President Bush Signs Child Welfare Bill:

Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008

President Bush recently signed into law the Child Welfare Bill known as the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008. Introduced on September 15, the Bill passed in identical form in both the House and the Senate.

Specifically, this legislation makes the most significant changes and improvements in the child welfare system in more than a decade by:

• Reauthorizing and updating the adoption incentives program
• Gradually de-linking Title IV-E adoption assistance from income requirements so that all children with special needs eventually have access to this federal support
• Providing for Title IV-E funding of kinship guardianship placements
• Extending direct Title IV-E funding to tribal governments
• Allowing states to receive federal reimbursement for support provided to foster youth up to age 21
• Creating a grant program to support kinship caregivers
• Requiring reasonable efforts to keep siblings together
• Requiring agencies to inform prospective adopters about the tax credit

For more information on the legislation, visit http://www.clasp.org/publications/fctsaiaact2008resources.htm

Congratulations to CASA of Montana Board Member and FosterClub All-Star Schylar Canfield and the many other youth and organizations nationally who worked so hard to get this Bill through! Also a big thanks to Montana Senator Max Baucus who helped push this Bill through. Click here to read a summary of H.R. 6893.

CASA Welcomes New Staff

Debra Cuny is the new Executive Director at Anaconda PCA Family Resource Center. Deb came to PCA as a Americorps*VISTA to assist in the further development of our Domestic Violence Programs. While a VISTA, she volunteered to become a Guardian ad Litem (GAL) and immediately became interested in the mission. She is looking forward to being more involved with all aspects of the CASA/GAL.

Yellowstone CASA welcomes Program Coordinator Ronda Butler. Ronda worked in mental health and human services for about twenty years. She loves the work that she does and can’t picture herself anywhere else. Office Assistant Kathy Walters also joined Yellowstone CASA. Kathy has
always been interested in the court system. When she became a CASA volunteer for in 2007, she realized she had found her niche in life and jumped at the chance to work for CASA.

CASA of Montana recently welcomed Jerie Roberts of Bozeman to the position of Program Services Director. Jerie moved to Bozeman from Illinois. Before moving to Montana, she was Executive Director at CASA of Jefferson County in Mt. Vernon, IL. Jerie will be working part-time from her office in Bozeman.

Dennis Radtke joined CASA of Missoula as the new Program Manager/Volunteer Coordinator. Dennis worked for 30 years as a High School Counselor in the Missoula County Public School system, and for 5 years after that for Youth Homes Inc. Youth Homes named the Radtke Home after him for his years of service on their Board of Directors.

To contact these new staff members, please visit our program directory.