II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3328 

To examine and improve the child welfare workforce, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 6, 2010 

Mrs. LINCOLN (for herself and Ms. LANDRIEU) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

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. DATA COLLECTION AND RESEARCH TO INCREASE 

7 ACCOUNTABILITY FOR OUTCOMES FOR CHIL8 DREN. 

9 (a) NATIONAL CHILD WELFARE STAFF STUDY.— 

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

11 enter into an agreement with the National Academy 

12 of Sciences, under which the National Academy of 

13 Sciences shall— 

14 (A) conduct a national study of child wel15 fare staff, highlighting promising approaches, 

16 to— 

17 (i) examine and provide findings re18 lated to the demographic and other charac19 teristics of child welfare staff, including 

20 compensation, academic degrees held, edu21 cation and training received, and turnover; 

22 (ii) examine and provide findings re23 garding factors contributing to child wel24 fare staff turnover and strategies that have 

25 been effective in reducing the turnover by 


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1 type of child welfare services, including 

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

4 services; 

5 (iii)(I) examine and provide findings 

6 regarding strengths and challenges present 

7 in the working relationship between child 

8 welfare staff, legal and court staff, and 

9 other related professionals; and 

10 (II) make recommendations regarding 

11 how this working relationship may be im12 proved; 

13 (iv) examine and provide findings, and 

14 make recommendations, regarding appro15 priate overall workloads and caseloads for 

16 all child welfare staff, including appro17 priate workloads and caseloads for super18 visors, analyzed by type of child welfare 

19 staff member supervised, including those 

20 providing child welfare services, including 

21 preventive, protective, foster care, inde22 pendent living, adoption, and kinship care 

23 services, and appropriate measurement of 

24 such overall workloads and caseloads; 


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1 (v)(I) examine and provide findings 

2 related to policy and practice regarding 

3 education level and training requirements 

4 for child welfare staff by type of work, in5 cluding providing preventive, protective, 

6 foster care, adoption, and kinship care 

7 services; and 

8 (II) make recommendations regarding 

9 appropriate education levels and training 

10 to ensure competent child welfare staff; 

11 and 

12 (vi)(I) examine and provide findings 

13 related to the kinds of data available to or 

14 collected by State or local child welfare 

15 agencies with regard to child welfare staff; 

16 (II) examine the methods and kinds of 

17 data on child welfare staff that States re18 port to the Secretary through the data col19 lection systems authorized under section 

20 103(c)(1)(C) of the Child Abuse Preven21 tion and Treatment Act, section 477(f) of 

22 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 677(f)), 

23 and section 479 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

24 679); 


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1 (III) make recommendations on how 

2 States might collect data on child welfare 

3 staff, including data on the type of work 

4 staff are performing, and report the data 

5 to the Secretary, regularly and in a man6 ner that enables the data to be linked to 

7 the outcomes achieved for individual chil8 dren served by the State or local child wel9 fare agency involved, which shall include— 

10 (aa) a means of incorporating the 

11 data into the data collection system 

12 authorized under section 479 of the 

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

14 and 

15 (bb) as appropriate, a means of 

16 linking the data to the information 

17 collected through the data collection 

18 systems authorized under section 

19 103(c)(1)(C) of the Child Abuse Pre20 vention and Treatment Act and under 

21 section 477(f) of the Social Security 

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

23 (IV) examine and provide findings re24 garding the impact of data collection pro25 cedures and requirements on child welfare 


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1 staff, and make recommendations for col2 lecting data on child welfare staff in such 

3 a way that the attention and time of child 

4 welfare staff are not diverted from pro5 viding services to children and families in 

6 order to meet data collection requirements; 

7 and 

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

9 on which the Secretary and the National Acad10 emy of Sciences enter into the agreement, sub11 mit a report containing the results of the study, 

12 including the findings and recommendations de13 scribed in subparagraph (A), to the Secretary. 

14 (2) CONSULTATION WITH INDIAN TRIBES AND

15 TRIBAL ORGANIZATIONS.—The agreement entered 

16 into by the Secretary and the National Academy of 

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

18 conducting the study described in that paragraph, 

19 the National Academy of Sciences shall consult with 

20 Indian tribes and tribal organizations (as defined in 

21 section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu22 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b)) regarding 

23 any aspects of the study that will address tribal-spe24 cific or unique issues, concerns, or special cirVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:30 May 07, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3328.IS S3328

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1 cumstances with respect to Indian children and their 

2 families. 

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

4 months after receiving the report submitted under 

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

6 report to the appropriate committees of Congress, 

7 along with a description of how the Secretary plans 

8 to consult with State administrators, Indian tribes 

9 and tribal organizations, child welfare staff, and 

10 other appropriate stakeholders to issue the proposed 

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

12 (4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

13 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

14 paragraph (1), such sums as are necessary for fiscal 

15 years 2011 and 2012. 

16 (b) COLLECTION AND REPORTING OF DATA ON

17 CHILD WELFARE STAFF.— 

18 (1) PROPOSED REGULATIONS.—The Secretary 

19 shall consult with State administrators, child welfare 

20 staff, and other appropriate stakeholders and, not 

21 later than 12 months after receiving the report de22 scribed in subsection (a)(1)(B), shall issue proposed 

23 regulations, which shall— 

24 (A) be based on the recommendations in 

25 the report; and 


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1 (B) require States to collect data on child 

2 welfare staff, and report the data to the Sec3 retary, regularly and in a manner that enables 

4 the data to be linked to the outcomes achieved 

5 for individual children served by the State or 

6 local child welfare agency involved, which shall 

7 include— 

8 (i) a means of incorporating the data 

9 into the data collection system authorized 

10 under section 479 of the Social Security 

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

12 (ii) as appropriate, a means of linking 

13 the data to the information collected 

14 through the data collection systems author15 ized under section 103(c)(1)(C) of the 

16 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment 

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

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

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

20 years after receiving the report described in sub21 section (a)(1)(B), the Secretary shall issue final reg22 ulations that meet the requirements of subpara23 graphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1). 

24 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 


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

2 welfare staff’’ means— 

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

4 child welfare agencies, who are working with 

5 children and families that have contact with 

6 such a child welfare agency, in order to promote 

7 safety, permanence, and well-being for children 

8 and families; and 

9 (B) employees of State-licensed or State10 approved nonprofit private agencies, who are 

11 working with children and families that have 

12 contact with a State, tribal, or local child wel13 fare agency in order to promote safety, perma14 nence, and well-being for children and families. 

15 (2) RELATED PROFESSIONALS.—The term ‘‘re16 lated professionals’’, used with respect to child wel17 fare staff, means individuals employed by public or 

18 nonprofit private agencies in child- and family-serv19 ing fields including education, health, mental health, 

20 substance abuse prevention and treatment, juvenile 

21 justice, law enforcement, and domestic violence, who 

22 work with children and families that have contact 

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


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

2 the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

Æ 


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