Federal and State Advances to Support Grandfamilies

GrAND Voices have been front and center at the nation’s Capitol inspiring law makers to enact reform during an uncertain time. Activity has been frenetic in Washington, with a new Administration, repeated efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and several natural disasters demanding attention. Despite distracted law makers, several committed members of Congress have forged ahead on reforms specifically for grandfamilies, thanks in significant part to a new initiative of Generations United and Casey Family Programs, called GrAND Voices. GrAND Voices are caregiver advocates from around the country who elevate their voices, bringing their personal experience raising relatives, in addition to those they work with, to the attention of lawmakers. GrAND Voices were an integral part of the 5th national GrandRally in Washington, D.C., and have inspired new legislation. They have helped elevate the need for supports and services to grandfamilies in light of the opioid crisis and the increased numbers of children they are raising. The crisis has provided an urgent platform for pursuing reforms such as providing preventative services to grandfamilies and implementing the Model Family Foster Home Licensing Standards. Improved foster care data collection and a 2016 federal court case also have implications for those grandfamilies who have child welfare involvement. On the state level, many jurisdictions continue to try to make inroads for grandfamilies by implementing policy changes, such as new guardianship assistance programs. Grandfamilies support is moving in the right direction, albeit slowly

Federal Advances to Support GrandFamilies

It is the year of grandfamilies in our nation’s capital. Not since the mid-1990s has there been so much activity among federal lawmakers and policymakers to try to help all grandfamilies, both those within and outside the foster care system. In August 2015, a major piece of legislation was introduced in Congress, which would make holistic reforms to our nation’s child welfare financing system. For the first time, child welfare funds could be used to provide supportive services to parents and grandfamilies outside the system, so children do not have to enter it. For those children who are removed from their parents, a piece of draft legislation strengthens existing provisions requiring the identification and notification of relatives. This draft legislation would further help to ensure that relatives can become licensed foster parents – as one of the many options available to them—and have access to the services and supports that accompany that designation. For the first time in over 20 years, there will also be significant changes to which data on children in relative and non-relative foster care is collected. All of this activity builds on the momentum of recent federal laws that made significant reforms supporting grandfamilies. After many years of working to raise awareness, 2015 seems to have turned the federal tide towards supporting the heroic grandparents and other relatives who come forward to raise some of our nation’s most vulnerable children

Policy Update: Federal and State Legislation to Support Grandfamilies

Building on the progress of the last 20 years, helpful federal and state legislation continues to be pursued on behalf of grandfamilies. This update summarizes policy efforts during the last year and looks ahead to what is on the horizon. At the federal level, legislative efforts are focused on grandfamilies who are involved with the child welfare system. States are responding to federal activity by enacting policies to place more children with relatives and better serve grandfamilies who come into contact with the system, including “family finding” laws and including fictive kin as “relatives.” State policymakers are also striving to support the vast majority of grandfamilies who are outside the formal foster care system. States are increasingly collaborating across agencies to support grandfamilies with help from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, and are creating more educational and health care consent laws. These budget neutral laws respond to the needs of the families by allowing children in the care of their relatives to access public school tuition-free, as well as the array of necessary health care

Supporting Grandfamilies: Federal and State Policy Reforms

The last few years have seen increased media attention on the heroic and vital role of grandparents, other relatives, and family friends in raising and supporting our nation’s children. Several recent crises, including the opioid epidemic and children being separated from their parents at the Southern border, have caused journalists to see and acknowledge the essential role of grandparents and other relatives in stepping forward when parents cannot raise their children. This positive coverage is seen and heard by our nation’s lawmakers. More than ever, they are interested in learning about grandfamilies, their strengths and needs and how they can better support them. GrAND Voices, the national network of grandparent and other relative caregiver advocates, have resonated throughout the halls of Congress with two new laws to help prevent children from entering foster care and to support relatives and parents caring for them. Both the Family First Prevention Services Act (Family First Act) and the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Act, enacted in 2018, will make more services and supports available to grandfamilies. Pending legislation, introduced in spring 2019, will further support grandfamilies by making long-needed policy reforms, and will address challenges and other gaps in Family First Act implementation. In addition to federal activity, state lawmakers are also striving to better support the families. Legal options, such as standby guardian laws and educational and health care consent, can only be created at the state-level. State legislators are responding to constituent needs by passing new laws so that relative caregivers can access necessary services on behalf of children they raise. Although much still remains to be done to support grandfamilies around the country, progress is happening in greater strides than ever. GrAND Voices and those of us who work with them are determined to continue the momentum to truly support all grandfamilies whether inside or outside the child welfare system

Supporting Grandfamilies During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Federal Flexibility and New Funding

The Covid-19 pandemic has elevated and heightened the challenges and inequities that grandfamilies face. Unlike parents, with automatic legal rights and responsibilities to the children, grandfamily caregivers are often left to navigate systems that impact them but do not understand them. Federal response to the pandemic began by perpetuating these existing challenges. The CARES Act failed to explicitly name grandfamilies for system support, and they and those who work with them had to individually advocate in local communities. Later in the response efforts, federal legislation specifically called out supports for grandfamilies by providing unique federal funding flexibilities for kinship navigator programs and by funding the first ever National Technical Assistance Center on Grandfamilies and Kinship Families. This new Center and the ongoing work of the Federal Advisory Council to Support Grandparents Raising Grandchildren present promising opportunities for holistically improving the systems of support for grandfamilies

Cambio estructural y reconfiguración de la elite económica argentina (1976-2001)

El objetivo de este artículo es analizar las transformaciones operadas en la elite económica argentina entre 1976 y 2001 mediante la reconstrucción del perfil y las trayectorias del conjunto de individuos que ocuparon altas posiciones en las grandes firmas del país y/o puestos de dirección en las principales organizaciones corporativas del empresariado. Este análisis permite identificar criterios de semejanza y diferenciación en los perfiles sociodemográficos, trayectorias ocupacionales, y configuración social y organizacional del conjunto de la elite económica. Permite también dar cuenta del tipo de vínculos existentes entre la dimensión económica y la dimensión estrictamente política, especialmentela forma en que organizan sus intereses, los puntos de contactos entre los espacios de representación corporativa y las grandes empresas, los rasgos definitorios de quienes asumen el rol de representar los intereses empresarios, etc. A partir de esta reconstrucción empírica se buscan discutir implicancias conceptuales sobre la circulación, multiposicionalidad, reproducción social y grado de apertura/clausura de la elite económica argentina. Además, los resultados de la investigación permiten definir algunas hipótesis vinculadas al alcance y el sentido asumido por los cambios operados en las elites económicas durante un período de profundas transformaciones.Fil: Beltran, Gaston Joaquin. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales. Instituto de Investigaciones "Gino Germani"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Castellani, Ana Gabriela. Universidad Nacional de San Martin. Instituto de Altos Estudios Sociales. Centro de Estudios Sociales de la Economia; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Quelle sera l'évolution de Minergie dans ces prochaines années ?

Grâce à la prise de conscience de la population, le développement durable prend de plus en plus de place dans notre société. Néanmoins, la consommation énergétique reste un réel problème. Aussi, il en ressort qu’en Suisse 40% de la consommation énergétique et un tiers des émissions de CO2 sont dus aux bâtiments (OFEN, 2016). Des lois ont été introduites afin de pallier à ce problème et des centres de certifications ont vu le jour afin de réduire la consommation énergétique des bâtiments. L’association Minergie est la référence dans les bâtiments confortables consommant peu d’énergie. Cependant, aujourd’hui, il existe d’autres centres de certification ou normes qui permettent d’atteindre, plus au moins, les mêmes objectifs, tel que les bâtiments à haute performance énergétique (HPE). De plus, la récente mise à jour du MoPEC, et sa prochaine introduction, oblige Minergie à se mettre à jour. L’objectif de ce travail de bachelor est de connaître la future évolution de Minergie tout en prenant en compte les principales parties prenantes. Aussi, par exemple, une analyse des 5 (+1) forces de Porter ainsi qu’un SWOT ont été établis afin de prendre en compte les points essentiels. Les informations récoltées durant ces quelques mois, sur internet et grâce aux entretiens, m’ont permis d’envisager l’évolution de Minergie : réduire les écarts de performance. En effet, il arrive que la consommation réelle dépasse celle planifiée, parfois du double. Pour réduire ces écarts, il est possible de suivre diverses pistes, telles que mieux informer les locataires afin d’optimiser l’utilisation du logement. D’ailleurs, dès cette année, Minergie propose de nouveaux services afin de pallier, entre autres, aux écarts de performance

Treading Water: Faculty of Color Teaching Multicultural Classes during the Pandemic

There has never been a time like this in recent history. In the last year, educators have been building new paradigms as they teach. In this article, we inquire into our experiences teaching race at a PWI during the historic times of protests against the killings of Black men and women at the hands of the police and others, COVID-19, an election year, natural disasters, and changes in the Supreme Court. This article will reflect on the strategies and pedagogies used to support Faculty of Color teaching multicultural education/diversity classes at PWIs, and how the authors handled cultural taxation caused by the racial incidents that occurred during the pandemics of COVID-19 and anti-Black racism. The authors use duoethnography, a collaborative and reflective research methodology that engages both researchers in a multi-dialogical process to better understand the phenomenon under investigation. This article focuses our reflections on the following questions: How do we create supportive virtual and hybrid classrooms in diversity education classes at a PWI that do not re(center) Whiteness? How does one handle racialized experiences and not be overwhelmed by racial battle fatigue

Radiation Induced Reactions of Succinic Acid in Aqueous Solution: An Agent-Based Model

An approach to studying the formation of critical bio-organic compounds in the early Earth is to simulate in the laboratory possible processes that may occur in primitive scenarios. In this context, it can be studied the evolution of succinic acid in an aqueous media exposed to gamma radiation, as starting material produced more complex prebiotic molecules. To describe the products generated by the interaction of the different elements under radiation, there is a mathematical model that considers chemical reactions as nonlinear ordinary differential equations based on the mass balance of all the species, that has been implemented here by an agent-based model. In this simulation, each chemical species involved is considered as an agent that can interact with other species with known reaction rates, and the radiation is taken as a factor that promotes product formation. The results from the agentbased model are compared with the molar concentrations of succinic acid, and its products obtained in the lab. Simulation shows the exponential decomposition of succinic acid due to gamma radiation at room temperature in agreement with the laboratory model

Capturing the industrial requirements of set-based design for CONGA framework

The Configuration Optimisation of Next-Generation Aircraft (CONGA) is a proposed framework in a response industrial need to enhance the aerospace capability in the UK. In order to successfully address this challenge, a need to develop a true multi-disciplinary Set-Based Design (SBD) capability that could deploy new technologies on novel configurations more quickly and with greater confidence was identified. This paper presents the first step towards the development of the SBD capabilities which is to elicit the industrial requirement of the SBD process for the key aerospace industrial partners involved in this CONGA approach