I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 127 
To provide loan forgiveness to social workers who work for child protective 
agencies. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 4, 2005 
Mrs. JONES of Ohio (for herself, Ms. LEE, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. HOLT, Mr. 
MCDERMOTT, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, 
Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. 
MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. NORTON, and 
Ms. WOOLSEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To provide loan forgiveness to social workers who work for 
child protective agencies. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Approximately 3,000,000 reports of child 
abuse and neglect must be investigated each year. 
(2) Approximately 1,000,000 of these reports 
are confirmed and require ongoing intervention.
(3) On any given day in the United States, 
more than 500,000 children are being served outside 
their homes by the child welfare system. 
(4) These children are served in more than 
150,000 foster homes and more than 5,000 residen-
tial programs. 
(5) The child welfare workforce crisis has devel-
oped as the result of the following 3 major factors: 
(A) Overall low levels of unemployment 
and the resulting increase in competition for 
workers in all sectors of the economy. 
(B) The increasing numbers of children 
and families needing service coupled with the 
decreasing numbers of workers in the employ-
ment pool. 
(C) The relatively low pay and difficult 
working conditions that exist in many child wel-
fare agencies. 
(6) The vacancy rate in State child welfare 
agencies is 8.1 percent, and 14.3 percent for private 
agencies. 
(7) The overall turnover rate in child welfare 
agencies has doubled since 1991, to 13.9 percent in 
public agencies and to 46.5 percent in private agen-
cies.
(8) The child welfare workforce crisis is real 
and is already compromising the ability of the child 
welfare system to effectively provide essential serv-
ices to its children and families. In addition, analysis 
of trends indicates that the situation will worsen 
over the next decade. It is clear that steps must be 
taken now to encourage more workers to enter the 
child welfare services field and to improve the sala-
ries, working conditions, and training of workers 
who provide these critically important services. 
SEC. 2. LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR CHILD WELFARE WORK-
ERS. 
Part B of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 is amended by inserting after section 428K (20 
U.S.C. 1078–11) the following: 
‘‘SEC. 428L. LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR CHILD WELFARE 
WORKERS. 
‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this section— 
‘‘(1) to bring more highly trained individuals 
into the child welfare profession; and 
‘‘(2) to keep more highly trained child welfare 
workers in the child welfare field for longer periods 
of time. 
‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
‘‘(1) CHILD
WELFARE
SERVICES.—The term 
‘child welfare services’ has the meaning given the 
term in section 425 of the Social Security Act. 
‘‘(2) CHILD
WELFARE
AGENCY.—The term 
‘child welfare agency’ means the State agency re-
sponsible for administering subpart 1 of part B of 
title IV of the Social Security Act and any public or 
private agency under contract with the State agency 
to provide child welfare services. 
‘‘(3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 
The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 
meaning given the term in section 101. 
‘‘(4) STATE.—The term ‘State’ has the mean-
ing given the term in section 1101(a)(1) of the So-
cial Security Act for purposes of title IV of such 
Act, and includes an Indian tribe. 
‘‘(c) DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may carry 
out a demonstration program of assuming the obli-
gation to repay, pursuant to subsection (d), a loan 
made, insured, or guaranteed under this part or part 
D (excluding loans made under sections 428B and 
428C, or comparable loans made under part D) for 
any new borrower after the date of enactment of this 
section, who—
‘‘(A) obtains a bachelor’s or master’s de-
gree in social work; 
‘‘(B) obtains employment in public or pri-
vate child welfare services; and 
‘‘(C) has worked full time as a social work-
er for 2 consecutive years preceding the year 
for which the determination is made. 
‘‘(2) AWARD BASIS; PRIORITY.— 
‘‘(A) AWARD BASIS.—Subject to subpara-
graph (B), loan repayment under this section 
shall be on a first-come, first-served basis and 
subject to the availability of appropriations. 
‘‘(B) PRIORITY.—The Secretary shall give 
priority in providing loan repayment under this 
section for a fiscal year to student borrowers 
who received loan repayment under this section 
for the preceding fiscal year. 
‘‘(3) OUTREACH.—The Secretary shall post a 
notice on a Department Internet web site regarding 
the availability of loan repayment under this section, 
and shall notify institutions of higher education re-
garding the availability of loan repayment under this 
section.
‘‘(4) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary is author-
ized to prescribe such regulations as may be nec-
essary to carry out the provisions of this section. 
‘‘(d) LOAN REPAYMENT.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall assume 
the obligation to repay— 
‘‘(A) after the third consecutive year of 
employment described in subsection (c)(1)(C), 
20 percent of the total amount of all loans 
made under this part or part D (excluding 
loans made under section 428B or 428C, or 
comparable loans made under part D) for any 
new borrower after the date of enactment of 
this section; 
‘‘(B) after the fourth consecutive year of 
such employment, 30 percent of the total 
amount of such loans; and 
‘‘(C) after the fifth consecutive year of 
such employment, 50 percent of the total 
amount of such loans. 
‘‘(2) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section 
shall be construed to authorize the refunding of any 
repayment of a loan made under this part or part 
D.
‘‘(3) INTEREST.—If a portion of a loan is re-
paid by the Secretary under this section for any 
year, the proportionate amount of interest on such 
loan which accrues for such year shall be repaid by 
the Secretary. 
‘‘(4) SPECIAL RULE.—In the case of a student 
borrower not participating in loan repayment pursu-
ant to this section who returns to an institution of 
higher education after graduation from an institu-
tion of higher education for the purpose of obtaining 
a degree described in subsection (c)(1)(A), the Sec-
retary is authorized to assume the obligation to 
repay the total amount of loans made under this 
part or part D incurred for a maximum of 2 aca-
demic years in returning to an institution of higher 
education for the purpose of obtaining such a de-
gree. Such loans shall only be repaid for borrowers 
who qualify for loan repayment pursuant to the pro-
visions of this section, and shall be repaid in accord-
ance with the provisions of paragraph (1). 
‘‘(5) INELIGIBILITY
OF
NATIONAL
SERVICE 
AWARD RECIPIENTS.—No student borrower may, for 
the same service, receive a benefit under both this 
section and subtitle D of title I of the National and
Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12601 
et seq.). 
‘‘(e) REPAYMENT TO ELIGIBLE LENDERS.—The Sec-
retary shall pay to each eligible lender or holder for each 
fiscal year an amount equal to the aggregate amount of 
loans which are subject to repayment pursuant to this sec-
tion for such year. 
‘‘(f) APPLICATION FOR REPAYMENT.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each eligible individual de-
siring loan repayment under this section shall sub-
mit a complete and accurate application to the Sec-
retary at such time, in such manner, and containing 
such information as the Secretary may require. 
‘‘(2) CONDITIONS.—An eligible individual may 
apply for loan repayment under this section after 
completing each year of qualifying employment. The 
borrower shall receive forbearance while engaged in 
qualifying employment unless the borrower is in 
deferment while so engaged. 
‘‘(g) EVALUATION.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall con-
duct, by grant or contract, an independent national 
evaluation of the impact of the demonstration pro-
gram assisted under this section on the field of child 
welfare services.
‘‘(2) COMPETITIVE BASIS.—The grant or con-
tract described in paragraph (1) shall be awarded on 
a competitive basis. 
‘‘(3) CONTENTS.—The evaluation described in 
this subsection shall determine— 
‘‘(A) whether the loan forgiveness program 
has increased child welfare workers’ education 
in the areas covered by loan forgiveness; 
‘‘(B) whether the loan forgiveness program 
has contributed to increased time on the job for 
child welfare workers as measured by— 
‘‘(i) the length of time child welfare 
workers receiving loan forgiveness have 
worked in the child welfare field; and 
‘‘(ii) the length of time such workers 
continue to work in such field after the 
workers meet the requirements for loan 
forgiveness under this section; and 
‘‘(C) whether the loan forgiveness program 
has increased the experience and the quality of 
child welfare workers and has contributed to in-
creased performance in the outcomes of child 
welfare services in terms of child well-being, 
permanency, and safety, as determined after
consultation with the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services. 
‘‘(4) INTERIM
AND
FINAL
EVALUATION
RE-
PORTS.—The Secretary shall prepare and submit to 
the President and Congress such interim reports re-
garding the evaluation described in this subsection 
as the Secretary determines appropriate, and shall 
prepare and so submit a final report regarding the 
evaluation by September 30, 2005. 
‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
$20,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, and such sums as may 
be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.’’. 
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