I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2437
To provide for grants to State child welfare systems to improve quality 
standards and outcomes, to increase the match for private agencies 
receiving training funds under part E of title IV of the Social Security 
Act, and to authorize the forgiveness of loans made to certain students 
who become child welfare workers. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 11, 2003
Mr. STARK (for himself, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. 
GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. COOPER, Mr. FROST, Ms. LEE, Mr. 
LANTOS, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. SERRANO, and Mr. WEXLER) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Education and 
the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak-
er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju-
risdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To provide for grants to State child welfare systems to 
improve quality standards and outcomes, to increase the 
match for private agencies receiving training funds under 
part E of title IV of the Social Security Act, and to 
authorize the forgiveness of loans made to certain stu-
dents who become child welfare workers.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Child Protection Serv-
ices Workforce Improvement Act’’. 
SEC. 2. CHILD WELFARE SERVICE QUALITY IMPROVEMENT 
GRANTS. 
Part B of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 620–629i) is amended by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘Subpart 3—Supporting Quality Front Line Workers 
‘‘SEC. 440. CHILD WELFARE SERVICE QUALITY IMPROVE-
MENT GRANTS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 
the Administration of Children and Families, shall make 
grants to States to improve the quality of child welfare 
services by increasing the quality and capacity of their 
child welfare workforce or by increasing the coordination 
of their child welfare services. 
‘‘(b) APPLICATIONS.—
‘‘(1) CONTENTS.—A State desiring to receive a 
grant under this section shall submit to the Sec-
retary an application that includes the following: 
‘‘(A) PLAN.—A detailed description of how 
the State would use the grant, during the 5-
year period beginning with the date the grant 
is received, to improve working conditions of 
child welfare workers in any agency providing a
service under the State plan approved under 
subpart 1 or 2 of part B or part E in 1 or more 
ways described in paragraph (2), and an expla-
nation of how doing so would help the State 
achieve the outcomes set forth in the Final List 
of Child Welfare Outcomes and Measures (64 
Fed. Reg. 45552–45554). 
‘‘(B) 
BASELINE
DATA
ON
STATE-SE-
LECTED
INDICATORS.—The information de-
scribed in those subparagraphs of paragraph 
(3) which describe the indicators that the State 
intends to improve on using the grant, with re-
spect to all child welfare agencies in the State 
for the fiscal year preceding the first fiscal year 
for which the grant is requested. 
‘‘(C) BUDGET.—A budget showing how the 
State would expend funds (including any grant 
funds provided under this section) for child wel-
fare services or the improvement of the services. 
‘‘(2) WAYS
TO
IMPROVE
WORKING
CONDI-
TIONS.—The ways described in this paragraph to 
improve working conditions of child welfare workers 
are the following: 
‘‘(A) Increase the wages of supervisory and 
nonsupervisory child welfare workers.
‘‘(B) Increase the number of State super-
visory and nonsupervisory staff working on 
strengthening and preserving families and im-
proving child well-being, permanency, and safe-
ty. 
‘‘(C) Reduce the turnover rate for super-
visory and nonsupervisory child welfare workers 
in the State, and the number of supervisory and 
nonsupervisory staff vacancies in child welfare 
agencies. 
‘‘(D) Improve the formal education and 
training of supervisory and nonsupervisory child 
welfare workers. 
‘‘(E) Increase the number of supervisory 
and nonsupervisory child welfare workers who 
have graduated from an institution of higher 
education in such fields of study as the Sec-
retary determines are related to the delivery of 
child welfare services. 
‘‘(F) Coordinate training, recruitment, and 
retention strategies for child welfare workers. 
‘‘(G) Provide educational scholarships for 
fields of study relevant to the purposes of parts 
B and E in return for substantial service.
‘‘(H) Implement strategies to increase the 
safety of child welfare workers. 
‘‘(I) Enable the State child welfare agen-
cies to coordinate the provision of services with 
State and local health care agencies, State and 
local alcohol and drug abuse prevention and 
treatment agencies, State and local mental 
health agencies, State and local housing agen-
cies, State and local agencies administering the 
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families pro-
gram, and other welfare agencies to promote 
child safety, permanence, and family stability. 
‘‘(J) Provide training to improve the abil-
ity of child welfare workers to include and in-
volve families in planning decisions for children 
served by State child welfare agencies. 
‘‘(3) DESCRIPTION OF BASELINE DATA.—The 
data described in this paragraph are the following: 
‘‘(A) The average salary of supervisory 
child welfare workers, and of nonsupervisory 
child welfare workers. 
‘‘(B) The average number of children or 
families, per caseworker—