Policy & Practice articles from December 2008

Policy & Practice archives from December 2008

Hope and change.(director's memo)
December 1, 2008... 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.' I can't think of a better metaphor than the oft-quoted opening from the immortal Dickens classic "A Tale of Two Cities" to describe the state of health and human services at the start...

For those we serve indeed.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2008... Dear Editor: "For Those We Serve" (Insert, October 2008) was an inspiring and timely paper for those of us who've spent a lifetime working in public human services. We've spent years experimenting with different program models, and the...

Challenges for our county.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2008... Dear Editor: The next few years will provide momentous tests for the 88 Ohio Job and Family Service agencies. With a population of 545,931, Summit County has a poverty level of 24.40 percent, which is slightly better than the state's rate...

Unity of purpose.(editor's note)
December 1, 2008... The November presidential election was historic in many ways. Not only did it galvanize Americans' enthusiasm for the political process like we had not seen since President John F. Kennedy and the Civil Rights Movement. It bought forth the hope...

Reaping the winds of change--spiritual care to the Elvis generation.(my turn)(baby boom generation)
December 1, 2008... Between now and 2030, 78 million baby boomers will retire. This number should evoke two major concerns for healthcare professionals--how will our healthcare system care for these people and what does it mean for the health of health care...

APHSA releases transition policy document.(first things first)(American Public Human Services Association)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... The American Public Human Services Association in October released the second of a series of policy guidance documents aimed at the oncoming administration and the new Congress. "A Starting Point," which is considered a "transition paper"...

Number of Americans on food stamps expected to top 30M.(first things first)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... The number of Americans on food stamps is expected to exceed 30 million for the first time in November. It will be the highest on record, going over the number set in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina hit the United States. The number of...

Teen motherhood: celebrity buzz belies its cost.(first things first)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Teen motherhood has gained a bit of celebrity allure with the pregnancies of Jamie Lynn Spears and Bristol Palin, but front-line professionals see a starkly different reality involving poverty, lost opportunities and a cost to taxpayers in the...

Governors request $176B from economic stimulus package, including $40B for state Medicaid programs.(first things first)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... President-elect Barack Obama met with members of the National Governors Association in early December in Philadelphia to discuss how to provide economic relief, including additional Medicaid funds, to the states. Many states are facing large...

Medicare Part D providers reminded of obligations to nursing home residents.(first things first)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently reminded Medicare Part D plan providers of their duty to provide convenient access to network pharmacies for long-term care residents. That holds true even if residents live in...

New SAMHSA study on link between suicide and substance abuse.(first things first)(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has released a new white paper focusing on the current state of knowledge about the interrelationship between substance abuse and suicide. "Substance Abuse and Suicide Prevention:...

Employment gap widens for workers with disabilities.(first things first)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Just in the past few years, the employment gap has widened between the number of working-age Americans with disabilities who are employed and those workers without disabilities, a recent government study reported. The finding was part of a...

Staff spotlight.(first things first)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Name... Melissa Kanaya Time at APHSA... Two years in February Title... Senior Program Associate Place of Birth... Seattle, Wash... A Typical Day Starts With... Checking my e-mail, drinking a cup...

Battling hurricanes together.
December 1, 2008... Before the effects of Hurricane Gustav began hitting the Louisiana shoreline prior to Labor Day 2008, the Louisiana Department of Social Services staff had already been working to help evacuate and shelter the coastal parish population of south...

Thank you volunteers.
December 1, 2008... Nebraska Crickett Phelps Dalene Krebs Dave Loguda Donna Hajek John Butler Josue Cabral Margaret Ahola Margie Hoffman Mickey Kotlarz Sheila Loguda Sonia Diaz Stacy Brown Cynthia...

Working with EMAC: a first-timer's account.
December 1, 2008... In the middle of September, Oregon was invited to participate in providing emergency food stamp workers to the Louisiana to assist in benefit distribution as a result of Hurricane Gustav. The Oregon Department of Human Services received the...

Lessons learned from the Hurricanes.
December 1, 2008... During the last four years, the Louisiana Department of Social Services has administered two of the largest disaster food stamp programs in the nation's history. Administering these programs would not have been possible without partnerships...

A USDA FNS perspective on Louisiana Disaster and EMAC.
December 1, 2008... The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Southwest Regional Office assisted Louisiana in its quest to seek volunteer Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) staff from...

A regional workforce and human services proposal.(focus)
December 1, 2008... In the current economy, people are hurting. And federal agencies have many programs designed to help struggling individuals. But oftentimes these agencies, charged with serving the same populations, operate parallel programs, making it...

A new way of thinking about child abuse and neglect prevention.(focus)
December 1, 2008... No issue is riper for change than the prevention of child abuse and neglect. The path to effective policy change involves a 180-degree shift in thinking, from policies that deal with abuse and neglect after they take place to policies that...

The reality of fatherhood.(legal notes)
December 1, 2008... On Father's Day, June 15, 2008, Sen. Barack Obama said: "... if we are honest with ourselves, we'll admit that what too many fathers also are is missing--missing from too may lives and too many homes. They have abandoned their...

Pennsylvania's Incremental Renewal Project.(technology speaks)
December 1, 2008... All states and local governments currently operating legacy eligibility systems circa the 1980s will eventually need to replace them with a system operating on a more modern technology platform. It is really just a matter of when and how. The...

Bull sells Medicaid business to Ingenix.(business news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Chelmsford, Mass, and Minneapolis, Minn.--Bull, expert in open, flexible and secure information systems, solutions and services and one or Europe's leading players with subsidiaries in the United States, has entered into agreement to sell its...

Curam, Children's Research Center partner on child welfare solution.(business news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Sacramento, Calif.--Curam Software, a provider of Social Enterprise Management software solutions, and the Children's Research Center have entered a partnership to integrate CRC's assessment and decision support tools, the Structured Decision...

ACS picked to support FDA's 21st Century initiative.(business news)(Affiliated Computer Services Inc., Food and Drug Administration)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Dallas--Affiliated Computer Services Inc. announced that it has been selected as a subcontractor to support the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Information and Computer Technologies for the 21st Century initiative, designed to modernize the...

AMERIGROUP gets Nevada Medicaid contract.(business news)
December 1, 2008... Virginia Beach, Va.--AMERIGROUP Corp. said the state of Nevada has given final approval to a contract authorizing the company's Nevada subsidiary to enter that state's Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance programs beginning Feb, 1,...

Lagan ranked 12th in Deloitte Technology Fast 50.(business news)
December 1, 2008... Bethesda, Md.--Lagan, a provider of enterprise case management solutions that streamline the delivery of public services to constituents, announced that it has been ranked number 12 in the 2008 Deloitte Technology Fast 50, a ranking of the 50...

Deloitte enters partnership with Teradata Corp.(business news)
December 1, 2008... Miamisburg, Ohio--Teradata Corporation, the global leader in data warehousing and enterprise analytics, has established a strategic alliance with Deloitte to provide comprehensive services and solutions to address the needs of organizations for...

CGI offer viewpoint to federal and banking sectors to gain taxpayer trust.(business news)
December 1, 2008... Fairfax, Va.--CGI, a leading information technology and management consulting company, and CGI Federal, its wholly owned U.S. operating subsidiary shared ideas with U.S. federal government agencies and financial institutions on specific...

Indiana eases food stamp, welfare application procedures.(State and local news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... INDIANAPOLIS--State officials are planning changes to Indiana's welfare and Food Stamp Program, now known as SNAP, that they hope will simplify applications and reduce how often recipients must be interviewed to verify eligibility. The...

Lowa report: aging population could strain state budgets.(State and local news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... DES MOINES, lowa--The state's aging population could strain the state's ability to fund education and health care over the next two decades, according to a new study. The report from the Iowa Fiscal Partnership, a non-partisan budget think...

Act to help keep Louisiana children in families.(State and local news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... BATON ROUGH, La.--A new federal law is expected to make it easier for relatives to care for children taken into state custody because of abuse or neglect. The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act gives children in...

Ohio governor seeks federal aid to battle downturn.(state and local news)(Ted Strickland)
December 1, 2008... COLUMBUS, Ohio--To ensure that Ohioans are fully aware of the historic economic challenges confronting Ohio and the nation, Gov. Ted Strickland and Budget Director J. Pari Sabety have announced that the state is facing not only a budget deficit...

Nebraska revises child safe haven law.(state and local news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... DECATUR, Neb.--The state legislature in late November revised an unusual law permitting parents to hand children up to age 18 over to state custody without prosecution, instead limiting its reach to infants up to 30 days old. The original...

Oklahoma child welfare staff turnover dropping.(state and local news)
December 1, 2008... OKLAHOMA CITY -- At 44 percent, fare specialists and support staff would ordinarily be cause for alarm within the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. While officials still say it's too high, they point out that the trend is moving in...

Child welfare agency hires dozens of case workers.(state and local news)(District of Columbia's Child and Family Services agency)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The District of Columbia's Child and Family Services agency has hired dozens of social workers in the past month, filling more than half the positions left vacant when about 60 employees quit during the summer. The...

AAFSD holds 33rd annual education conference, chooses new name.(affiliates' corner)(American Association of Food Stamp Directors)
December 1, 2008... The American Association of Food Stamp Directors held its 33rd annual education conference in Burlington, Vt., form Oct. 26-29. Moe than 170 attendees heard Vermont Gov. James Douglas' keynote address about the state's approach to addressing...

The American Association of public welfare Attoneys.(affiliates' corner)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... The American Association of Public Welfare Attoneys held its 41st Annual Conference in Minneapolis on Sept 21-24 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel with some 160 attendees. The meeting featured 28 substantive sessions on legal developments as well as...

ISM appoints five new regional representatives.(affiliates' corner)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Many Ellen Bennard, the new president of ISM, has appointed, and the Executive Committee has approved, five new regional representatives to the ISM board. * Apefa Ashiagbor, assistant commissioner for MIS, Massachusetts Department of...

Two 2009 NAPIPM conference registration scholarships to be awarded.(affiliates' corner)(National Association for Program Information and Performance Measurement)
December 1, 2008... The National Association for Program Information and Performance Measurement would like to help you attend and participate in its 30th annual conference to be held in Sparks, Nev. on August 23-26, 2009. Tell them in two, double-spaced typed...

Wisconsin to expand Medicaid Services.(affiliates' corner)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Wisconsin and the federal government had reached an agreement to expand health care in Wisconsin. The BadgerCare Plus Core Plan for Childless Adults is a five-year Medicaid 1115 waiver that will provide federal Medicaid dollars to cover basic...

NSDTA honors awardees at the 2008 professional development institute in Atlanta.(affiliates' corner)(National Staff Development and Training Association)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Since 1997, NSDTA has acknowledged the meritorious work of training and development professionals and programs throughout the country. This year in Atlanta, three awards were given to two distinguished professionals and one program. Linda...

Spiral Up ... and Other Management Secrets Behind Wildly Successful Initiatives.
December 1, 2008... You might have people who have worked on something that turned out to be amazingly successful. These are ordinary people like you and me. Among them is David Rose. He's CEO of Cambridge, Mass.-based Ambient Devices and a successful serial...

Employing the unemployed, an untapped resource.(making things happen)
December 1, 2008... As the adage says, everything's bigger in Texas, and the talent and skills pool represented by those receiving Unemployment Insurance benefits in the state is no exception. A snapshot of the nearly 430,000 people receiving UI benefits per year...

Tell it all and tell it first.(communications corner)
December 1, 2008... One of the primary responsibilities of communications professionals is to tell it all and tell it fast, to be proactive instead of reactive whenever possible. It's a principle I firmly believe in--and it's the principle we, the Delaware...

Core.(residential education)
December 1, 2008... As a professional in the human services, we all share a passion for children, especially those who are economically and socially disadvantaged. What baffles me is why so many child welfare professionals view residential programs as undesirable....

Intergenerational Caregiving.(noted studies)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Dramatic changes in the American family have transformed the way we care for its oldest and youngest members. Nuclear families have become smaller as childbearing has declined, but extended families have become larger as life expectancy grows....

Overview of residential education in the United States.(noted studies)
December 1, 2008... The Coalition for Residential Education Recent years have witnessed a resurgence of interest in residential education for economically and socially disadvantaged youth. Little composite information about these programs and their...

CLASP federal policy recommendations for 2009 and beyond.(noted studies)(Center for Law and Social Policy)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... The Center for Law and Social Policy has developed an extensive federal policy agenda for the next president and Congress directed at improving the lives of low-income people. The detailed agenda makes recommendations for changes in policy at...

Protecting children and strengthening families.(noted studies)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Too many children experience abuse and neglect with negative lifelong consequence. 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...

Updated 'Winter Commission' report examines government performance.(noted studies)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government has come out with a special issue of Public Administration Review, updating the work of the National Commission on the State and Local Public Service--known as the Winter Commission--chaired by...

James Harrison.(newsmakers)
December 1, 2008... James Harrison is acting director of the Missouri Children's Division.

Anne Heiligenstein.(newsmakers)
December 1, 2008... Anne Heiligenstein is the new commissioner of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

Nels Holmgren.(newsmakers)
December 1, 2008... Nels Holmgren began his service as director of the Utah Division of Aging and Adult Services on Nov. 3.

Janie Huddleston.(newsmakers)
December 1, 2008... Janie Huddleston is interim director of the Arkansas Division of Children and Family Services.

Rob Hofmann.(newsmakers)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... In Vermont, Rob Hofmann left his post as Corrections Department commissioner to take over as head of the Agency of Human Services. He replaced Cindy LaWare.

Paula Mckey.(newsmakers)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Paula Mckey is retiring as the social services director of Boulder Country in January 2009. She has been head of the Department of Social Services for the past five years.

Stan Rosenstein.(newsmakers)
December 1, 2008... Stan Rosenstein is leaving his post as chief deputy director, Health Care Programs, Calif.

Jashua Slen.(newsmakers)
December 1, 2008... Jashua Slen is leaving his post as director of the Office of Health Access, Department of Social Welfare at the Vermont Human Services Agency.

Cheryl Stephani.(newsmakers)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Cheryl Stephani, the Washington's Department of Social and Health Services assistant secretary in charge of the children's administration, will leave the agency at the end of the year.

Mark A. Washington.(newsmakers)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Mark A. Washington has been appointed assistant commissioner at the Georgia Department of Human Resources responsible for both the Division of Family and Children Services and the Office of Child Support Services.

Black residents.(numbers in the news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... As of July 1, 2007, the estimated population of black residents in the United States, including those of more than one race, numbered 40.7 million. They made up 13.5 percent of the total U.S. population. This figure represents an increase of...

Early childhood mental health.(numbers in the news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Nationally, across the age span, only 23 states report investing in early childhood mental health and of those, there are limited statewide strategies. Only 24 states invest in school-based mental health services despite evidence that this...

Drops out.(numbers in the news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... One in four girls drops out of high school. More than 14 million women live in poverty, and more than 17 million women have no health insurance. Women still earn only 77 cents for every dollar paid to men--The National Women's Law Center...

Health care needs.(numbers in the news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Sixty-six percent of women say that the nation's approach to health care needs either major changes or a complete overhaul. Eight-four percent of women say it is extremely or very important for Congress and the next Administration to...

Pregnancies.(numbers in the news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... In 2002, there were over 760,000 pregnancies to women under the age of 20 and some 420,000 births to teens in 2004. Despite a 36 percent drop in the teen pregnancy rate between 1990 and 2002 (the most recent data available) and a 33 percent...

American Indians and Native Alaskans.(numbers in the news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... American Indians and Native Alaskans number 4.5 million. They earn a median annual income of $33,627. One in every four (25.3 percent) lives in poverty and nearly a third (29.9 percent) are without health insurance coverage--U.S. Census Bureau

Native American reservations.(numbers in the news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Counties on Native American reservations are among the poorest in the country and nearly 60 percent of all Native Americans who live outside of metropolitan areas inhabit persistently poor counties--the Economic Research Service at the U.S....

New housing units.(numbers in the news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Starts of new housing units peaked at an annual rate of just over 2.1 million in the first quarter of 2006, buoyed by low mortgage interest rates, expectations of continued rapid increases in home prices, and lax lending standards. By the...

Residential construction.(numbers in the news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... The resulting decline in real (inflation-adjusted) residential construction over that period subtracted an average of 1.0 percentage point from the annualized growth rate of real gross domestic product. Housing starts fell again in the third...

Per capita incomes/emissions.(numbers in the news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Per capita incomes/emissions in developed countries (especially the United States) are much higher than those of most developing countries. The United States has about 5 percent of the world's population, but accounts for more than 20...

Child support.(numbers in the news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... More than 17 million children and their families received $24 billion in child support in 2006 through the help of the child support program. This federal-state partnership has seen a decade of progress, with dramatically improved performance....

Child care and development block grant-funded.(numbers in the news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... 1.7 million children received Child Care and Development Block Grant-funded child care assistance in 2007, including nearly 500,000 infants and toddlers. Compared to 2006, nearly 65,000 fewer children received assistance--Center for Law...

In our Do'ers profile, we highlight some of the hardworking and talented individuals in public human services. This issue features Bruce Wagstaff, Director, Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance.(our do'ers profile)
December 1, 2008... Name: Bruce Wagstaff Title: Director, Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance Years of Service: 31/2 years as a local director; 31 years at the state level (9 as California's TANF Administrator) Rewards of the Job: Three...