As we move towards accountability and welcome in the new administration, it’s time for bold solutions to dismantle systems of oppression and protect our children from sources of toxic stress like poverty, racism, and police violence.
As we move towards accountability and welcome in the new administration, it’s time for bold solutions to dismantle systems of oppression and protect our children from sources of toxic stress like poverty, racism, and police violence.
Last week, in one of its final actions, the Trump Administration finalized a rule that would allow taxpayer-funded discrimination in the child welfare system. The rule reverses Obama-era regulations that provided blanket protections on the basis of sex, religion, gender identity, and sexual orientation from programs receiving federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This rule is a license to discriminate and is in direct opposition to the cardinal rule of child welfare, that the best interest of the child is paramount.
Last week, President-Elect Biden released a $1.9 trillion COVID relief package to address the growing public health and economic crisis brought on by the pandemic, which continues to exacerbate the systems of economic and racial injustice that harm our children. Since the start of the pandemic, CDF has called on lawmakers to prioritize children in their response to the crisis and the President-Elect’s relief package would provide immediate relief while also taking a long overdue step to address our nation’s shameful child poverty crisis that could lead to the largest reduction in child poverty rates in decades.
On December 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, which combines a $1.4 trillion year-end funding package with a $900 million dollar COVID-19 relief package. The law contains several important provisions related to the child welfare system.
