INTRODUCING THE CHILD PROTECTION SERVICES WORKFORCE IMPROVEMENT

SPEECH OF HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK OF CALIFORNIA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2003

Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Child Protection Services Workforce Improvement Act. This bill is aimed at helping states improve their child protection services through grants and assistance that allow them to expand and enhance their child welfare workforce.

Many State child protection agencies are the last line of defense in caring for abused and neglected children. Today, these agencies are suffering from staffing problems that have been compounded by budget cuts and inadequate funding. The result in many cases is a failure to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children in our society.

I am sure that many of my colleagues have seen in their local newspapers or heard of a case where a child was severely abused or killed because a child protection agency ignored dangers posed to a child by their foster family or adoptive parents. Just look at the case of Indiana. A total of 70 kids died there from abuse and neglect in July 2001 to July 2002--this was a new State record. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Service Children Family and Service Review found that the cause of this was in part due to the state child protection agencies failure to sufficiently reduce incidences of repeated mistreatment. It also warned that state budget cuts will further impact Indiana's limited ability to track such incidences.

In Colorado, State budget cuts have reduced the size of foster care review teams to the point that the State won't be able to meet federal requirements that foster children be checked on at least twice a year. In Arizona, budget cuts there have led to 32 percent of children in State custody being stuck in temporary placements for over 2 years. In South Carolina, some 500 positions in the State's social service agency--many involving child welfare--have been zeroed out. The same is true for many other States. There is no question that States need federal help to improve their ability to help and care for children in need.

These nationwide problems are why I am introducing the Child Protection Services Workforce Improvement Act. It provides States with $500 million in matching grants over 5 years to improve these services where it is needed most: Increasing the number of qualified child welfare workers. States can use these matching grants for their private and public child welfare agencies to: Reduce the turnover and vacancy rate of child welfare agencies, increase education and training of child welfare workers, attract and retain qualified candidates and coordinate services with other agencies, improve child welfare workers' wages, and increase the number of child welfare workers,

To retain qualified child welfare workers, my bill also allows student loan forgiveness for those who have been with an agency for at least two years. In order to improve the availability of quality services, this legislation provides a 75 percent federal match to pay for training of private child welfare workers, which is the same match rate provided to public child welfare agencies. My bill also allocates funding for child welfare agencies to provide short-term mental health training to caseworkers.

A recent General Accounting Office (GAO) report found that child welfare workers are leaving the child welfare profession because of low wages, risk of on the job violence, staff shortages, high caseloads, administrative burdens, lack of support from supervisors, and lack of proper training for child welfare workers and their supervisors.

The high turnover rate and high caseloads of child welfare workers limits the ability and efficiency of agencies to investigate and solve problems of child abuse and neglect. For instance, the study found that the above staff problems: Provides insufficient time for remaining staff to establish critical trusting relationships with the families and children which are important to make the necessary decisions to ensure safe and stable permanent placements; delays the timeliness of child abuse and neglect investigation; limits the frequency of worker visits with children who are the victims or alleged victims of child abuse or neglect; and hampers agencies' attainment of some key federal goals of ensuring the safety of children and placing them in permanent homes either through adoption, kinship care or reuniting them with their families.

The Child Welfare League of America, the Alliance for Children and Families, the National Association of Social Workers, the Lutheran Services in America and the Catholic Charities of America have endorsed this bill. These organizations understand the needed support this legislation will provide State efforts to help abused and neglected children.

Please join with us in supporting the Child Protection Services Workforce Improvement Act and provide much needed financial resources to our child welfare workforce to protect the most vulnerable children in our society. Congress has a responsibility to respond to this urgent need.