Public Policy
Policy Priorities to Support Children with Special Health Care Needs and Disabilities and Their Families
Our Strategic Policy Priorities
Children and youth with special health care needs and disabilities, and their families, face systemic barriers and biases that impede their ability to experience their best possible lives. Systems of care do not respond to their needs holistically or facilitate access to supports that enhance their quality of life.
To make the most impact, we focus our policy actions across all levels of government – federal, state, and local. We work with our family and organizational partners to lean on the various levers of policy change through education and advocacy.
Our current policy agenda includes:
- Expand access to peer-to-peer support for families of children and youth with special health care needs
- Support and expand Medicaid coverage for children and youth with special health care needs and their families and caregivers
- Improve the transition to adult health care for youth and young adults with disabilities and their caregivers and families
- Eliminate language access barriers
Family Voices collaborates with national child health and disability organizations, such as the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, The Arc, Autism Speaks, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and other groups.
Recent Policy Briefs
Recent Policy-Related News
Family Voices Policy Position on Separating Families
Family Voices has released a policy statement in regard to the practice of separating immigrant families.
Greetings from Washington: Washington Update, June 27, 2018 Summary
The big issue in DC is still the separation of immigrant children from their families at the southwest US border, or more precisely, how to reunite them. In order to gain sufficient support for ways to address this and other immigration issues, the House has postponed...
Medicaid Plays a Critical Role in Caring for Infants Exposed to Opiods or Other Drugs in Utero
A Georgetown Center on Children and Families blog post explains the recent Informational Bulletin to states about Medicaid coverage of services for neonatal abstinence syndrome.
Of Possible Interest
Sky-High Deductibles Broke the U.S. Health Insurance System (Bloomberg, 6/26/18) How will marketplace premiums change in 2019? It depends where you live. (Kaiser Family Foundation, 6/21/18)
Your Input Sought
Traveling by Air with Service Animals [corrected from May 31 Update.] Comments due July 9 On May 23, the Department of Transportation (DOT) published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) regarding regulations of service animals under the Air Carrier...
Legislation
The legislation tracked below is for informational purposes only. It is not meant to be an endorsement for or against the legislation. Action updates may occur daily, if actions are taken by Congress. Newly introduced legislation will be added weekly.
The legislative tracker is sorted by latest action. To navigate this page, you can scroll through just as you would a normal webpage. You can also click Ctrl+F on your keyboard and type in the search box.
For additional information and to read the full text (if available), click the highlighted bill number. You can also navigate to Congress.gov and search using key terms or phrases, or the bill numbers listed below.
Encourage confidence to act