http://www.clasp.org/experts/highlights.xml?id=0001 Resources & Publications from the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) en-us Tue, 21 May 2013 11:35:03 -0500 info@clasp.org webmaster@clasp.org 40 Tue, 17 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0500 /resources_and_publications/publication?id=1119&list=publications Tomorrow, the House Ways and Means Committee will consider a bill to eliminate the Social Service Block Grant (SSBG). This $1.7 billion flexible funding stream helps states provide a range of critical services to some of our nation's most vulnerable individuals, and is often used by states to fill gaps left by federal programs. http://www.clasp.org/resources_and_publications/publication?id=1119&list=publications Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0500 /admin/site/publications/files/CLASP-testimony-for-the-record-hearing-on-child-deaths-due-to-maltreatment.pdf This testimony was submitted to the House Ways and Means Committee, Subcommittee on Human Resources in response to the July 12, 2011 Hearing on Child Deaths due to Maltreatment. CLASP encourages steady work towards comprehensive child welfare financing reform in order to reduce child fatalities and all child maltreatment. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/CLASP-testimony-for-the-record-hearing-on-child-deaths-due-to-maltreatment.pdf Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0500 /resources_and_publications/publication?id=0982&list=publications On July 6, 2011, CLASP hosted the forum discussion, The Promise and Challenge of Evidence-Based Policy and Practice, featuring two leading research voices: Lisbeth Schorr and Gordon Berlin. This event was the final event in CLASP's 40th anniversary policy series, Policy and Promise for Low-Income People in America. http://www.clasp.org/resources_and_publications/publication?id=0982&list=publications Fri, 20 May 2011 00:00:00 -0500 /admin/site/publications/files/CLASP-Comments-on-CFSR-5-20-11.pdf These comments, submitted to the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), were submitted in response to a request for public comment on Federal monitoring of Child and Family Service Programs through the Child and Family Service Review (CFSR). CLASP's recommendations are intended to help ACF modify the CFSR process in ways that balance accountability and continuous quality improvement. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/CLASP-Comments-on-CFSR-5-20-11.pdf Mon, 09 May 2011 00:00:00 -0500 /admin/site/publications/files/CLASP-Comments-on-American-Community-Survey-5-9-11.pdf Kinship care means different things to different people and organizations. Most broadly, it can be used to define any care provided by grandparents or other relatives. More narrowly, in using this term to talk about grandparents and other relatives raising children in kinship care, it is often thought of as only those families in which the grandparent or other relative has taken over primary responsibility for most of the basic needs of the child (such as feeding, clothing, providing shelter, and meeting the child's health, educational, and emotional needs) on a daily basis without either of the child's parents present in the household. Not surprisingly, the needs of different types of kinship families vary greatly. In these comments to the Census Bureau, CLASP makes a number of recommendations to strengthen the data collected in the American Community Survey to provide a better estimate of the number and types of kinship families in the United States. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/CLASP-Comments-on-American-Community-Survey-5-9-11.pdf Thu, 07 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0500 /admin/site/publications/files/Adoption-and-Guardian-Assist-09-factsheet.pdf This factsheet provides state expenditures of federal adoption and guardianship funds under Title IV-E, FY 2009. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/Adoption-and-Guardian-Assist-09-factsheet.pdf Thu, 07 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0500 /admin/site/publications/files/Foster-Care-Assist-09-factsheet.pdf This factsheet provides state expenditures of federal foster care funds under Title IV-E for FY 2009. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/Foster-Care-Assist-09-factsheet.pdf Fri, 22 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0500 /admin/site/publications/files/10.21.10-CLASP-comments-on-AFCARS-and-SACWIS.pdf CLASP urges the Administration for Children and Families to take a comprehensive approach in making changes to the child welfare accountability system. Such an approach is needed and will yield a system that will: ensure that children are receiving the services and protections they are guaranteed under title IV-E; allow child welfare agencies to identify evidence of particularly effective practices or problematic trends that can help them shape practice; and, provide important information to policymakers and advocates to help better understand how well existing policies are working and ways in which they may be improved. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/10.21.10-CLASP-comments-on-AFCARS-and-SACWIS.pdf Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0500 /admin/site/publications/files/Supplemental-Testimony-of-Rutledge-Hutson-8-27-10.pdf Supplemental testimony on comprehensive child welfare financing reform submitted to the U.S. House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support. CLASP argues that the broad components of comprehensive financing reform should include: expanding Title IV-E funds to support the full continuum of services needed by children who have experienced or are at risk of experiencing child abuse and neglect; increasing support to enhance the child welfare workforce; and, increasing accountability - both fiscal accountability and accountability for the outcomes children and families experience. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/Supplemental-Testimony-of-Rutledge-Hutson-8-27-10.pdf Wed, 18 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500 /admin/site/publications/files/8.16.10-CLASP-comments-on-home-visiting-criteria-for-evidence-of-effectiveness.pdf These comments, submitted to the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Administration for Children and Families, were submitted in response to the proposed criteria for evidence of effectiveness of home visiting program models to be implemented by states under the new home visiting program established in the Affordable Care Act. CLASP's comments include recommendations for strengthening the final criteria so that they better reflect the law's goal of helping states build the capacity to implement a coordinated system of early childhood home visitation. The recommendations also encourage strengthening the final criteria by providing much needed information, particularly as related to process, so that states are well-prepared to update their state plans and dialogue with HRSA/ACF as appropriate. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/8.16.10-CLASP-comments-on-home-visiting-criteria-for-evidence-of-effectiveness.pdf Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500 /admin/site/publications/files/8.6.10-CLASP-comments-on-OCSE-proposed-regs.pdf These comments address proposed changes to the sharing of child support information specifically as related to information sharing with child welfare agencies for child welfare purposes. CLASP hopes that the final regulations more clearly identify what information can be shared to help child welfare agencies carry out their responsibilities under Titles IV-B and IV-E and that, in particular, they clarify how information regarding family violence can be shared in a safe and appropriate manner. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/8.6.10-CLASP-comments-on-OCSE-proposed-regs.pdf Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500 /resources_and_publications/publication?id=0789&list=publications On July 29, Rutledge Q. Hutson testified before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support on improving the outcomes of children who come into contact with the child welfare system, and the role of Title IV-E demonstration projects in improving those outcomes. http://www.clasp.org/resources_and_publications/publication?id=0789&list=publications Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0600 /postsecondary/publication?id=0716&list=publications Our nation faces many domestic challenges, including improving access to affordable health care, improving access to education as well as education outcomes, and providing debt and foreclosure relief. CLASP's 2010 federal policy recommendations are equally essential to achieving healthy and thriving families and improving the nation's prosperity. http://www.clasp.org/postsecondary/publication?id=0716&list=publications Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500 /admin/site/publications/files/federalpolicyrecommendations.pdf The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has developed an extensive federal policy agenda for President Obama and the 111th Congress directed at improving the lives of low income people. That agenda is outlined in this document. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/federalpolicyrecommendations.pdf Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 /admin/site/publications/files/0435.pdf Too many children experience abuse and neglect with negative lifelong consequences. Too few children get the services and supports they need to heal. Yet, proven and promising practices can reduce maltreatment and ameliorate harm. Taking these practices to scale will require federal investment and leadership in five strategic areas. We must: (1) increase prevention and early intervention services that help keep children and families out of crisis; (2) increase specialized treatment services for those children and families that do experience crisis; (3) increase services to support families after a crisis has stabilized (including birth families, as well as kinship and adoptive families created when parents are unable to care for their children); (4) enhance the quality of the workforce providing services to children and families; and (5) improve accountability both for dollars spent and outcomes achieved. Together these efforts will improve the lives of millions of children across the nation. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/0435.pdf Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500 /resources_and_publications/publication?id=0429&list=publications The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (P.L. 110-351) will help hundreds of thousands of children and youth in foster care by promoting permanent families for them through relative guardianship and adoption and improving education and health care. Additionally, it will extend federal support for youth to age 21. P.L. 110-351 also will offer for the first time many American Indian children important federal protections and support. H.R. 6893 has bipartisan support and is fully paid for. This bill resolves differences between the House-passed Fostering Connections to Success Act (H.R.6307) and the Senate Finance Committee-approved Chairman's Mark of S. 3038, the Improved Adoption Incentives and Relative Guardianship Support Act. P.L. 110-351 was unanimously passed by the House on suspension of the rules on September 17, 2008 and in the Senate by unanimous consent on September 22, 2008. The law was signed by President Bush on October 7, 2008. http://www.clasp.org/resources_and_publications/publication?id=0429&list=publications Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500 /admin/site/publications/files/0532.pdf The twelfth in a series on Couples and Marriage Research Policy, this brief looks at marriage from a notably different perspective than previous briefs in the series. This brief explores how childhood experiences, specifically child maltreatment and involvement with the child welfare system, impact the potential for a healthy,lasting marriage. The brief summarizes the research on the barriers to a healthy marriage and what is known about the long term impacts of child maltreatment and foster care. Finally, the authors offer recommendations for addressing the unique needs of couples in which one or both partners have experienced childhood maltreatment. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/0532.pdf Wed, 06 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0600 /admin/site/publications/files/0400.pdf CLASP is concerned about the detrimental effects the interim final rule regarding Medicaid case management and targeted case management services, will have on children being served by child welfare programs, including child protective services and foster care programs. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/0400.pdf Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0600 /admin/site/publications/files/0396.pdf First published by the Clearinghouse Review Journal of Poverty Law and Policy in Summer 2007, this paper highlights a number of promising services and supports for incarcerated parents and recommends what attorneys representing or working with incarcerated parents and their children can do to minimize harm to children. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/0396.pdf Mon, 17 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0500 /admin/site/publications/files/0376.pdf In this paper--a response to a call for papers from Sen. Gordon Smith--CLASP details the reasons to support kinship care, recommends areas for additional research, highlights current challenges states face, and addresses common myths. CLASP encourages Congress to adopt the provisions of the Kinship Caregiver Support Act. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/0376.pdf