Date: 2008-06-25
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in strong support of H.R. 6358. the Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008. This legislation incorporates the bipartisan compromise amendment to H.R. 5876 that this House debated yesterday and supported by a vote of 422 in a recorded vote that was taken on the substitute amendments. The ranking member. Mr. McKEON. and I worked together to develop this compromise legislation because we both agree that childrens health and safety should never be a partisan issue. The Government Accountability Office has found thousands of cases and allegations of child abuse and neglect. stretching back decades. to teen residential programs. including boot camps. wilderness camps. and therapeutic boarding schools. The Education and Labor Committee has closely reviewed dozens of serious neglect and abuse cases. including cases that resulted in the death of a child. We have heard from parents of children who died of preventable causes at the hands of untrained. uncaring staff members. We have heard from adults who attended these programs as teens. They too were the victims of physical and emotional abuse and witnessed other children being abused. These abuses have been allowed to go on because of the weak State and Federal rules governing teen residential programs. An 18month study by the Government Accountability Office showed that State licensing may exclude certain types of teen residential programs and thus place children at higher risk of abuse and neglect. In some States inconsistent licensing enables programs .to define theipselves out of the licensing altogether. According to GAO. in Texas a program that calls itself a residential treatment center would be required to obtain a license. but if that same program simply called itself a boarding school. it would not be required to have that license. and thats why this legislation is terribly important. EJ 1730 Parents sehd their children to thse programs because they feel they have exhausted their alternatives. Their children may be abusing drugs or alcohol. attempting to run away or physically harm themselves. or otherwise acting out. They turn to these programs because the promise of staff members that will. help their children straighten out their lives. And surely there are many cases in which programs do provide families the help they need. These parents are desperate and their children are in deep trouble. But in far too many cases. when parents turn to those programs. they find they are getting conflicted information by people who have conflicts of interest in .recommending the care for their children. financial conflicts of interest. ownership issues. and relationship issues that conflict that kind of advice. We also know that we see programs that violate the trust that must be established between the parent and these programs and the programs and the children. Its very .difficult for these parents to find good programs and to. find accurate information. since the reporting requirements are so thin or nonexistent in so many States. This legislation requires the Department of Health and Human Services to establish minimum standards for residential programs. and to enforce them. Ultimately. however. the States will have primary responsibility for carrying out the work of this bill. The legislation calls upon the States within 3 years to take up the role of setting standards and enforcing them at all programs. public and private. The Health and Human Services and the State standards would include prohibitions on physical. sexual. and mental abuse of. children. The standards would require the programs to provide children with adequate food. water. and medical care. They would require that programs have plans in place to handle medical emergencies. They would also include new training requirements for program staff. including the training on how to identify and report child abuse. The legislation requires Health and Human Services ta set up a tollfree hotline for people to call to report abuse in these programs. It also requires Health and Human Services to create a Web site for information about each program so that parents can look and see if substantiated cases of child abuse or a child fatality has occurred at the program that they are considering for their children. Finally. the legislation -requires programs to disclose to parents the qualifications. roles. and responsibilities of all current staff members. and requires programs to notify parents of substantiated child abuse or violations of health and safety laws. Madam Speaker. we have the responsibility to keep children safe. no matter what setting they are in. Today. we are taking an important step to finally ending the horrific abuses that have gone on in these residential programs for teens. I want to thank again Congresswoman MCCARTHY of New York for all of her help and work on this legislation. and Congressman McKEON for all of his work on this legislation. His suggestions as the bill left the committee made this a better piece of legislation. and I encourage my colleagues to support the bipartisan legislation. I reserve the balance of my time.