[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6011 Introduced in House (IH)]
109th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6011
To authorize the Secretary of Education and the Secretary of Labor to
make grants to advance treatment, education, and employment programs
for youth with serious mental, psychological, behavioral, and emotional
difficulties, so that they may obtain professional assistance necessary
in order to be successful in their lives and contribute to the economy,
and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 28, 2006
Mr. Osborne introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and the Workforce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of Education and the Secretary of Labor to
make grants to advance treatment, education, and employment programs
for youth with serious mental, psychological, behavioral, and emotional
difficulties, so that they may obtain professional assistance necessary
in order to be successful in their lives and contribute to the economy,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Coordinated Youth Education,
Employment Training, and Residential Treatment Act of 2006''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) The United States Surgeon General has reported that
serious mental, psychological, behavioral, and emotional
difficulties affect 1 in 5 United States youth. Moreover,
according to the National Institute of Mental Health, no other
illnesses affect so many youths so seriously.
(2) Youth who suffer from serious mental, psychological,
behavioral, and emotional difficulties, including youth who
have been abused and neglected, require specialized treatment
and care in order to live successful lives, benefit from
education and employment training, and avoid delinquent,
criminal, or antisocial behaviors. However, there are an
insufficient number of effective treatment programs for these
youth.
(3) As a consequence of the unavailability of appropriate
treatment options, youth throughout the country with serious
mental, psychological, behavioral, and emotional difficulties
remain in juvenile detention facilities and jails for long
periods waiting for treatment. These youth are in jeopardy of
worsening mental and psychological disorders as a consequence
of their confinement. Moreover, even though such confinement
often provides no professional, clinically supervised
treatment, confinement is the most expensive placement for
troubled youth short of hospitalization.
(4) Many youth entering residential treatment programs for
the first time have already experienced the trauma of multiple
placement disruptions and failures in alternative levels of
care. Requiring multiple placements prior to residential
treatment is predictive of poor outcomes, future disruptions,
and problems affecting a youth's educational, emotional, and
social growth.
(5) Residential treatment programs for youth with serious
mental, psychological, behavioral, and emotional difficulties,
operated by professionally trained and supervised personnel,
provides for a caring, therapeutic, and cost effective approach
that serves the best interests of the youth. Residential
treatment programs are integral components of comprehensive
systems of care promoting responsibility and accountability and
providing 24-hour care with professional counseling, therapy,
specialized education, and/or employment training under the
supervision of highly trained staff.
(6) Residential treatment programs operated by Boys and
Girls Home and Family Services, Inc. provide effective
therapeutic and educational programs for youth suffering from
serious mental, psychological, behavioral, and emotional
problems that negatively affect their education and
employability. Boys and Girls Home and Family Services, Inc.'s
mission of improving the lives of youth and families includes
providing youth with professional treatment and specialized
education and training so that youth can return to their
communities, and avoiding long term institutionalization while
holding youth responsible and accountable. Such residential
treatment programs offer the potential to help numerous youth
throughout the country.
(7) Lesser levels of care for youth with serious mental,
psychological, behavioral, and emotional problems who require
residential treatment can result in multiple failed placements
until the proper level of advanced treatment is provided. It is
estimated that more than one-third of first-time entrants into
residential treatment programs have had 11 or more prior
placements, with almost 40 percent coming from locked
placements.
(8) Since its founding in 1892, Boys and Girls Home and
Family Services, Inc. has proven to be a trusted and successful
provider of a full spectrum of services for youth and families,
in collaboration with Federal, State, and local agencies,
courts, schools, law enforcement, employment training agencies
and employers, faith-based groups, and other community based
organizations. A not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) organization, Boys
and Girls Home and Family Services, Inc. has unique experience
in operating small, medium, and large facilities and programs
to serve youth and families, particularly in rural areas. The
organization has demonstrated how to maximize cost
efficiencies, and to pass those cost savings on to other
providers so as to sustain the viability of collaborative
services. The capability of Boys and Girls Home and Family
Services, Inc. to sustain the highest level of youth services,
residential treatment, provides a solid foundation for all
lesser levels of care for youth.
(9) The lengthy detention and excessive, multiple placement
of youth with serious mental, psychological, behavioral, and
emotional difficulties who are waiting for treatment is a
serious problem for the Nation. The costs to society of
detention and excessive, multiple placement of youth in need of
residential treatment are exorbitant. Efficient and experienced
residential treatment programs are needed to offer effective
treatment, education, and training opportunities for youth,
with the hope that they may one day be reintegrated into their
communities.
(10) Boys and Girls Home and Family Services, Inc.,
offering services nationwide, is a leading children, youth, and
family service agency. The agency has a national reputation for
excellence and unique capabilities and experiences that assist
communities in designing and operating residential treatment
programs to serve youth with serious mental, psychological,
behavioral, and emotional difficulties. With adequate funding
from the public and private sectors, Boys and Girls Home and
Family Services, Inc. can assist other agencies and communities
in implementing residential treatment programs to offer
treatment, specialized education and training, and hope for
youth. The result will be an improved ability for youth with
serious mental, psychological, behavioral, and emotional
difficulties to obtain education and employment training in
order to lead fulfilling lives and contribute to society and
the economy.
(b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are as follows:
(1) To further the important objective of providing
exceptional services for youth with serious mental,
psychological, behavioral, and emotional difficulties, through
residential treatment programs, specialized education and
employment training, and other appropriate levels of treatment,
so that these youth may become productive citizens to ensure a
bright future for themselves and their families.
(2) To assist Boys and Girls Home and Family Services, Inc.
with the costs of establishing exceptional residential
treatment and specialized education and employment training
programs to address the needs of youth with serious mental,
psychological, behavioral, and emotional difficulties, their
families and communities.
SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE FOR BOYS AND GIRLS HOME AND FAMILY SERVICES, INC.
(a) Assistance Authorized.--Using such funds as may be appropriated
pursuant to the authorization of appropriations in subsection (c), the
Secretary of Education and the Secretary of Labor shall make grants to
Boys and Girls Home and Family Services, Inc., to assist with the costs
of establishing programs and facilities for residential treatment,
specialized education, and employment training and other appropriate
levels of service to youth with serious mental, psychological,
behavioral, and emotional problems, their families, and communities.
(b) Grant Requirements.--To receive grants under subsection (a),
Boys and Girls Home and Family Services, Inc. shall submit to either
the Secretary of Education or the Secretary of Labor, or to both
Secretaries, a proposal for the use of the grant funds, which shall
relate to establishing programs for residential treatment, specialized
education, and employment training and other appropriate levels of
service to youth who suffer from emotional and behavioral difficulties,
their families, and communities, with the objective of improving the
lives of youth, their families, and communities.
(c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
appropriated to the Secretary of Education and the Secretary of Labor
$15,000,000 to make grants under this section. Amounts so appropriated
shall remain available until expended.
<all>