CWDA Blog - Our Take

Going to the grocery store, putting gas in the car. These everyday necessities would have been impossible for millions of Californians who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic were it not for the financial lifeline of federal unemployment benefits.

While most extensions and increases to these federal benefits expired September 4, 2021, affecting an estimated three million California workers, there are still opportunities to get help recovering from this crisis.

Many of us are experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic through stories in the news, our social media feeds or our sparing trips out of the house to buy groceries or take-out.  At CWDA, we have a different view of how the pandemic is unfolding — through the data and frontline experiences of our county human services programs serving vulnerable Californians and families.

CWDA continues to fight for the tools and resources necessary for the success of Continuum of Care Reform (CCR) in California’s child welfare system. It is imperative that California enact legislation that will help California meet the goals of this major foster care reform effort and ensure that funding is dedicated to that purpose. We must ensure that foster youth and caregivers are supported and stable as we continue to roll out and learn from this reform effort. To that end, we are determined to see two important policy efforts implemented in the coming year.

Home Safe program would help counties step in to protect vulnerable adults

Alice* weighed only 80 pounds when she was rushed to the hospital last year by ambulance. At 80 years old, with limited mobility, she was terrified to return home to her daughter and adult grandsons. Alice knew the brutal neglect she had suffered would only continue. These family members refused to help Alice get to the kitchen to eat, or to the bathroom to use the toilet. She was often left to soil her bed.

The Governor wrapped up his signatures and vetoes of all bills on his desk just before the midnight deadline on Sunday, October 15. CWDA had several sponsored bills signed this session.

“Elderly woman tries to make sense of eviction from longtime home,” read the headline in the San Francisco Chronicle on March 31. A day later, a Los Angeles Times headline said: “Once middle class, she hung on as long as she could. Now she and her two dogs live in a car in Carlsbad.”

By Cathy Senderling-McDonald & Jackie Bender

A patient arrives at an emergency room at a public hospital in the Central Valley. During the visit, she is also diagnosed with a brain tumor that requires highly specialized care available only at certain facilities in the state. However, she recently relocated to the area for a new job, and she does not yet have health insurance through her employer. Thanks to an option in the Affordable Care Act known as Hospital Presumptive Eligibility, this woman – and hundreds of thousands of Californians like her who seek care at participating hospitals each year – can receive immediate health care treatment and coverage while her eligibility is processed. The hospital offering the specialized care knows it will be paid for her care, and she will have the peace of mind that her care will be covered by this temporary insurance coverage.

“Keeping America Healthy” – that’s the motto of the Medicaid program, established more than 50 years ago to provide health coverage to low-income people. The program – one of the largest insurers in the nation – has seen dramatic improvements in eligibility processes, health care delivery and access in the seven years since the Affordable Care Act was signed. Medicaid – known as Medi-Cal in California – today covers 1 in 3 Californians, counting 14 million children, adults and seniors on its rolls.