Obama

COVID-19 has complicated the process of reuniting immigrant families with their children when a parent with an ongoing child welfare case is either in ICE custody in the U.S. or has been deported.

In a move expected for months, the Trump administration has announced it will no longer enforce an Obama-era rule insisting that federally funded child welfare providers refrain from discrimination against adults and children based on religious values.

JooYeun Chang, a veteran of child welfare policy and practice, is now the senior deputy director in charge of the Children’s Services Agency at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has made $76 million available for projects that give state or local governments a free trial of promising programs in key social services areas, including child welfare and juvenile justice.

Los Angeles County leaders have approved new funding to provide immigration lawyers for foster youth, citing changes to federal policies that have made it more difficult and risky to address the rights of abused and neglected youth in the immigration system.

Earlier this week, while reporting on the confirmation of new Administration for Children and Families (ACF) leader Lynn Johnson, Youth Services Insider speculated that perhaps an agreement had been reached, or assurances had been made, about a timeline to finalize new child welfare data collection.

After a confirmation process that included a standoff over the Trump administration’s delay of new data collection on foster care and adoption, Lynn Johnson was confirmed to lead the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) just before the Labor Day weekend.

Former Arkansas prosecutor Caren Harp, President Trump’s pick to serve as administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), was sworn in on Friday and has taken over for Acting Administrator Eileen Garry, who has returned to her role as a deputy at the agency.

U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey ruled this week that a class-action lawsuit over Missouri’s use of psychotropic medications for youth in foster care can continue. The decision moves forward a case that could potentially set some precedent on an issue that heated up in the earlier half of the decade and has taken a back burner lately: the mental health rights and treatment of vulnerable children.