1.This Act may be cited as the White
House Conference on Children and Youth in 2010 Act
.
2.
(a)Congress
finds the following:
(1)In 2005 there were over 3,000,000 reports
of child abuse and neglect. Only 60 percent of the children from the
substantiated reports received follow-up services, and 20 percent of such
children were placed in foster care as a result of an investigation.
(2)Each year there
are nearly 900,000 substantiated reports of child abuse and neglect.
(3)Each year
approximately 60 percent of such substantiated reports are reports of neglect,
30 percent are physical or sexual abuse reports, and more than 20 percent are
reports that involve other forms of abuse.
(4)Almost 500,000 children (including youth)
were in foster care at the end of fiscal year 2004 and nearly 800,000 spent at
least some time in foster care during the year.
(5)While 51,000
children are adopted from the foster care system each year, more than 117,000
children are waiting to be adopted.
(6)Each year
approximately 22,000 youth leave the foster care system not because they have
found permanent placements, but because they have reached the age at which
foster care ends.
(7)The child welfare
system includes State and local governments, tribal governments, child welfare
agencies, child welfare caseworkers, private agencies, social workers, the
courts, volunteer court-appointed special advocates, mental health and health
care professionals, educators, and advocates.
(8)There is an
overrepresentation of certain populations, including Native Americans and
African-Americans, in the child welfare system.
(9)The number of
children being raised by grandparents and other relatives is increasing and
exceeds 6,000,000 children. The Government recognized that kinship care is a
permanency option through the enactment of the Adoption and Safe Families Act
of 1997.
(10)The State courts
make key decisions in the lives of children involved in the child welfare
system, including decisions about whether children have been victims of child
abuse, whether parental rights should be terminated, and whether children
should be reunified with their families, adopted, or placed in other
settings.
(11)The child welfare
system will never fully address its primary mission unless the courts are an
integral and functioning component of a statewide system of care and
protection.
(b)It
is the policy of Congress that—
(1)the Government
should work jointly with the States and their residents to develop
recommendations and plans for action to meet the challenges and needs of
children and families involved with the child welfare system, consistent with
this Act;
(2)in developing such
recommendations and plans, the persons involved should emphasize the role of
the Government, State and local child welfare systems, State and local family
court systems, child welfare advocates, guardians, and other key participants
in such child welfare systems, with a goal of enhancing and protecting the
lives and well-being of children and families who are involved with such child
welfare systems; and
(3)Federal, State,
and local programs and policies should be developed to reduce the number of
children who are abused and neglected, to reduce the number of children in
foster care, and to dramatically increase the number of children in permanent
placements through family reunification, kinship placement, and
adoption.
3.Authorization of
the Conference
(a)Authority To
call the ConferenceThe President shall call a White House
Conference on Children and Youth in 2010 (referred to in this Act as the
Conference
), to be convened not later than 18 months after the
selection of the last member of the Policy Committee established in section 4,
to encourage improvements in each State and local child welfare system, and to
develop recommendations for actions to implement the policy set forth in
section 2(b).
(b)The Secretary shall plan, convene, and conduct the
Conference in cooperation with the heads of other appropriate Federal entities,
including the Attorney General, the Secretary of Education, and the Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development.
(c)Purposes of the
ConferenceThe purposes of the Conference are—
(1)to
identify the problems and challenges of child abuse and neglect, and the needs
of the children and families affected by decisions made through the child
welfare system;
(2)to strengthen the
use of research-based best practices that can prevent child abuse and neglect
with a special focus on younger children;
(3)to strengthen the
use of research-based best practices that can increase placement permanency for
children removed from their homes, including practices involving family
reunification, kinship placement, and adoption;
(4)to promote the
role of State and local family courts in each State child welfare
system;
(5)to develop
recommendations that will reduce the number of children who are in out-of-home
care and who fail to leave foster care before the age of majority, and
recommendations that will reduce the overrepresentation of certain populations
in the child welfare system;
(6)to examine the
role of the Government in building an equal partnership with State, local, and
tribal entities in order to assist with, and encourage, State, local, and
tribal coordination;
(7)to develop such
specific and comprehensive recommendations for State-level executive and
legislative action as may be appropriate for maintaining and improving the
well-being of children in such system; and
(8)to review the
status of recommendations regarding child welfare made by previous White House
conferences.
4.
(a)There is established a Policy Committee,
which shall be comprised of 17 members to be selected as follows:
(1)Nine members shall be selected by the President and
shall consist of—
(A)3 members who are
officers or employees of the Federal Government; and
(B)6 members, who may
be officers or employees of the Federal Government, with experience in the
field of child welfare, including providers and children directly affected by
the child welfare system.
(2) House of
Representatives Appointees
(A)Two members shall be selected by the Speaker of the
House of Representatives, after consultation with the chairpersons of the
Committee on Education and Labor, and the Committee on Ways and Means, of the
House of Representatives.
(B)Two members shall be selected by the minority leader
of the House of Representatives, after consultation with the ranking minority
members of such committees.
(3)
(A)Two members shall be selected by the majority leader
of the Senate, after consultation with the chairpersons of the Committee on
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and the Committee on Finance, of the
Senate.
(B)Two members shall be selected by the minority leader
of the Senate, after consultation with the ranking minority members of such
committees.
(b)Period of
appointment; vacanciesMembers shall be appointed for the life of
the Policy Committee. Any vacancy in the Policy Committee shall not affect its
powers, but shall be filled in the same manner as the original
appointment.
(c)
(1)The Policy Committee shall act by the vote
of a majority of the members present.
(2)The
President shall select a chairperson from among the members of the Policy
Committee. The chairperson may vote only to break a tie vote of the other
members of the Policy Committee.
(d)Duties of Policy
Committee
(1)The
Policy Committee shall hold its first meeting at the call of the Secretary, not
later than 30 days after the last member is selected. Subsequent meetings of
the Policy Committee shall be held at the call of the chairperson of the Policy
Committee.
(2)Through meetings, hearings, and working sessions, the
Policy Committee shall—
(A)make
recommendations to the Secretary to facilitate the timely convening of the
Conference;
(B)submit to the
Secretary a proposed agenda for the Conference not later than 90 days after the
first meeting of the Policy Committee;
(C)determine the
number of delegates to be selected in accordance with section 5 and the manner
by which the delegates are to be selected in accordance with such
section;
(D)select delegates
for the Conference; and
(E)establish other
advisory committees as needed to facilitate Conference participation of—
(i)professionals with
direct experience providing services to children and families in the child
welfare system; and
(ii)children and
families in the child welfare system.
(e)Powers of the
Policy Committee
(1)Information
from federal agenciesThe Policy Committee may secure directly
from any Federal department or agency such information as the Policy Committee
considers necessary to carry out this Act. Upon request of the chairperson of
the Policy Committee, the head of such department or agency shall furnish such
information to the Policy Committee.
(2)The Policy Committee may use the United States mails in
the same manner and under the same conditions as other departments and agencies
of the Federal Government.
(f)
(1)The members of the Council shall not receive
compensation for the performance of services for the Council, but shall be
allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates
authorized for employees of agencies under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title
5, United States Code, while away from their homes or regular places of
business in the performance of services for the Council. Notwithstanding
section 1342 of title 31, United States Code, the Secretary may accept the
voluntary and uncompensated services of members of the Council.
(2)Detail of
government employeesAny Federal Government employee may be
detailed to the Council without reimbursement, and such detail shall be without
interruption or loss of civil service status or privilege.
5.To carry out the
purposes of the Conference, the Secretary shall convene delegates for the
conference, who shall be fairly balanced in terms of their points of view with
respect to child welfare, without regard to political affiliation or past
partisan activity, who shall include—
(1)the directors of
child welfare systems of the States;
(2)members of the
State and local family court systems, representatives of the State bar
associations, and attorneys specializing in family law;
(3)elected officials
of State and local governments; and
(4)advocates
(including national and State organizations), guardians, experts in the field
of child welfare, families and children (including youth) affected by the child
welfare system, and the general public.
6.Conference
administration
(a)In
conducting and planning the Conference, the Secretary shall—
(1)request the cooperation and assistance of
the heads of such other Federal entities as may be appropriate, including the
detailing of personnel;
(2)furnish all
reasonable assistance, including financial assistance, not less than 18 months
before the Secretary convenes the Conference, to State child welfare systems,
State and local family court systems, and other appropriate organizations, to
enable them to organize and conduct State-level child welfare conferences in
conjunction with and in preparation for participation in the Conference;
(3)prepare and make
available for public comment a proposed agenda, for the Conference, that
reflects to the greatest extent possible the major child welfare issues facing
child welfare systems and the courts, consistent with the policy set forth in
section 2(b);
(4)prepare and make
available background materials that the Secretary determines to be necessary
for the use of delegates to the Conference; and
(5)employ such
additional personnel as may be necessary to carry out this Act without regard
to provisions of title 5, United States Code, governing appointments in the
competitive service, and without regard to chapter 51 and subchapter III of
chapter 53 of such title, relating to classification and General Schedule pay
rates.
(b)In carrying out the Secretary’s
responsibilities and functions under this section, the Secretary shall ensure
that—
(1)the conferences
held under subsection (a)(2) will—
(A)be conducted so as
to ensure broad participation of individuals and groups; and
(B)include
conferences on Native Americans—
(i)to
identify conditions that adversely affect Native American children in the child
welfare system and to identify Native American families who are at risk of
entering such system;
(ii)to
propose solutions to ameliorate such conditions; and
(iii)to
provide for the exchange of information relating to the delivery of services to
Native American children in the child welfare system and to Native American
families who are at risk of entering such system;
(2)the proposed agenda
for the Conference under subsection (a)(3) is—
(A)published in the
Federal Register not less than 180 days before the Conference is convened;
and
(B)made available for
public comment for a period of not less than 60 days;
(3)the final agenda
for the Conference, prepared after the Secretary takes into consideration
comments received under paragraph (2), is published in the Federal Register,
and transmitted to the chief executive officers of the States, not later than
30 days after the close of the public comment period required by paragraph
(2);
(4)the personnel
employed under subsection (a)(5) are fairly balanced in terms of their points
of view with respect to child welfare and are appointed without regard to
political affiliation or past partisan activity;
(5)the recommendations of the Conference are
not inappropriately influenced by any public official or special interest, but
instead are the result of the independent and collective judgment of the
delegates of the Conference; and
(6)before the Conference is convened—
(A)current and
adequate statistical data (including decennial census data) and other
information on the well-being of children in the United States; and
(B)such information
as may be necessary to evaluate Federal programs and policies relating to
children;
which the
Secretary may obtain by making grants to or entering into agreements with,
public agencies or nonprofit organizations, are readily available in advance of
the Conference to the delegates.7.
(a)
(1)After consultation with the Policy
Committee, the Secretary shall prepare a proposed report of the Conference
containing—
(A)the results of the
Conference, which shall include a statement of comprehensive coherent national
policy on State child welfare systems (including the courts involved);
and
(B)recommendations of
the Conference for the implementation of such policy.
(2)Publication and
submissionThe proposed report shall be published in the Federal
Register, and submitted to the chief executive officers of the States, not
later than 60 days after the Conference adjourns.
(b)Response to
Proposed ReportThe Secretary shall solicit recommendations about
and other comments on the proposed report, to be submitted not later than 180
days after the publication of the report. The Secretary shall request that the
chief executive officers of the States submit to the Secretary, not later than
180 days after receiving the proposed report, their views and findings on the
proposed report.
(c)Not later than 90 days
after receiving the comments, and the views and findings of the chief executive
officers of the States, under subsection (b), the Secretary shall—
(1)prepare a final
report of the Conference, which shall include—
(A)a statement of
the policy and recommendations of the Conference;
(B)a compilation of
the comments, and the views and findings of the chief executive officers of the
States; and
(C)(i)the recommendations of
the Secretary for a comprehensive coherent national policy on State child
welfare systems (including the courts involved), after taking into
consideration the comments, views, and findings; and
(ii)the recommendations of the
Secretary for the administrative and legislative action necessary to implement
the recommendations described in clause (i); and
(2)publish the final
report in the Federal Register and transmit the report to the President and to
Congress.
8.Definitions and
references
(a)In this Act:
(1)The
term Secretary
means the Secretary of Health and Human
Services.
(2)The term State
means any of
the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,
Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of
the Northern Marianas.
(b)In this Act, a reference to a child welfare
system of a State includes a reference to a child welfare system of a tribal
government.
9.Authorization of
Appropriations
(a)There is authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 to
carry out this Act.
(b)Limitation on
AppropriationsAuthority
provided in this Act to make expenditures or to enter into contracts under
which the United States is obligated to make outlays shall be effective only to
the extent that amounts are provided, and only to the extent of the amounts
provided, in advance in appropriations Acts.