[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5246 Introduced in House (IH)]
111th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5246
To examine and improve the child welfare workforce, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 6, 2010
Mr. Kennedy introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and Labor
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To examine and improve the child welfare workforce, 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 ``Child Welfare Workforce Study Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1)(A) Research indicates that child welfare staff face a
variety of obstacles that hinder their effective work with
children and families in the child welfare system. These
obstacles include barriers described in subparagraphs (B)
through (D).
(B) High caseload and high workload levels prevent child
welfare staff from working intensively with children and
families and monitoring their progress carefully.
(C) Child welfare staff report an absence of sufficient
access to supervision, mentoring, and professional advancement.
A lack of access to supervision, mentoring, and professional
advancement contributes to staff burnout and turnover.
(D) States report difficulty hiring and retaining quality
child welfare staff. The average tenure of such a staff member
is less than 2 years. In addition to the increased cost of
hiring and training new child welfare staff, high turnover
rates among such staff are associated with multiple placements
of children in foster care, longer lengths of stays in foster
care, lower rates of permanency, and failed efforts at family
reunification. Lengthy periods of foster care increase costs
for child welfare agencies, as maintaining children in foster
care is more expensive than adoption, reunification, or other
permanency options.
(2) Supervision, staff preparation and training, caseloads,
workloads, data and accountability, working conditions,
cultural competence, and leadership are key components of an
effective child welfare workforce.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Child welfare staff.--The term ``child welfare staff''
means--
(A) employees of State, tribal, or local child
welfare agencies, who are working with children and
families that have contact with such a child welfare
agency, in order to promote safety, permanence, and
well-being for children and families; and
(B) employees of State-licensed or State-approved
nonprofit private agencies, who are working with
children and families that have contact with a State,
tribal, or local child welfare agency in order to
promote safety, permanence, and well-being for children
and families.
(2) Related professionals.--The term ``related
professionals'', used with respect to child welfare staff,
means individuals employed by public or nonprofit private
agencies in child- and family-serving fields including
education, health, mental health, substance abuse prevention
and treatment, juvenile justice, law enforcement, and domestic
violence, who work with children and families that have contact
with a State, tribal, or local child welfare agency.
(3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Health and Human Services.
(4) State.--The term ``State'' has the meaning provided in
section 1101(a) of the Social Security Act for purposes of part
E of title IV of such Act.
SEC. 4. DATA COLLECTION AND RESEARCH TO INCREASE ACCOUNTABILITY FOR
OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN.
(a) National Child Welfare Staff Study.--
(1) Study and report.--The Secretary shall enter into an
agreement with the National Academy of Sciences, under which
the National Academy of Sciences shall--
(A) conduct a national study of child welfare
staff, highlighting promising approaches, to--
(i) examine and provide findings related to
the demographic and other characteristics of
child welfare staff, including compensation,
academic degrees held, education and training
received, and turnover;
(ii) examine and provide findings regarding
factors contributing to child welfare staff
turnover and strategies that have been
effective in reducing the turnover by type of
child welfare services, including preventive,
protective, foster care, independent living,
adoption, and kinship care services;
(iii)(I) examine and provide findings
regarding strengths and challenges present in
the working relationship between child welfare
staff, legal and court staff, and other related
professionals; and
(II) make recommendations regarding how
this working relationship may be improved;
(iv) examine and provide findings, and make
recommendations, regarding appropriate overall
workloads and caseloads for all child welfare
staff, including appropriate workloads and
caseloads for supervisors, analyzed by type of
child welfare staff member supervised,
including those providing child welfare
services, including preventive, protective,
foster care, independent living, adoption, and
kinship care services, and appropriate
measurement of such overall workloads and
caseloads;
(v)(I) examine and provide findings related
to policy and practice regarding education
level and training requirements for child
welfare staff by type of work, including
providing preventive, protective, foster care,
adoption, and kinship care services; and
(II) make recommendations regarding
appropriate education levels and training to
ensure competent child welfare staff; and
(vi)(I) examine and provide findings
related to the kinds of data available to or
collected by State or local child welfare
agencies with regard to child welfare staff;
(II) examine the methods and kinds of data
on child welfare staff that States report to
the Secretary through the data collection
systems authorized under section 103(c)(1)(C)
of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act
and sections 477(f) and 479 of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 677(f) and 679);
(III) make recommendations on how States
might collect data on child welfare staff,
including data on the type of work staff are
performing, and report the data to the
Secretary, regularly and in a manner that
enables the data to be linked to the outcomes
achieved for individual children served by the
State or local child welfare agency involved,
which shall include--
(aa) a means of incorporating the
data into the data collection system
authorized under section 479 of the
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 679);
and
(bb) as appropriate, a means of
linking the data to the information
collected through the data collection
systems authorized under section
103(c)(1)(C) of the Child Abuse
Prevention and Treatment Act and under
section 477(f) of the Social Security
Act (42 U.S.C. 677(f)); and
(IV) examine and provide findings regarding
the impact of data collection procedures and
requirements on child welfare staff, and make
recommendations for collecting data on child
welfare staff in such a way that the attention
and time of child welfare staff are not
diverted from providing services to children
and families in order to meet data collection
requirements; and
(B) not later that 18 months after the date on
which the Secretary and the National Academy of
Sciences enter into the agreement, submit a report
containing the results of the study, including the
findings and recommendations described in subparagraph
(A), to the Secretary.
(2) Consultation with indian tribes and tribal
organizations.--The agreement entered into by the Secretary and
the National Academy of Sciences under paragraph (1) shall
require that, in conducting the study described in that
paragraph, the National Academy of Sciences shall consult with
Indian tribes and tribal organizations (as defined in section 4
of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act
(25 U.S.C. 450b)) regarding any aspects of the study that will
address tribal-specific or unique issues, concerns, or special
circumstances with respect to Indian children and their
families.
(3) Report to congress.--Not later than 3 months after
receiving the report submitted under paragraph (1)(B), the
Secretary shall transmit the report to the appropriate
committees of Congress, along with a description of how the
Secretary plans to consult with State administrators, Indian
tribes and tribal organizations, child welfare staff, and other
appropriate stakeholders to issue the proposed regulations
described in subsection (b)(1).
(4) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized
to be appropriated to carry out paragraph (1) such sums as are
necessary for fiscal years 2011 and 2012.
(b) Collection and Reporting of Data on Child Welfare Staff.--
(1) Proposed regulations.--The Secretary shall consult with
State administrators, child welfare staff, and other
appropriate stakeholders and, not later than 12 months after
receiving the report described in subsection (a)(1)(B), shall
issue proposed regulations, which shall--
(A) be based on the recommendations in the report;
and
(B) require States to collect data on child welfare
staff, and report the data to the Secretary, regularly
and in a manner that enables the data to be linked to
the outcomes achieved for individual children served by
the State or local child welfare agency involved, which
shall include--
(i) a means of incorporating the data into
the data collection system authorized under
section 479 of the Social Security Act (42
U.S.C. 679); and
(ii) as appropriate, a means of linking the
data to the information collected through the
data collection systems authorized under
section 103(c)(1)(C) of the Child Abuse
Prevention and Treatment Act and under section
477(f) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
677(f)).
(2) Final regulations.--Not later than 2 years after
receiving the report described in subsection (a)(1)(B), the
Secretary shall issue final regulations that meet the
requirements of subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1).
<all>