I 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Child Welfare Work5 force Study Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1)(A) Research indicates that child welfare 

9 staff face a variety of obstacles that hinder their ef10 fective work with children and families in the child 


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1 welfare system. These obstacles include barriers de2 scribed in subparagraphs (B) through (D). 

3 (B) High caseload and high workload levels pre4 vent child welfare staff from working intensively 

5 with children and families and monitoring their 

6 progress carefully. 

7 (C) Child welfare staff report an absence of suf8 ficient access to supervision, mentoring, and profes9 sional advancement. A lack of access to supervision, 

10 mentoring, and professional advancement contrib11 utes to staff burnout and turnover. 

12 (D) States report difficulty hiring and retaining 

13 quality child welfare staff. The average tenure of 

14 such a staff member is less than 2 years. In addition 

15 to the increased cost of hiring and training new 

16 child welfare staff, high turnover rates among such 

17 staff are associated with multiple placements of chil18 dren in foster care, longer lengths of stays in foster 

19 care, lower rates of permanency, and failed efforts at 

20 family reunification. Lengthy periods of foster care 

21 increase costs for child welfare agencies, as main22 taining children in foster care is more expensive 

23 than adoption, reunification, or other permanency 

24 options. 


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1 (2) Supervision, staff preparation and training, 

2 caseloads, workloads, data and accountability, work3 ing conditions, cultural competence, and leadership 

4 are key components of an effective child welfare 

5 workforce. 

6 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) CHILD WELFARE STAFF.—The term ‘‘child 

9 welfare staff’’ means— 

10 (A) employees of State, tribal, or local 

11 child welfare agencies, who are working with 

12 children and families that have contact with 

13 such a child welfare agency, in order to promote 

14 safety, permanence, and well-being for children 

15 and families; and 

16 (B) employees of State-licensed or State17 approved nonprofit private agencies, who are 

18 working with children and families that have 

19 contact with a State, tribal, or local child wel20 fare agency in order to promote safety, perma21 nence, and well-being for children and families. 

22 (2) RELATED PROFESSIONALS.—The term ‘‘re23 lated professionals’’, used with respect to child wel24 fare staff, means individuals employed by public or 

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1 ing fields including education, health, mental health, 

2 substance abuse prevention and treatment, juvenile 

3 justice, law enforcement, and domestic violence, who 

4 work with children and families that have contact 

5 with a State, tribal, or local child welfare agency. 

6 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

7 the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

8 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean9 ing provided in section 1101(a) of the Social Secu10 rity Act for purposes of part E of title IV of such 

11 Act. 

12 SEC. 4. DATA COLLECTION AND RESEARCH TO INCREASE 

13 ACCOUNTABILITY FOR OUTCOMES FOR CHIL14 DREN. 

15 (a) NATIONAL CHILD WELFARE STAFF STUDY.— 

16 (1) STUDY AND REPORT.—The Secretary shall 

17 enter into an agreement with the National Academy 

18 of Sciences, under which the National Academy of 

19 Sciences shall— 

20 (A) conduct a national study of child wel21 fare staff, highlighting promising approaches, 

22 to— 

23 (i) examine and provide findings re24 lated to the demographic and other charac25 teristics of child welfare staff, including 


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1 compensation, academic degrees held, edu2 cation and training received, and turnover; 

3 (ii) examine and provide findings re4 garding factors contributing to child wel5 fare staff turnover and strategies that have 

6 been effective in reducing the turnover by 

7 type of child welfare services, including 

8 preventive, protective, foster care, inde9 pendent living, adoption, and kinship care 

10 services; 

11 (iii)(I) examine and provide findings 

12 regarding strengths and challenges present 

13 in the working relationship between child 

14 welfare staff, legal and court staff, and 

15 other related professionals; and 

16 (II) make recommendations regarding 

17 how this working relationship may be im18 proved; 

19 (iv) examine and provide findings, and 

20 make recommendations, regarding appro21 priate overall workloads and caseloads for 

22 all child welfare staff, including appro23 priate workloads and caseloads for super24 visors, analyzed by type of child welfare 

25 staff member supervised, including those 


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1 providing child welfare services, including 

2 preventive, protective, foster care, inde3 pendent living, adoption, and kinship care 

4 services, and appropriate measurement of 

5 such overall workloads and caseloads; 

6 (v)(I) examine and provide findings 

7 related to policy and practice regarding 

8 education level and training requirements 

9 for child welfare staff by type of work, in10 cluding providing preventive, protective, 

11 foster care, adoption, and kinship care 

12 services; and 

13 (II) make recommendations regarding 

14 appropriate education levels and training 

15 to ensure competent child welfare staff; 

16 and 

17 (vi)(I) examine and provide findings 

18 related to the kinds of data available to or 

19 collected by State or local child welfare 

20 agencies with regard to child welfare staff; 

21 (II) examine the methods and kinds of 

22 data on child welfare staff that States re23 port to the Secretary through the data col24 lection systems authorized under section 

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1 tion and Treatment Act and sections 

2 477(f) and 479 of the Social Security Act 

3 (42 U.S.C. 677(f) and 679); 

4 (III) make recommendations on how 

5 States might collect data on child welfare 

6 staff, including data on the type of work 

7 staff are performing, and report the data 

8 to the Secretary, regularly and in a man9 ner that enables the data to be linked to 

10 the outcomes achieved for individual chil11 dren served by the State or local child wel12 fare agency involved, which shall include— 

13 (aa) a means of incorporating the 

14 data into the data collection system 

15 authorized under section 479 of the 

16 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 679); 

17 and 

18 (bb) as appropriate, a means of 

19 linking the data to the information 

20 collected through the data collection 

21 systems authorized under section 

22 103(c)(1)(C) of the Child Abuse Pre23 vention and Treatment Act and under 

24 section 477(f) of the Social Security 

25 Act (42 U.S.C. 677(f)); and 


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1 (IV) examine and provide findings re2 garding the impact of data collection pro3 cedures and requirements on child welfare 

4 staff, and make recommendations for col5 lecting data on child welfare staff in such 

6 a way that the attention and time of child 

7 welfare staff are not diverted from pro8 viding services to children and families in 

9 order to meet data collection requirements; 

10 and 

11 (B) not later that 18 months after the date 

12 on which the Secretary and the National Acad13 emy of Sciences enter into the agreement, sub14 mit a report containing the results of the study, 

15 including the findings and recommendations de16 scribed in subparagraph (A), to the Secretary. 

17 (2) CONSULTATION WITH INDIAN TRIBES AND

18 TRIBAL ORGANIZATIONS.—The agreement entered 

19 into by the Secretary and the National Academy of 

20 Sciences under paragraph (1) shall require that, in 

21 conducting the study described in that paragraph, 

22 the National Academy of Sciences shall consult with 

23 Indian tribes and tribal organizations (as defined in 

24 section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu25 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b)) regarding 


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1 any aspects of the study that will address tribal-spe2 cific or unique issues, concerns, or special cir3 cumstances with respect to Indian children and their 

4 families. 

5 (3) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 3 

6 months after receiving the report submitted under 

7 paragraph (1)(B), the Secretary shall transmit the 

8 report to the appropriate committees of Congress, 

9 along with a description of how the Secretary plans 

10 to consult with State administrators, Indian tribes 

11 and tribal organizations, child welfare staff, and 

12 other appropriate stakeholders to issue the proposed 

13 regulations described in subsection (b)(1). 

14 (4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

15 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

16 paragraph (1) such sums as are necessary for fiscal 

17 years 2011 and 2012. 

18 (b) COLLECTION AND REPORTING OF DATA ON

19 CHILD WELFARE STAFF.— 

20 (1) PROPOSED REGULATIONS.—The Secretary 

21 shall consult with State administrators, child welfare 

22 staff, and other appropriate stakeholders and, not 

23 later than 12 months after receiving the report de24 scribed in subsection (a)(1)(B), shall issue proposed 

25 regulations, which shall— 


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1 (A) be based on the recommendations in 

2 the report; and 

3 (B) require States to collect data on child 

4 welfare staff, and report the data to the Sec5 retary, regularly and in a manner that enables 

6 the data to be linked to the outcomes achieved 

7 for individual children served by the State or 

8 local child welfare agency involved, which shall 

9 include— 

10 (i) a means of incorporating the data 

11 into the data collection system authorized 

12 under section 479 of the Social Security 

13 Act (42 U.S.C. 679); and 

14 (ii) as appropriate, a means of linking 

15 the data to the information collected 

16 through the data collection systems author17 ized under section 103(c)(1)(C) of the 

18 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment 

19 Act and under section 477(f) of the Social 

20 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 677(f)). 

21 (2) FINAL REGULATIONS.—Not later than 2 

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1 ulations that meet the requirements of subpara2 graphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1). 

Æ 


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