[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1151 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1151

 To amend part A of title IV of the Social Security Act to require the 
     Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct research on 
                    indicators of child well-being.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 21, 2009

 Mr. Reid (for Mr. Rockefeller (for himself and Ms. Snowe)) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
                               on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend part A of title IV of the Social Security Act to require the 
     Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct research on 
                    indicators of child well-being.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``State Child Well-Being Research Act 
of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The well-being of children is a paramount concern for 
        our Nation and for every State, and most programs for children 
        and families are managed at the State or local level.
            (2) Child well-being varies over time and across social, 
        economic, and geographic groups, and can be affected by changes 
        in the circumstances of families, by the economy, by the social 
        and cultural environment, and by public policies and programs 
        at the Federal, State, and local level.
            (3) States, including small States, need information about 
        child well-being that is specific to their State and that is 
        up-to-date, cost-effective, and consistent across States and 
        over time.
            (4) Regular collection of child well-being information at 
        the State level is essential so that Federal and State 
        officials can track child well-being over time.
            (5) Information on child well-being is necessary for all 
        States, particularly small States that do not have State-level 
        data in other federally supported databases. Information is 
        needed on the well-being of all children, not just children 
        participating in Federal programs.
            (6) Telephone surveys of parents represent a relatively 
        cost-effective strategy for obtaining information on child 
        well-being at the State level for all States, including small 
        States, and can be conducted alone or in mixed mode strategy 
        with other survey techniques.
            (7) Data from telephone surveys of the population are 
        currently used to monitor progress toward many important 
        national goals, including immunization of preschool children 
        with the National Immunization Survey, and the identification 
        of health care issues of children with special needs with the 
        National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs.
            (8) A State-level telephone survey, alone or in combination 
        with other techniques, can provide information on a range of 
        topics, including children's social and emotional development, 
        education, health, safety, family income, family employment, 
        and child care. Information addressing marriage and family 
        structure can also be obtained for families with children. 
        Information obtained from such a survey would not be available 
        solely for children or families participating in programs but 
        would be representative of the entire State population and 
        consequently, would inform welfare policymaking on a range of 
        important issues, such as income support, child care, child 
        abuse and neglect, child health, family formation, and 
        education.

SEC. 3. RESEARCH ON INDICATORS OF CHILD WELL-BEING.

    Section 413 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 613) is amended 
by adding at the end the following:
    ``(k) Indicators of Child Well-Being.--
            ``(1) Renaming of survey.--On and after the date of the 
        enactment of this subsection, the National Survey of Children's 
        Health conducted by the Director of the Maternal and Child 
        Health Bureau of the Health Resources and Services 
        Administration shall be known as the `Survey of Children's 
        Health and Well-Being'.
            ``(2) Modification of survey to include matters relating to 
        child well-being.--The Secretary shall modify the survey so 
        that it may be used to better assess child well-being, as 
        follows:
                    ``(A) New indicators included.--The indicators with 
                respect to which the survey collects information shall 
                include measures of child-well-being related to the 
                following:
                            ``(i) Education.
                            ``(ii) Social and emotional development.
                            ``(iii) Physical and mental health and 
                        safety.
                            ``(iv) Family well-being, such as family 
                        structure, income, employment, child care 
                        arrangements, and family relationships.
                    ``(B) Collection requirements.--The data collected 
                with respect to the indicators developed under 
                subparagraph (A) shall be--
                            ``(i) statistically representative at the 
                        State and national level;
                            ``(ii) consistent across States, except 
                        that data shall be collected in States other 
                        than the 50 States and the District of Columbia 
                        only if technically feasible;
                            ``(iii) collected on an annual or ongoing 
                        basis;
                            ``(iv) measured with reliability;
                            ``(v) current;
                            ``(vi) over-sampled (if feasible), with 
                        respect to low-income children and families, so 
                        that subgroup estimates can be produced by a 
                        variety of income categories (such as for 50, 
                        100, and 200 percent of the poverty level, and 
                        for children of varied ages, such as 0-5, 6-11, 
                        12-17, and (if feasible) 18-21 years of age); 
                        and
                            ``(vii) made publicly available.
                    ``(C) Other requirements.--
                            ``(i) Publication.--The data collected with 
                        respect to the indicators developed under 
                        subparagraph (A) shall be published as absolute 
                        numbers and expressed in terms of rates or 
                        percentages.
                            ``(ii) Availability of data.--A data file 
                        shall be made available to the public, subject 
                        to confidentiality requirements, that includes 
                        the indicators, demographic information, and 
                        ratios of income to poverty.
                            ``(iii) Sample sizes.--Sample sizes used 
                        for the collected data shall be adequate for 
                        microdata on the categories included in 
                        subparagraph (B)(vi) to be made publicly 
                        available, subject to confidentiality 
                        requirements.
                    ``(D) Consultation.--
                            ``(i) In general.--In developing the 
                        indicators under subparagraph (A) and the means 
                        to collect the data required with respect to 
                        the indicators, the Secretary shall consult and 
                        collaborate with a subcommittee of the Federal 
                        Interagency Forum on Child and Family 
                        Statistics, which shall include representatives 
                        with expertise on all the domains of child 
                        well-being described in subparagraph (A). The 
                        subcommittee shall have appropriate staff 
                        assigned to work with the Maternal and Child 
                        Health Bureau during the design phase of the 
                        survey.
                            ``(ii) Duties.--The Secretary shall consult 
                        with the subcommittee referred to in clause (i) 
                        with respect to the design, content, and 
                        methodology for the development of the 
                        indicators under subparagraph (A) and the 
                        collection of data regarding the indicators, 
                        and the availability or lack thereof of similar 
                        data through other Federal data collection 
                        efforts.
                            ``(iii) Costs.--Costs incurred by the 
                        subcommittee with respect to the development of 
                        the indicators and the collection of data 
                        related to the indicators shall be treated as 
                        costs of the survey.
            ``(3) Advisory panel.--
                    ``(A) Establishment.--The Secretary, in 
                consultation with the Federal Interagency Forum on 
                Child and Family Statistics, shall establish an 
                advisory panel of experts to make recommendations 
                regarding--
                            ``(i) the additional matters to be 
                        addressed by the survey by reason of this 
                        subsection; and
                            ``(ii) the methods, dissemination 
                        strategies, and statistical tools necessary to 
                        conduct the survey as a whole.
                    ``(B) Membership.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The advisory panel 
                        established under subparagraph (A) of this 
                        paragraph shall include experts on each of the 
                        domains of child well-being described in 
                        paragraph (2)(A), experts on child indicators, 
                        experts from State agencies and from nonprofit 
                        organizations that use child indicator data at 
                        the State level, and experts on survey 
                        methodology.
                            ``(ii) Deadline.--The members of the 
                        advisory panel shall be appointed not later 
                        than 2 months after the date of the enactment 
                        of this subsection.
                    ``(C) Meetings.--The advisory panel established 
                under subparagraph (A) shall meet--
                            ``(i) at least 3 times during the first 
                        year after the date of enactment of this 
                        subsection; and
                            ``(ii) annually thereafter for the 4 
                        succeeding years.
            ``(4) Authorization of appropriations.--There are 
        authorized to be appropriated for each of fiscal years 2010 
        through 2014, $20,000,000 for the purpose of carrying out this 
        subsection.''.

SEC. 4. GAO REPORT ON COLLECTION AND REPORTING OF DATA ON DEATHS OF 
              CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE.

    (a) In General.--Within 1 year after the date of the enactment of 
this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a 
study to determine, and submit to the Congress a written report on the 
adequacy of, the methods of collecting and reporting data on deaths of 
children in the child welfare system.
    (b) Matters To Be Considered.--In the study, the Comptroller 
General shall, for each year for which data are available, determine--
            (1) the number of children eligible for services or 
        benefits under part B or E of title IV of the Social Security 
        Act who States reported as having died due to abuse or neglect;
            (2) the number of children so eligible who died due to 
        abuse or neglect but were not accounted for in State reports; 
        and
            (3) the number of children in State child welfare systems 
        who died due to abuse or neglect and whose deaths are not 
        included in the data described in paragraph (1) or (2).
    (c) Recommendations.--In the report, the Comptroller General shall 
include recommendations on how surveys of children by the Federal 
Government and by State governments can be improved to better capture 
all data on the death of children in the child welfare system, so that 
the Congress can work with the States to develop better policies to 
improve the well-being of children and reduce child deaths.
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