Early voting and absentee ballots are helpful to students, the elderly, military men and women and persons with disabilities, to name a few. In many states, to qualify for an absentee ballot or early voting you need to request a ballot or apply for one. There are many websites that can offer you information regarding this aspect of the voting process.

Deadlines for an absentee ballot and early voting vary for each state. To find out if your state offers early voting or absentee ballots, you can click here for information on absentee ballots and click here for information on early voting.

In most states the deadline to register to vote is October 6, which is the first step in acquiring an Absentee Ballot. If you have not yet registered to vote, you can do so at our Web site. Please encourage your colleagues, friends and family to vote!

Take Action!

On September 17, 2008, the House of Representatives unanimously passed H.R. 6893, the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (H.R. 6893), by voice vote. This legislation targets specific deficiencies in the child welfare system and addresses some of the most important needs affecting foster children in America today, including extending federal foster care payments up to 21 years old, providing federal support for relatives caring for foster children, increasing access to foster care and adoption services to Native American tribes, and improving the oversight of the health and education needs of children in foster care. Major provisions of the bill include:

1. Helping Relatives Care For Foster Children – Continues federal assistance (at state option) to relatives assuming legal guardianship of eligible children for whom they have cared for as foster parents. Authorizes Family Connection Grants to increase involvement of relatives as caregivers and help them navigate public programs. Requires notification of close relatives when children are placed in foster care.

2. Extending Assistance to Foster Youth Up to the Age of 21 – Extends federal foster care payments up to the age of 19, 20 or 21 (at state option) for children living in supervised settings. Require youth receiving such assistance to be in school, work, or related activity. Extends adoption assistance and guardianship payments up to age 19, 20, or 21 (at state option) for children adopted or entering guardianship after attaining the age of 16.

3. Expanding Training Funds – Expands coverage of federal funds for the training of child welfare workers to include private agencies approved by the state.

4. Improving Oversight of Health Care – Includes overseeing plans for the health care needs of foster children, accounting for the assessment and treatment of health conditions and ensuring the continuity of care, medical records, and prescription drugs.

5. Promoting Educational Stability – Requires plan for ensuring the educational stability of children in foster care and mandate assurance of school attendance.

6. Increasing Aid for Tribal Foster Care – Provides direct federal foster care and adoption funding to tribal governments for children in their care. (more…)

Take Action!

Senator Blanche Lincoln recently introduced, “Increased Student Achievement Through Increased Student Support Act (S. 3364),” a bill that will have a tremendous impact on the lives of children by creating a better trained and prepared school social work workforce to address the psychosocial and emotional issues that can impede educational performance. Our nation currently faces a serious shortage of qualified school-employed professionals, putting students with issues that interfere with learning at greater risk for school failure.

Its companion bill, H.R. 6654, introduced by Representative Towns, has over 40 co-sponsors. We need your help to get both of these bills passed. The “Increased Student Achievement through Increased Student Support Act” seeks to address this shortage. It creates a federal grant program designed to increase the number of school social workers, school counselors, and school psychologists serving low-income local educational agencies (LEAs) by creating a pipeline between institutions of higher education and low-income school districts. Institutions of higher education with graduate training programs in school social work, school counseling, and school psychology that develop collaborative training and placement partnerships with LEA’s will be eligible to apply for federal grant funds to hire and pay participating graduates to work in those schools. Program participants who remain employed in a low-income school setting for a minimum of five years will be eligible for loan forgiveness. By expanding the number of school social workers in low-income, high-need schools, we can improve the school and life success for students throughout the country.

Action Needed: Please contact your Senator and urge them to join their colleagues, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY), Thad Cochran (MS) and Robert Menendez (NJ) as co-sponsors of the “Increased Student Achievement through Increased Student Support Act”. Let them know that you are a social worker who is committed to improving the lives of our nation’s children and you look forward to passage of this important legislation. Thanks for your advocacy. Nancy McFall Jean, MSW NASW Lobbyist