The bill HR 433, introduced by Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann on October 12, 2011, highlights the importance of supporting the goals and ideals of National Adoption Day (November 19, 2011) and National Adoption Month (November). In addition to supporting National Adoption Month and Day, the bill's purpose is also to recognize that every child in [...]
Minnesota Law defining marriage as a civil contract between a man and a woman was established in 1976. In 1996 the federal government signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The act defined 'marriage' as only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and 'spouse' as a person of [...]
Did you know that the average annual cost of housing juveniles in a locked facility is $88,000 per person? As a whole, states spend approximately $6,000,000,000 a year on incarcerated youth. In addition to the cost, incarcerated youth are 50 times more likely to recidivate than their counterparts who remain in the community. Finally, 70 [...]
The bill H. R. 3126: 'Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2011' was proposed on October 6, 2011 to require certain standards and enforcement provisions to prevent child abuse and neglect in residential programs. What residential programs fall under this bill? This bill would cover private and public programs such as [...]
H. R. 3076 was introduced on October 3, 2011. The purpose of this bill is to amend the Internal Revenue Code to qualify formerly homeless youth who are students for purposes of the low income housing tax credit. The bill affects those youth identified as homeless by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act sec. 725, which [...]
I'm Lindsay Brekke. I am currently finishing my graduate degree in Social Work at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. I am completing my internship at the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare and focusing on child welfare policy. My interests are youth aging out-of-foster care and foster parent training and support. What's to come [...]