Alaska

The philanthropy group Chicago Beyond has awarded more than $1.5 million to organizations working in the area of child welfare.

Proposed legislation calls for increased funding and new programs aimed at improving the well-being of Indigenous children and their families.

The U.S Department of Health and Human Services has announced new tribal home-visiting grant awards.

Alaska’s overuse of residential treatment for youth with behavioral health challenges likely violates the ADA, the Justice Department finds.

A new state law that took effect August 5 in Alaska aims to “address and improve deep structural inequities” in the state’s child welfare system — protecting residents should broader federal protections be overturned by a pending Supreme Court case.

A class-action lawsuit filed last week accuses Alaska’s child welfare agency of failing to support birth parents, kinship caregivers and foster parents, while violating the requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act. 

Alaska has amended court rules to allow foster youth the ability to attend hearings and have attorneys argue their own wishes in their cases.

Last year, foster youth in Alaska won the right to be notified when the state seized their federal benefits and this fall, the judge on the case finalized the ruling.

A bill granting the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Tribal Justice two additional years to complete a study on the needs of Native children is on its way to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.