CASCW at the Capitol

Updated and edited 7/1/13 to reflect references to U.S. Code and to provide a cautionary word of advice (see last footnote). Guest blog post by Rebecca Scholtz. Child welfare professionals can play a crucial role in helping undocumented children access immigration assistance. You don't need to be an expert in immigration law to identify an [...]

Last year I blogged about recommendations for state-level changes regarding Minnesota's parental recognition laws as they pertain to adoption and foster care by same-sex couples. As it stands, Minnesota law is unclear on the legality of joint adoptions and second-parent adoptions; these issues have instead been left up to individual courts to decide. Last week [...]

May is National Foster Care Awareness Month. This is a way to bring awareness and attention to the needs of foster youths, foster parents, adoptive parents, and so many other individuals who work to help these children succeed. Interestingly, May is also National Mental Health Awareness Month per a presidential proclamation signed by President Barack [...]

Early Childhood Education Emerges as Important Issue The E-12 Omnibus bill (HF630), as it currently stands, makes early childhood education a clear priority. Both the House and Senate files include funding for all day kindergarten beginning in 2015 and expand scholarships for children ages 3-5 to attend quality child care facilities. The House bill also [...]