Latest News as of February 7, 2024.

Updates from Child Welfare Information Gateway

Week of February 5, 2024.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: D.C. sent $10,800 to dozens of new moms. Here's how it changed their lives. (Includes audio) (May require subscription)

February 01, 2024

In 2022, the D.C. government announced a pilot program that offered 132 new and expecting low-income mothers $10,800 over the course of a year -- no strings attached -- intended to assess how unconditional cash payments could improve their families' outcomes and economic mobility. Facilitated by the nonprofit Martha's Table, the $1.5 million Strong Families, Strong Futures pilot was limited to families in Wards 5, 7 and 8, which contain some of the District's poorest neighborhoods. The city's program was based on similar successful cash-transfer pilots that have now been modeled in at least 100 U.S. jurisdictions and drew 1,553 applications in just three weeks, requiring a lottery system to winnow down the final group. All 132 mothers had to choose whether they wanted 12 monthly payments of $900 or the entire amount immediately in a lump sum, a unique feature of D.C.'s pilot. Here is how their lives were changed.

IOWA: Trans advocates cheered a victory. Day later, Iowa governor files bill to change how they're recognized (May require subscription)

February 02, 2024

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has proposed a bill that would define "man" and "woman" in Iowa Code. The bill would require transgender Iowans list both their sex assigned at birth and their post-transition sex on their driver's license and birth certificate. Reynolds filed House Study Bill 649 Thursday, a day after transgender Iowans and LGBTQ and civil rights advocates and allies flocked to the Capitol to protest a bill that would have changed the way transgender Iowans are protected under the Iowa Civil Rights Act. The bill, which would have eliminated gender identity as a protected class under Iowa's Civil Rights Act and instead add to the act's covered disabilities gender dysphoria, died in a House subcommittee Wednesday as hundreds of Iowans cheered in the hallway outside.

See also: House Study Bill 649.

MICHIGAN: How Michigan counties are stepping up to meet youth mental health needs

February 06, 2024

Over the past several years, Michigan's community mental health agencies have been stepping up with a number of initiatives to help fill the gap in mental health services for youth. A perception attributes the national youth mental health crisis to the COVID pandemic of 2020, but truth be told, Michigan experts believe the crisis had started prior to that, with the pandemic exacerbating the situation.

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