2019 proved to be a big year with significant progress made for Ohio's children. Despite critical investments and policy wins, much is still needed to keep pace with the growing demands to keep children healthy, safe, and thriving into adulthood.
Supporting and affirming the loving parents who provide homes for children in foster care is in the best interest of those kids. To fulfill our duty to children, it is imperative that we build policies that help foster and adoptive parents be the best they can be.
Today, Congress passed two large spending packages to fund the government through FY2020 and thus averted a government shutdown. The packages authorize nearly $1.4 trillion in spending and include some important wins for children, including the FFTA.
CDF led an effort to garner support from nearly 400 national and state organizations across the country in support of the Family First Transition Act. This Act presents a bold plan to help states, tribes and territories meet the unique fiscal and statutory requirements of implementation. Once enacted, it will provide critical tools to help states, tribes and territories take advantage of the opportunities contained in Family First, so that more children and families can thrive.
CDF submitted comments on HHS's proposed rule on nondiscrimination protections for HHS-funded programs. Government-sanctioned discrimination is diametrically opposed to the cardinal rule of child welfare, that the best interest of the child is paramount, and, as such, it should never be allowed in the child welfare system. This rule would threaten the ability of the child welfare system to promote permanency for youth in care and will jeopardize the safety and well-being of children in foster care.
CDF submitted comments against this proposed rule as it is a license to discriminate and is in direct opposition to the cardinal rule of child welfare, that the best interests of the child must always be paramount. Simply put, this rule threatens the safety, permanency and well-being of children.