Rutledge Q. Hutson: Publications

• Apr 17, 2012  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson Misguided Bill Would Eliminate Critical Child Welfare Funding 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. Read Online
• Jul 27, 2011  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson and Tiffany Conway Perrin Testimony for the Record on Hearing on Child Deaths due to Maltreatment 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. Download PDF
• Jul 06, 2011  |  EVENT RESOURCES The Promise and Challenge of Evidence-Based Policy and Practice 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. Read Online
• May 20, 2011  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson CLASP Comments on Federal Monitoring of Child and Family Service 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. Download PDF
• May 09, 2011  |  Beth Davis-Pratt and Rutledge Q. Hutson CLASP Comments on American Community Survey 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. Download PDF
• Apr 07, 2011  |  Rutledge Hutson Federal Adoption and Guardianship Assistance Under Title IV-E, FY 2009 This factsheet provides state expenditures of federal adoption and guardianship funds under Title IV-E, FY 2009. Download PDF
• Apr 07, 2011  |  Rutledge Hutson Federal Foster Care Assistance Under Title IV-E, FY 2009 This factsheet provides state expenditures of federal foster care funds under Title IV-E for FY 2009. Download PDF
• Oct 22, 2010  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson & Tiffany Conway Perrin Comments in Response to the Administration for Children and Families' Request for Comment on Child Welfare Data Systems 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. Download PDF
• Sep 03, 2010  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson Supplemental Testimony on Comprehensive Child Welfare Financing Reform 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. Download PDF
• Aug 18, 2010  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson & Tiffany Conway Perrin Comments on Proposed Criteria for Evidence of Effectiveness of Home Visiting Program Models 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. Download PDF
• Aug 09, 2010  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson Comments to Office of Child Support Enforcement: Proposed Rulemaking on Safeguarding Child Support Information 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. Download PDF
• Jul 29, 2010  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson Testimony on How Child Welfare Waivers Can and Cannot Promote Child Well-Being 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. Read Online   |   Download PDF
• Jan 25, 2010  |  CLASP Federal Policy Recommendations for 2010 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. Read Online   |   Download PDF
• Sep 01, 2009  |  CLASP Federal Policy Recommendations for 2009 and Beyond 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. Download PDF
• Oct 03, 2008  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson Protecting Children and Strengthening Families 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. Download PDF
• Sep 23, 2008 Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act 2008 resources 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. Read Online
• Jun 03, 2008  |  Tiffany Conway and Rutledge Q. Hutson Healthy Marriage and the Legacy of Child Maltreatment: A Child Welfare Perspective 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. Download PDF
• Feb 06, 2008  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson Comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on the Interim Final Rule Regarding Medicaid Case Management and Targeted Case Management Services 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. Download PDF
• Jan 30, 2008  |  Tiffany Conway and Rutledge Q. Hutson Parental Incarceration: How to Avoid a "Death Sentence" for Families 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. Download PDF
• Sep 17, 2007  |  Tiffany Conway and Rutledge Q. Hutson Submission in Response to Senator Gordon Smith's July 26, 2007 Call For Papers to Examine the Needs of Grandparent and Other Relative Caregivers 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. Download PDF
• Mar 02, 2007  |  Tiffany Conway and Rutledge Q. Hutson Is Kinship Care Good for Kids? More than 2.5 million children are being raised by grandparents and other relatives because their parents are unable--for a variety of reasons--to care for them. A number of states have utilized subsidized guardianship programs as a way of supporting these "kinship families." Some wonder whether kinship care is a good thing--and how we know this. This fact sheet addresses these often unasked but crucial questions. Download PDF
• Feb 09, 2007  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson Bush Administration's "Child Welfare Program Option" Puts Children Who Have Been Abused or Neglected at Greater Risk The Bush Administration's 2008 budget proposal talks about a goal of increasing services and supports for children, but its budget recommendations go in the opposite direction. This brief focuses on the Administration's "Child Welfare Program Option," offering a summary of what is known about the proposal and the concerns and questions CLASP has about the approach suggested. Download PDF
• Jan 19, 2007  |  Tiffany Conway & Rutledge Q. Hutson In-Depth Summary of Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006 The Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006 (CFSIA) represents an important step toward providing crucial services to children and families involved or at risk of becoming involved with the child welfare system. Of particular benefit are the addition of $40 million annually and the attention given to improving the workforce and addressing substance abuse, specifically methamphetamine abuse. This summary outlines the provisions of the law. Download PDF
• Jan 09, 2007  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson Partnering to Promote Guardianship: The Federal Outlook This presentation provides an overview of the needs of children being raised by grandparents and other relatives because their parents are unable to do so. It highlights key provisions of several federal legislative proposals to address some of the unique needs of these families, and it offers an overview of the current federal policymaking environment. Download PDF
• Sep 12, 2006  |  Tiffany Conway and Rutledge Hutson Comments to the Children's Bureau, ACF on the Proposed Rule to Implement the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) These are CLASP's official comments to ACF on the proposed rule to implement the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD), published in the Federal Register on July 14, 2006. This is the rule proposed for implementing the data collection requirements of the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999. Download PDF
• Aug 29, 2006  |  Rutledge Hutson Comments to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Medicaid Citizenship Documentation Interim Final Rule This document contains CLASP's official comments to CMS on the interim final rule published in the federal register on July 12, 2006. The regulations implement the citizenship documentation requirements of Section 6036 of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. Download PDF
• Aug 28, 2006  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch, Rutledge Q. Hutson, Amy-Ellen Duke, and Julie Strawn Comments to HHS on the TANF Interim Final Rule These are CLASP's official comments to ACF on the interim final rule published in the Federal Register on June 29, 2006. These regulations implemented changes to TANF made as part of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. Download PDF
• Feb 17, 2006  |  Casey Trupin, Vicki Turetsky, Rutledge Q. Hutson Final 2006 Budget Bill Cuts Services to Abused and Neglected Children On February 8, 2006, President Bush signed into law the 2006 federal budget bill, which includes provisions to decrease federal funding for a range of services that help children who have been abused or neglected. It also removes foster care payments for some low-income relatives caring for children at risk of abuse and neglect, and restricts access to some Medicaid services for children in foster care. The bill makes two modest improvements to child welfare funding, but they are not sufficient to offset the cuts. This brief examines the bill's impact on child welfare funding. Download PDF
• Feb 10, 2004  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson Providing Comprehensive, Integrated Social Services to Vulnerable Children and Families: Are There Legal Barriers at the Federal Level to Moving Forward? Over the past several years, social service providers have increasingly recognized that families seeking assistance often face multiple, complex needs and that they require the services of more than one program. Working in consultation with state and local officials, this paper offers a model of cross-system integration focusing on comprehensive services for children and families. This paper was written as part of a collaborative effort between the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, CLASP, and the Hudson Institute. Download PDF
• Aug 04, 2003  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson Comments on the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System This letter, submitted by CLASP to the federal Childrens Bureau, comments on how to improve the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS). The data collected through AFCARS provide critical information to federal, state, and local governments, as well as to advocates and researchers, which can be used to improve program management and to enhance policy development and implementation. These comments offer suggestions about improving AFCARS so that this data collection system can be a more effective tool in improving the welfare of children in foster care and of those who have been adopted through the child welfare system. The comments fall into four general categories: (1) developing the capacity to track children over time; (2) improving the comparability of data across states; (3) collecting critical additional data and (4) enhancing access to data on a timely basis. Download PDF
• Aug 04, 2003  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson Input on Improving Court Oversight of Child Welfare Cases The new Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care is developing recommendations to improve court oversight of child welfare cases and to facilitate better, more timely decisions related to childrens safety, permanence, and well-being. This memo offers three suggestions to the Commission: (1) designate specially trained judges to hear child welfare cases; (2) ensure that everyone involved in the child welfare cases has an opportunity to be heard; and (3) provide comprehensive training to judges, lawyers, guardians ad litem, Court Appointed Special Advocates, and related court personnelnot only about the legal issues involved in child welfare cases, but also about child development, family dynamics, substance abuse, mental health, and domestic violence. Download PDF
• Aug 04, 2003  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson Input on Improving Federal Child Welfare Financing Mechanisms The new Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care is developing recommendations to improve federal financing mechanisms in ways that facilitate faster movement of children from foster care into safe, permanent families and reduce the need to place children in foster care. This memo encourages the Commission to begin by considering a set of questions about the fundamental purposes and goals of the child welfare system. We hope such a big picture analysis will suggest the value of expanding Title IV-E eligibility to cover all children and all child welfare services. The memo also makes recommendations about immediate steps Congress can take, while the Commission deliberates about a broader vision. These interim steps will begin to strengthen the child welfare systems ability to meet the needs of maltreated children. Download PDF
• Apr 29, 2003  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson Side-by-Side Comparison of Child Welfare Provisions in Recent TANF Reauthorization Proposals This chart summarizes child welfare provisions in current Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) law and recent TANF reauthorization legislation and proposals. Download File
• Jan 29, 2003  |  Rutledge Hutson Policy Brief: A Vision for Eliminating Poverty and Family Violence: Transforming Child Welfare and TANF in El Paso County, Colorado This is the 8-page policy brief based on the report of the same name. Download PDF   |   Additional PDF
• Jan 15, 2003  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson A Vision for Eliminating Poverty and Family Violence: Transforming Child Welfare and TANF in El Paso County, Colorado When El Paso County, Colorado, considered how to bring the work of the child welfare and TANF agencies together, it decided to change its whole way of doing business. This paper examines how El Paso created seamless, family-centered services and offers a set of lessons that can be drawn from El Paso's experience. Download PDF   |   Additional PDF
• Jan 15, 2000  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson and Jodie Levin-Epstein Linking Family Planning with Other Social Services: The Perspectives of State Family Planning Administrators Gives a national glimpse at the types of efforts made jointly by state social service agencies and family planning agencies. Important interactions are occurring. For example, in Alaska, the family planning agency developed a curriculum that trains welfare staff to address basic reproductive health issues and make appropriate family planning referral. In Washington, the Medicaid agency contracts with local Title X agencies to have itinerant nurses provide family planning services in 75% of the states welfare offices. The 50-state review, undertaken in partnership with the State Family Planning Administrators (SFPA), explores such topics as inter-agency information dissemination, referral arrangements, staff training, and co-location of services. It identifies which states are using what vehicles for linking family planning through other agencies. Click here for the appendix. Download PDF
• Dec 15, 1999  |  Phyllida Burlingame, Rutledge Hutson, and Jodie Levin-Epstein Making the Link: Pregnancy Prevention and the New Welfare Era Explores alternative mechanisms welfare and other social service agencies might adopt to address a national dilemma: nearly half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended. Interest in this topic is fueled, in part, by the 1996 welfare law, which seeks to reduce out-of-wedlock births. What steps can welfare and social service agencies take to improve access to and voluntary use of family planning services? Making the Link begins to answer this question by reporting the linkages underway in California, Washington, and Georgia. Making the Link also suggests why states should consider replication or adaptation of these initiatives, what the inherent implementation challenges are, and how to navigate these challenges. Download PDF