BOISE, Idaho -- The latest COVID-19 relief package makes massive investments in child well-being.

The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan makes investments, including $250 million in community-based child abuse prevention programs, with about $1 million coming to Idaho.

Jim McKay, policy director for the Children's Trust Fund Alliance, said the programs provide resources for families, helping to prevent abuse and neglect, and it's been a long time coming.

"We have not seen funding levels that are included in this bill for the community-based child abuse prevention programs in the entire history of that program, which is over 30 years old," McKay observed.

McKay, who is speaking at an Idaho-based conference on child abuse prevention this week, said the bill also invests in other provisions that prevent abuse and neglect, including $24 billion to stabilize the child-care industry and $15 billion in child-care subsidies.

The bill puts money in a broader prevention method with relief from economic stress, through the latest round of stimulus checks and increases to the child tax credit.

McKay contended the funding helps stabilize families.

"Providing that economic security is estimated to lift thousands and thousands of families out of poverty and could cut our child poverty rate in half as a nation," McKay asserted. "So those achievements are just so critical in our fight against child abuse."

Usually held in Boise, the Strengthening Families Training Institute is meeting virtually this year.

Tuesday, McKay will talk about advocating for family-friendly policies.

"How families, individuals, advocates can lift up their voices based on their experiences," McKay explained. "What's happening in their communities, what's happening in their lives, the challenges they're facing and how they can share those ideas and solutions with policymakers, other decision makers."

The conference starts today and runs through Wednesday. This year, the theme is "Becoming Mandated Supporters: Creating a 21st century child well-being system."


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BOISE, Idaho - An organization has rated Idaho lawmakers on how they voted for measures that affect children in the 2021 session.

Idaho Children Are Primary, or ICAP, identified 20 bills and determined if the policy was good or bad for kids. The main focus areas for the Kids Matter Index were education, health care and economic security.

Dr. Noreen Womack is a pediatrician with St. Luke's Children's Pediatrics in Nampa and a member of ICAP.

"The Kids Matter Index," said Womack, "is the legislative bill-rating system that we came up with in collaboration with others that work for children like Idaho Voices for Children to basically give a voice for kids because kids don't have lobbyists."

Eleven of the bills ICAP supported passed the Legislature, including emergency rental assistance funding, COVID-19 relief for childcare grants and extending the age people can be in foster care from 18 to 21.

Diane Schwarz, one of I-CAP's founders, said other organizations rate individual legislators on their votes for policies like gun rights. She said her group wanted to do the same for issues that affect children.

She said more than half of lawmakers scored 80% or above. However, Schwarz said she believes the bills introduced didn't go far enough to support children.

"Yes, they scored well based on the bills that were there," said Schwarz. "But I think it just shows that, based on the bills, there's a lot more work that has to be done in Idaho in future sessions."

As Idaho has one of the youngest populations in the country, Schwarz said it's critical to support kids because they will in turn support a vibrant, growing Idaho.

SEATTLE - Foster care alumni in Washington state have one month left to apply for pandemic aid.

As part of a large relief package in Congress last year, Washington is distributing $1.65 million to people who were dependents of the state or tribal foster-care programs after their 15th birthday. They now must be between ages 23 and 26.

Dawn Rains, chief policy and strategy officer at Treehouse, an organization helping the state's Department of Children, Youth, and Families distribute funds, said recipients will receive $1,000 at a crucial time.

"We know that many of them struggle in the transition to adulthood," she said. "They don't have the same kinds of safety nets of families to help with their transition, either through the education, post-high school education, or into the world of employment."

Rains noted that folks are eligible even if they weren't in foster care in Washington state. She said they've reached about 400 people so far of the 2,800 known to be eligible in the state. The deadline to apply is Sept. 30.

Rains said there's a lot of flexibility for how the $1,000 can be used, adding what a difference this amount of money can make.

"We're so hopeful that this is going to help people stay housed, to get food that they need, to maintain going to school, if that is their path," she said.

Rains said she sees it as a critical investment for people who have been in foster care.

"They are the young people for whom the state became parent," she said, "and we have a special responsibility to help make sure that they make a successful transition to young adulthood - both for them personally and for all of us."

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Many New Mexicans seeking pandemic relief face an uphill battle due to language barriers, according to a new report. In addition to Latinos, language roadblocks apply to the state's Asian, Pacific Islander and African immigrants and refugees.

The report, entitled "Eligible but Excluded," was compiled by New Mexico's Voices for Children.

Derek Lin, research and policy analyst at New Mexico Voices for Children, said some federal relief programs have been administered by the state to offset harmful consequences of the pandemic, but they are not reaching all those who could benefit.

"Many immigrants and refugees, because they speak languages other than English at home, have been unable to access a lot of these programs that they are eligible for," Lin explained.

Lin said the new report is a follow-up to another, "Essential but Excluded," released last May. It focused on Latin American immigrants who had been left out of the federal stimulus payments. Conclusions in the report are drawn from in-person surveys and interviews, with assistance from three immigrant- and refugee-serving organizations.

Despite a requirement state agencies receiving federal funds provide meaningful language access when a population totals at least 1,000, Lin pointed out many are not doing so, and have not produced the required plans to make it happen.

"People who may speak Swahili or Vietnamese, many of these languages that we have across our country that aren't necessarily supported in all of our government agencies," Lin outlined.

Lin noted Voices for Children is preparing legislation for the 2022 session to address better language access.