Kristen Torres

On January 6, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a dramatic freeze on roughly $10 billion in federal child care and family assistance grants for five states — California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York — over alleged fraud and misuse of taxpayer dollars in state-administered programs. HHS’s Administration for Children and Families (ACF) notified the governors of the five states that access to key funding streams is now restricted pending review....

If you’ve spent any time working in child welfare, behavioral health, or foster care policy, you’ve probably heard the phrase “unintended consequences.”  Few issues illustrate that better than the quiet conflict between two federal laws that are both supposed to help children in foster care—but, in practice, are working against each other. At the center of the problem is a long-standing Medicaid rule called the Institution for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion  and how it applies to Qualified...

As the federal government shutdown continues to drag on, millions of families are facing the loss of vital food assistance. Unless funding is restored, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—the nation’s largest anti-hunger initiative—will run out of money as early as November 1st. SNAP Funding Set to Expire by End of October According to a notice issued by the the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) on October 10, states have been informed...