyses a database of more than 650 schools that utilize an extended school day or school year. (This database is searchable on NCTL’s website.) Trends, in areas like student outcomes and time use, across these schools point to extended-time schools as a potential strategy for increasing student achievement.

Policies to improve K-3 academic success.

Pres. Obama's 2011 Budget, Online Analyses Available

The President’s budget is being released today and will detail the spending freeze presented during the State of the Union. The freeze will be accomplished through program cuts and eliminations from non-exempt areas of the budget; exempt areas include national security (Defense, Homeland Security, Veterans) along with entitlements (Medicaid, Social Security, Food Stamps). The details of the 2011 budget will be discussed during several upcoming presentations:

• Foster care and child welfare: Department of Health and Human Services will hold a briefing on its part of the budget on Monday, February 1 at 1pm EST. It can be watched live online. The HHS budget summary can be accessed after 12:30 on February 1.
• Early childhood programs: CLASP and the National Women's Law will examine the impact on early childhood programs during a free audio conference on Wednesday, February 3, 2010, at 3:00 p.m. Register today!
• Children and families: The Coalition on Human Needs will hold a briefing on the President’s Budget on Friday, February 5, from 3:00 to 4:30 EST at AFSCME, 1625 L Street, NW. You can register for the webcast of the briefing. This is a great opportunity to get an overall picture of the budget and its implications for the future of children, families and other adults. (Hat tip: Children’s Defense Fund)

For tips and strategies to maximize federal funding, particularly during tight budget times.