I will never forget the day I met the man who changed my life. It was a hot July day in Washington DC, and I had been advocating on Capitol Hill for military children with special needs. For days, for meeting after meeting, I shared stories of children who had been repeatedly denied healthcare...

On Tuesday, June 21, the House passed by voice vote the Family First Prevention Services Act (H.R. 5456), introduced in the House by Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and others. Many advocacy groups were supportive of this bipartisan bill, which would allow states to use federal child welfare dollars to pay for family services to prevent children from needing to enter foster care. These services could include mental health services, substance abuse services (including opioid and heroin abuse services), or in-home parenting skills programs (including individual and family therapy).

I was visiting with a good friend last week who was feeling exhausted, frustrated and saddened that her recent family vacation was not what she had intended. “We crammed too much in, checked our work email too often and didn’t build in enough downtime. I don’t feel like we really got to connect as...

Author's note: Earlier this month,, we discussed the June 16 event hosted by the Coalition on Human Needs, What Works – And What Doesn’t – To Reduce Poverty and Expand Opportunity . As part of that event, Melissa Boteach, vice president of the Poverty to Prosperity Program at the Center for...