Policy Framework and 2023-2024 Policy Agenda

To accomplish its mission the Alliance takes an active role in the public policy arena to advance policies and legislation that:

• Bolster the strength and influence of state children’s trust and prevention funds,
• Help build conditions where all families thrive and children grow up free from child maltreatment, and
• Promote and support a system of services, laws, practices and attitudes that supports families by enabling them to provide their children with safe, healthy and nurturing childhoods.

The Alliance’s policy work is proactive and focused on proposing and supporting policies that promote health and well-being and prevent child maltreatment.

Alliance Public Policy Framework^[1]

Issues will be endorsed or opposed based on their alignment with the approved Policy Agenda and their potential to advance or undermine the work of the Alliance. Endorsement does not imply endorsement by individual Alliance members. In making this determination the Alliance will consider to what extent:

1. The policy aligns with following policy strategies identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in their Technical Assistance Package for Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect^[2]
   • Strengthen economic supports to families
   • Change social norms to support parents and positive parenting
   • Provide quality care and education early in life
   • Enhance parenting skills to promote healthy child development
   • Intervene to lessen harms and prevent future risk
2. The policy promotes or undermines the Strengthening Families Protective Factors identified by the Center for the Study of Social Policy^[3] and put into practice through the work of the Alliance and our partners to promote positive outcomes for children and families including reductions in child maltreatment. The Strengthening Families Protective Factors are:
   • Parental resilience
   • Social connections
   • Knowledge of parenting and child development
   • Concrete support in times of need
   • Social and emotional competence of children
3. The policy advances racial justice and equity. Specifically, whether the policy aligns with our commitment to amplify voices of those who have been marginalized and promotes equity and justice including support for policies that address the root causes of racial inequality, as well as policies to end discriminatory family policing practices.
4. The policy aligns with the Alliance’s Theory of Change.

High Priority Issues

High Priority Issues

• Increased appropriations for CBCAP
• Introduction and passage of stand-alone bill for Title II of CAPTA / CBCAP
• Child Abuse Prevention & Treatment Act (CAPTA) Reauthorization as recommended by Senate HELP Committee in 2022
• Title IV-B reauthorization including Stephanie Tubbs Jones Child Welfare Services (CWS) program and Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) program including Increased funding for prevention and family support via Title IV-B
• Increased funding for Peer Support Programs in child welfare
• Enact policies to expand supports for families, decrease surveillance of families by mandated reporters, and reduce unwarranted calls to CPS

Issues We Support / Endorse

• Revisions to Family First Prevention Services Act to expand support for family support services and use of Title IV-E prevention funds for economic supports for families
• Improved policies to strengthen connections between birth parents and foster/resource parents
• Passage of the Family Poverty is Not Child Neglect Act that would make clear that child welfare agencies should not separate children from their parents solely due to poverty
• Bolster requirements for active efforts – not just reasonable efforts prior to placing a child out of home
• Passage of RISE from Trauma Act which funds communities to take action to reduce child trauma and help children and their families exposed to violence and experiencing abuse and addiction
• Passage of SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act to continue efforts to address the nation’s opioid and mental health crises with amendments to support reforms to Plans of Safe Care
• Passage of Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences (PACE) Act (pending introduction)
• Increased appropriations for children and family programs
• Legislation to strengthen economic and concrete supports for families (citation)
  • Macroeconomic Supports
    • Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) – Establish refundable EITC (allows tax filer to receive credit even if taxes are not owed)
    • Enhanced Child Tax Credit (CTC) – Expand access to and amount of CTC
    • Increase minimum wage – Every $1 increase in the minimum wage is associated with a 9.6% reduction in neglect reports (Raissian, 2017)
    • Paid Family Medical Leave
  • Concrete Supports
    • Child Care – Reauthorization and increased funding for Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG)
    • Housing – Expand supportive housing programs and provision of housing funds to families at risk of child welfare involvement due to housing instability
    • Health Care – Increase income eligibility for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), access to substance use disorder prevention and treatment, access to mental health services
    • Flexible Funds and Direct Cash Transfer (DCT) programs to address benefits cliff issues and buffer economic risks for families at risk of child welfare involvement
  • Public Assistance Programs
    • Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
    • Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
    • Woman, Infants, & Children (WIC)
  • Legislation to enhance parenting skills to promote healthy child development
    • Early childhood home visitation including Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visitation (MIECHV)
    • Parenting skill and family relationship approaches
  • Legislation that supports interventions to lessen harms and prevent future risk
    • Enhanced primary care
    • Treatment to lessen harms of abuse and neglect exposure
    • Treatment to prevent problem behavior and later involvement in violence
    • Legislation improving the well-being of children of incarcerated parents
  • Legislation to protect and strengthen tribal families
    • Tribal Family Fairness Act – providing tribal courts the infrastructure and funding they need to provide culturally competent services to the families in their jurisdictions.
    • Native American Child Protection Act – amends Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act to empower the Indian Health Service to respond to reports of child abuse or neglect in culturally appropriate ways. The bill would also fund the establishment of National Indian Child Resource and Family Services Center and require creation of an advisory board for the Center.
  • Legislation promoting positive changes in social norms to support parents and positive parenting
    • Legislative approaches to reduce corporal punishment

Levels of Endorsement

The following levels of involvement will be used to guide the Alliance’s policy activities:

High Priority: Means the Alliance has defined the policy issue as part of its primary policy agenda.  The Alliance will develop a formal position and devote staff and contractual time to promote the policy issues as part of its own policy agenda.  Efforts may include developing proposed legislation or a solution, preparing educational materials, informing constituents via personal, written and electronic means and mobilizing support for the policy at the grassroots, organizational, administrative and legislative levels.

Support / Endorse: Means the Alliance will monitor the policy issue and track the issue in collaboration with other public policy partners including, but not limited to, these coalitions in which we are formal members: the National Child Abuse Coalition (NCAC), the National Home Visiting Coalition and the National Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation.  Upon request, the Alliance will distribute information about such policy issues via electronic means to our membership.

Monitor: Means the Alliance will monitor the policy issue and track the issue in collaboration with other public policy partners including, but not limited to, these coalitions in which we are formal members: the National Child Abuse Coalition (NCAC), the National Home Visiting Coalition and the National Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation.

Resist / Object: Includes monitoring of issues and proposals that undermine the mission and the strategic plan of the Alliance. The Alliance will express its opposition to the policy issue.  Upon request of partnering organizations, the Alliance will distribute information about such policy issues via electronic means to our membership.

Oppose: Means the Alliance has determined the policy issue or proposal will likely undermine the mission and the strategic plan of the Alliance. The Alliance will develop a formal position and devote staff and contractual time to opposing the policy issue as part of its own policy agenda.  Opposition may include developing alternative legislation or an alternate solution, preparing educational materials, informing constituents via personal, written and electronic means and mobilizing opposition for the policy at the grassroots, organizational, administrative, and legislative levels.

[1] Note: Endorsement or opposition of a policy by the Alliance does not imply endorsement or opposition by individual Alliance members.

[2] Fortson, B. L., Klevens, J., Merrick, M. T., Gilbert, L. K., & Alexander, S. P. (2016). Preventing child abuse and neglect: A technical package for policy, norm, and programmatic activities. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

[3] Harper Browne, C. (2014). The Strengthening Families Approach and Protective Factors Framework: Branching out and reaching deeper. Washington, DC: Center for the Study of Social Policy.

[4] Note: Endorsement or opposition of a particular policy by the Alliance does not imply endorsement or opposition by individual Alliance members.