Policy & Practice articles from March 2008

Policy & Practice archives from March 2008

APHSA conferences and major meetings in 2008.(American Public Human Services Association)(Brief article)(Calendar)
March 1, 2008... APHSA Conferences and Major Meetings in 2008 Information about upcoming conferences and meetings is posted, once available, on the APHSA web site at www.aphsa.org. Click on "Conferences and Events" on the home page. Please join us. ...

My excellent adventure.(director's memo.)(Travel narrative)
March 1, 2008... My father was a true explorer. Long before international travel became commonplace, he crisscrossed the world, seeking adventure and witnessing events that we could only read about in National Geographic. As an amateur anthropologist and...

Editor's note.(Editorial)
March 1, 2008... If you are a first-time reader of Policy & Practice, you might not know that this publication has undergone a complete design makeover and a metamorphosis in philosophy and content. We went from a sleepy journal with little content to a...

My turn.
March 1, 2008... What makes up good public relations? It's probably a little different for every community, organizational culture and individual leadership style; but in Monterey County (Calif.), we focus on four ingredients that I like to think make all the...

House embraces poverty goal.(first things first)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... The U.S. House of Representatives on Jan., 22, 2008, declared in House Concurrent Resolution 198, via voice vote, that the United States should set a national goal of cutting poverty in half over the next 10 years. The resolution was...

Youth summit seeks Partner for Change.(first things first)
March 1, 2008... The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Training Program will host a one-day "PA Youth Summit: Partner for Change" on March 26 for interested parties to listen to strategies that youth believe would help improve child welfare practice and to provide an...

Eligibility workers seek ideas for handbook.(first things first)(National Eligibility Workers Association)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... The National Eligibility Workers Association, which received a grant from the Office of Family Assistance to develop a handbook of best practices for frontline staff who work with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, is looking...

Rural Assistance Center seeks success stories.(first things first)(Website overview)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... The Rural Assistance Center is compiling success stories on its web site, allowing easy access to model projects and best practices for rural communities. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] If you are looking for innovative ways to improve...

Get a laugh out of your interviews.
March 1, 2008... If you are a human service agency director, manager or supervisor, you probably would want to increase the quality of your interviewing skills and experience, from both sides of the desk, while reducing costly errors. You probably would like to...

IRS unveils updated publication on Securities Guidelines.(first things first)(Internal Revenue Service)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... The Internal Revenue Service announced its latest revision of IRS Publication 1075, Tax Information Securities Guidelines for Federal, State and Local Agencies and Entities, which was released on Dec. 14, 2007. State agency members and...

New technology provides drug abuse prevention information.(first things first)
March 1, 2008... The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is launching a pilot program to provide point-of-sale substance abuse prevention information sheets to the consumers of highly abused prescription drugs. These sheets highlight the...

Staff spotlight.(first things first)(Interview)
March 1, 2008... Name... Linda Lantz Time at APHSA Three months Title... Web manager/developer Place of Birth... Jilin, China A Typical Day Starts With... make coffee and toast for my family, drop my daughter off at...

State health reform efforts and human services: an opportunity for improving our health.
March 1, 2008... The leading unsolved health policy problem in our nations is the failure to ensure that everyone can get the health care he or she needs. To understand why, consider this: An estimated 47 million Americans lack heath insurance coverage of any...

Health is a right.
March 1, 2008... Public Health and Medicaid? To many people, this can seem like an unlikely pairing. Rival moieties within the same caln. The survey and certification people vs. The claims payers. The kinder, gentler world of under-funded preventive care vs.the...

Mental illness, chemical dependency, and medical expenditures.
March 1, 2008... In most state Medicaid programs, 5 percent of the patients are resonsible for 50 percent of the expenditures. But in Washington state, we're looking at different numbers. Medical assistance clients with a combination of chronic medical...

Taking action to end the obesity epidemic: a role for all.
March 1, 2008... In this year of presidential debates, there is one topic on which Republications and Democrats agree: America is facing an epidmic: a population that is obese and overweight. The potential impact of this epidemic on personal health, quality of...

Time to reverse the school-to-prison pipeline.(legal notes)
March 1, 2008... Exactly 26 years ago, I began representing "Ronald," my first delinquency client. A child with at least a dozen prior cases, Ronald was prepared to stand alone as a judge ruled on pretrial detention. Ronald's mother was unavailable; his father,...

The man who brings neighbors and families together.(focus)
March 1, 2008... When Gordon Johnson left the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services in 1990, most people expected him to take a well-deserved rest. For more than 20 years, Johnson had led statewide public foster care programs, seeing time and...

How to keep your non-techie boss happy.(technology speaks)
March 1, 2008... Many human service agency CEOs I have met think of technology in two ways; (1) a necessary evil and/or (2) drain on their budget. That is if they think of IT at all. Many don't until something goes wrong with benefit delivery or there is a need...

Economic stimulus package.(washington update)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Congress reconvened in January amid intense discussion of an economic stimulus package to help soften the impact of the accelerating downturn, characterized by declining home prices, tightened credit, increased joblessness, stock market...

Food stamp program reauthorization.(washington update.)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... After a six-month journey through the House and Senate in 2007, the farm bill--which contains reauthorization of the Food Stamp Program--finally headed for a conference committee as the new session of Congress began. The measure includes a...

TANF improper payment audits.(washington update)(Temporary Assistance for Needy Families)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Administration for Children and Families have initiated a process to establish a national TANF error rate, citing as authority the Improper Payments...

Child support matching funds measure.(washington update)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... APHSA has urged Congress to support legislation (S. 803 and H.R. 1386) repealing a provision of the Deficit Reduction Act that prevents states from using child support incentive funds to match federal funds for this vital program. Previously,...

Alabama DHR gets rave review.(state and local news)(Department of Human Resources)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The Department of Human Resources received kudos from a state welfare review panel for its continued excellence in child welfare service work. In the first of three scheduled reports, the Child Welfare Data Review...

Florida to track child welfare workers.(state and local news)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... MIAMI -- Florida's much-maligned child welfare workers will soon begin carrying handheld devices that show whether they really are checking in on the children under their supervision. The touch-screen units, about the size of a book, will...

Michigan busts $1.5 million food-stamp-for-cash ring.(state and local news)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox announced, in February, charges against 27 people associated with eight stores in Detroit who are alleged to be involved in food stamp trafficking totaling more than $1.5 million. "This is a...

Oregon child welfare report: caseworkers buried in paperwork.(state and local news)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... SALEM, Ore. -- Oregon child welfare caseworkers spend about 75 minutes each day with the children or families in their care. Much of their time is chewed up with paperwork or in court. Consultants hired by the Oregon Department of Human...

Pennsylvania recognized as leader in child support enforcement.(state and local news)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... HARRISBURG, Pa. -- For the second consecutive year, Pennsylvania has been recognized as a national leader for its child support enforcement efforts, including collecting monthly support payments on behalf of children, Department of Public...

Pennsylvania county's foster care system may inspire state.(state and local news)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Lawmakers are looking to Allegheny County for ideas to improve the state's foster care system. State Sen. LeAnna Washington lauded the county's model as "one of the most effective and efficient foster care systems in the...

ISM conference plans underway.(affiliates' corner)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... ISM started the planning for its 2008 conference to be held in San Francisco Aug. 24-27 when the agenda committee met recently in the conference's host city. The working theme for the conference is "Transforming Challenges into Opportunities,"...

PPCWI first National Advisory Committee meeting.(affiliates' corner)(Positioning Public Child Welfare Initiative)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... On Feb. 4-5, the Positioning Public Child Welfare Initiative held its first National Advisory Committee meeting. The goal of the initiative is to enable the field to speak with a unified voice about its purpose and role; to develop the...

NASMD submits comment letters.(affiliates' corner)(National Association of State Medicaid Directors)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... The American Public Human Services Association and the National Association of State Medicaid Directors submitted comment letters to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regarding...

NASTA hosts conference call with ACF.(affiliates' corner)(National Association of State Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Administrators, Administration for Children and Families)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... On Feb. 13, the National Association of State TANF Administrators, an APHSA affiliate, hosted a conference call for its members with officials from the Administration for Children and Families. The call was a question-and-answer session on the...

Regular child support helps state lower cost of welfare assistance.(the field works)
March 1, 2008... The federal Child Support Enforcement program was established in 1975 by Title IV-D of the Social Security Act to ensure that non-custodial parents provide appropriate financial support for their kids. The program also provides cost recovery...

An Assessment of the Privatization of Child Welfare Services: Challenges and Successes.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... Privatization of child welfare services is big news these days as Congress tries to get various state governments to let the private sector do what politicians see can be done better by private contractors. Meanwhile, many state and local...

The Great Turning, From Empire to Earth Community.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... This book, by the author of the international bestseller "When Corporations Rule the World," sets forth a compelling story that provides a framework for a new political conversation. It pulls together the many strands of the writer's journey of...

Cheryl Sparkman.(newsmakers)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Cheryl Sparkman, director of the Division of Economic Assistance at the Mississippi Department of Human Services, was chosen as one of 50 Top Businesswomen in Mississippi for 2007. The Business Woman of the Year program honors the achievements...

Kevin Ryan.(newsmakers)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Kevin Ryan has left his position as the N.J. commissioner of children and families to oversee work in Newark and Africa with the MCJ and Amelior Foundations.

Mary Ann Daniels.(newsmakers)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Mary Ann Daniels has left the newly created position of Mercer County, Pa., human services director to take another job. She was serving as human services director as well as continuing as director of the county's Children and Youth Services.

Alan Abramowitz.(newsmakers)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Alan Abramowitz has been named chief of the Department of Children and Families in the Miami circuit, which includes Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. He headed DCF operations in Seminole and Brevard counties.

Janie Miller.(newsmakers)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Janie Miller was appointed secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services by Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear. She replaced acting Secretary Ellen Hesen, who replaced former Secretary Mark Birdwhistell.

Jerry Milner.(newsmakers)
March 1, 2008... Jerry Milner has been named vice president for child welfare practice for the Center for the Support of Families in Silver Spring, Md.

Ann Silverberg Williamson.(newsmakers)
March 1, 2008... Ann Silverberg Williamson secretary of Louisiana's Department of Social Services, has been reappointed by the new governor.

Jim Snyder.(newsmakers)
March 1, 2008... Jim Snyder has replaced Ted Trujillo as the child welfare director in Colorado.

Janice Allen Jackson.(newsmakers)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Janice Allen Jackson is now interim director of the Mecklenburg County (N.C.) Department of Social Services. She is the county general manager for community health and safety and will take on the interim director work until the county finds a...

Jerry Friedman, executive director of APHSA, recently participated in an international symposum in Seoul, South Korea.(newsmakers)(American Public Human Services Association)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Caption: Jerry Friedman, executive director of APHSA, recently participated in an international symposum in Seoul, South Korea. Here he is shown with Se-Kyoung Park (left) and So-Seon Kang, research fellow and librarian respectively at the...

Tampering with who?(words on words)
March 1, 2008... Few things disturb readers more than illiteracy in our writing. And when we mangle grammar in large type, such as "Who to Thank for the Current Crisis in Child Welfare? the reaction is especially heated. Readers are disappointed, even angry;...

Pressed together.(communications corner)
March 1, 2008... If you want to understand the collective thinking of American journalism, visit one of the Fourth Estate's many resources. Among the most popular is Poynter Online (www.poynter.org), which provides tips and success stories that experienced...

Total estimated cost of child abuse and neglect in the United States.(noted studies)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... A new economic impact analysis by Prevent Child Abuse America estimates the total costs of child abuse and neglect in the United States were nearly $104 billion last year, and a companion report highlights the unavailability of federal child...

Time for reform: investing in prevention, keeping children safe at home.(noted studies)(Kids Are Awaiting)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Kids Are Awaiting, a project of The Pew Charitable Trusts, finds that the current federal child welfare financing structure does not adequately support services and supports that could help keep more children safely with their families. The...

Do individual mandates matter?(noted studies)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... In this brief, the authors conclude that, absent a single-payer system, it is impossible to achieve universal coverage without an individual mandate. They say there is strong evidence that voluntary measures alone would leave large numbers of...

As economy weakens, bush budget request leaves low-income individuals, laid-off workers, and disconnected youth behind.(noted studies)
March 1, 2008... The Center for Law and Social Policy Instead of addressing our country's pressing need for investment in workforce education and training programs, the Bush administration, in its fiscal year 2009 budget, is once again proposing deep cuts to...

Women more likely to work during pregnancy.(noted studies)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Two-thirds of women who had their first child between 2001 and 2003 worked during their pregnancy, compared with just 44 percent who gave birth for the first time between 1961 and 1965. The report, Maternity Leave and Employment Patterns:...

Majority of children live with two biological parents.(noted studies)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Nearly 45 million (61 percent) of the nation's 73 million children younger than 18 lived with their biological mother and father in 2004 regardless of the parents' marital status, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released today. Of...

Making things happen.(preventing teenage pregnancy)
March 1, 2008... Even though the teen pregnancy and birth rates in the United States have declined by one-third over the past decade, one in three girls still becomes pregnant by age 20, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics and other...

The total costs of child abuse and neglect in the United States.(numbers in the news)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... * The total costs of child abuse and neglect in the United States were nearly $104 billion in 2007. Direct costs associated with child abuse and neglect, including foster care services, hospitalization, mental health treatment and law...

Child welfare.(numbers in the news)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Of the $7.2 billion federal funds dedicated for child welfare in 2007, about 90 percent supported children in foster care replacements ($4.5 billion) and children adopted from foster care ($2 billion). States can use about 10 percent of...

The most recent estimates from the Census Bureau indicate that 9.4 million children age 18 and younger are uninsured.(numbers in the news)(Report)
March 1, 2008... The most recent estimates from the Census Bureau indicate that 9.4 million children age 18 and younger are uninsured. Approximately 70 percent of all uninsured children are eligible for Medicaid or SCHIP coverage but not enrolled. Most...

Parents incarcerated.(numbers in the news)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Over 1.5 million children in this country currently have one or both of their parents incarcerated. Since the early 1970s, the number of adults incarcerated in state and federal prisons in the United States has continuously risen, placing...

Illegal immigrants.(numbers in the news)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... There are 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants (adults and children) in the country, representing about 30 percent of the total foreign-born population in 2007. Five million children have parents who are unauthorized immigrants;...

Low-wage workers.(numbers in the news)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... In 2005, immigrants represented more than a fifth of low-wage workers--those earning less than twice the minimum wage--and almost half of workers without a high-school education. Illegal workers were nearly a tenth of low-wage workers and a...

Among children living with single mothers.(numbers in the news)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Among children living with single mothers, the percentage whose mother was employed full-time declined slightly from 50 percent in 2002 to 48 percent in 2005. This decline came after the percentage had increased from 39 percent in 1996 (the...

Food stamps.(numbers in the news)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... In 2005, 12.4 million children received food stamps, increasing from 11.8 million in 2004. The number of children receiving food stamps dropped by nearly a third in the years immediately following the enactment of federal welfare reform in...

Welfare.(numbers in the news)(federal welfare reform)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Between 1996, the year in which federal welfare reform was implemented, and 2005, the number of children receiving benefits from welfare declined by more than half. This continued a downward trend that started after 1995. In most states,...

In our do'ers profile, we highlight some of the hardworking and talented individuals in public human services. This issue features Terry Barley of Cumberland County (Pa.) Aging and Community Services Services.(our do'ers profile)(Interview)
March 1, 2008... Name: Terry L. Barley Title: Director of Aging and Community Services Years of Service: 27 Rewards of the Job: Opportunities to create new systems don't come along very often. I was fortunate enough in the 80s and 90s to be a part...