Effective July 1, 2010 a youth under age 18 whose case has been filed in/waived into adult court and is ordered to be held in secure custody must be held in a juvenile detention or shelter facilities rather than an adult jail until such time as they are convicted as an adult. There are provisions that permit the court to order the youth...
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention recently posted a list of the 2010 awards, covering the formula grants, discretionary grants, and earmarks. Some of you may recall the controversy surrounding grant awards during the last administration, and this public posting is a welcome step toward increasing the...
The “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act” (S. 3307) passed today in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill provides an additional $4.5 billion over 10 years to federal child nutrition programs and will be a significant first step in reducing childhood hunger and obesity. It will increase the reimbursement rates for school lunches, set...
The Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice just released its 2010 Annual Report that includes a number of recommendations consistent with the goals of reauthorizing JJDPA – and go even further to include that financial incentives should be provided to states to ensure that the age of adult court jurisdiction be set at age 18 in...
For many residents of Wisconsin, the recession has dealt a double blow. They have lost both their jobs and their health insurance. A new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families (WCCF)examines the impacts of the recession on families across the state, based on measures such as unemployment,...
As of today, it’s official: The program that provides federal benefits to long-term unemployed workers has expired. There’s hope for the program to be revived, but until then, long-term unemployed workers are getting no further help making ends meet.Read more about what this means for out-of-work Wisconsinites at the Wisconsin Budget...
Regressive Tax Swap Idea Dies a Speedy Death; Why Don’t I Feel Happy? At a public forum last week, Rick Chandler, a member of the Governor-elect’s transition team, floated the idea of increasing the sales tax by at least two cents – as part of a plan to pay for significant reductions in income and property taxes. The idea was declared...
Senator Harry Reid has announced that he will again bring the DREAM Act up for a vote in the US Senate after Thanksgiving. The Act, authored by Senators Orin Hatch (R-Utah) and Richard Durban (D-IL), provides a pathway to legal status for undocumented youth who entered the U.S. as children, graduated from U.S. high schools, and attend...
With Thanksgiving two days away, the mind naturally turns to food. So here at the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families we are contemplating important food-related public policy issues, such as whether it’s better to put the stuffing in the bird or roast it alongside. Also: will the new legislature have the courage to address the...
The U.S. Senate unanimously passed legislation Friday that would extend the basic federal welfare program, known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), through Sept. 30, 2011. The one-year extension is a stop-gap measure, in lieu of a 5-year reauthorization. The House is expected to concur in the bill during the lame duck...
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