II 111th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 686 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES March 24, 2009 Ms. Mikulski introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To establish the Social Work Reinvestment Commission to advise Congress and the Secretary of Health and Human Services on policy issues associated with the profession of social work, to authorize the Secretary to make grants to support recruitment for, and retention, research, and reinvestment in, the profession, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title; table of contents

(a)

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act. (b)

Table of Contents

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Findings. Sec. 3. Definitions. TITLE I—Social Work Reinvestment Commission Sec. 101. Establishment of Commission. Sec. 102. Appointment of Commission members. Sec. 103. Purposes and duties of Commission. Sec. 104. Powers of the Commission. Sec. 105. Compensation for Commission members. Sec. 106. Termination of the Commission. Sec. 107. Authorization of appropriations. TITLE II—Reinvestment Grant Programs to Support Social Work Profession Sec. 201. Workplace improvement grants. Sec. 202. Research grants. Sec. 203. Education and training grants. Sec. 204. Community-based programs of excellence grants. Sec. 205. National coordinating center. Sec. 206. Multimedia outreach campaign.

2.

Findings

Congress finds the following: (1)The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that employment of social workers is expected to increase. The increase is expected to be greater than the average increase in employment (estimated to be 22 percent) during the period of 2006 through 2016, demonstrating a substantial need for social workers. The need is even greater for social workers in the area of aging. The National Association of Social Workers Center for Workforce Studies estimates that 9 percent of, or 30,000, licensed social workers specialize in gerontology. By 2010, as more people reach the age of 65, the National Institute on Aging projects that 60,000 to 70,000 social workers will be needed. (2)Social work salaries are among the lowest for professionals in general and for those with master’s level educations in particular. A survey conducted by the John A. Hartford Foundation found that between 1992 and 1999 the annual rate of wage growth for degree-holding social workers was 0.8 percent. According to the National Association of Social Workers Center for Workforce Studies, 60 percent of full-time social workers earn between $35,000 and $59,999 per year, with 25 percent earning between $40,000 and $49,999 per year. Social workers who earn lower salaries are more likely to work in challenging agency environments and to serve more vulnerable clients. They are also more likely to leave the profession. (3)According to one study by the Council on Social Work Education, 68 percent of individuals surveyed who held a master’s degree in social work graduated with an average debt of $26,777. Additionally, the United States Public Interest Research Group states that 37 percent of public 4-year graduates have too much debt to manage as a starting social worker. While social workers may be in positions that are personally fulfilling, due to their high loan debt and low income, many struggle financially. (4)Social work can be a dangerous profession. According to the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, 70 percent of caseworkers report that front line staff in their agency have been victims of violence or have received threats of violence. Social workers are considerably safer when measures such as use of global positioning systems, self-defense training, and conflict prevention are implemented. (5)According to a study by the University of Michigan, approximately 1 in 7 adults over the age of 70 have some form of dementia, and 9.7 percent (or 2,400,000) of those found with dementia were also found to have Alzheimer’s disease. Social workers in gerontology settings work with older adults, including those with dementia, to support their physiological, psychological, and social needs through mental health therapy, caregiver and family counseling, health education, program coordination, and case management. Those professionals also assist the hundreds of thousands of older persons who are abused, neglected, frail, or vulnerable. Between 2000 and 2004, there was a 19.7 percent increase in the total number of reports of elder and vulnerable adult abuse and neglect. (6)The Children’s Defense Fund states that every 36 seconds a child is confirmed as abused or neglected. The Administration for Children and Families states that 510,000 children were in the United States foster care system in 2006. Most of the children in foster care are placed in foster care due to parental abuse or neglect. Research shows that social workers in child welfare agencies are more likely to find permanent homes for children who were in foster care for 2 or more years. Unfortunately, fewer than 40 percent of child welfare workers are social workers. (7)The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 26.2 percent of (or 1 in 4) individuals in the United States age 18 or older experiences a diagnosable mental health disorder. Additionally, 1 in 5 children and adolescents experiences a mental health disorder. At least 1 in 10, or about 6,000,000, young people have a serious emotional disturbance. Social workers provide the majority of mental health counseling services in the United States, and are often the only providers of such services in rural areas. (8)The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that there are 23,977,000 veterans in the United States. More than 1,100,000 members of the Armed Forces have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001. A once declining veteran population is now surging and is in dire need of mental health treatment to address issues such as post traumatic stress disorder, depression, drug and alcohol addiction, and suicidal tendencies. Veterans make up 25 percent of homeless people in the United States, even though veterans comprise only 11 percent of the general population. Social workers working with veterans and their families provide case management, crisis intervention, mental health interventions, housing and financial counseling, high risk screening, and advocacy among other services. The Department employs over 5,000 social workers and is the single largest employer of social workers in the Nation. Social workers in the Department also coordinate the Community Residential Care Program, the oldest and most cost effective of the Department’s extended care programs. (9)The American Cancer Society estimates that there were 1,437,180 new cases of cancer and 565,650 cancer deaths in 2008 alone. The incidence of cancer will increase dramatically as the population grows older. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that at the end of 2003 there were 1,039,000 to 1,285,000 people living with HIV or AIDS in the United States. In 2006, 1,300,000 people received care from hospice providers in the United States. Health care and medical social workers practice in areas related to all of those circumstances and provide outreach for prevention of health issues, help individuals and their families adapt to their circumstances, provide grief counseling, and act as a liaison between individuals and their medical team, helping patients make informed decisions about their care. (10)The National Center for Education Statistics states that in 2005 the national dropout rate for high school students was 9.3 percent. White students dropped out at a rate of 5.8 percent. African-American students dropped out at a rate of 10.7 percent. Hispanic students dropped out at a rate of 22.1 percent. Some vulnerable communities have dropout rates of 50 percent or higher. Social workers in school settings help students avoid dropping out through early identification, prevention, intervention, counseling, and support services. (11)According to the Department of Justice, every year more than 650,000 ex-offenders are released from Federal and State prisons. Social workers employed in the corrections system address disproportionate minority incarceration rates, provide treatment for mental health problems and drug and alcohol addiction, and work within as well as outside of the prison to reduce recidivism and increase positive community reentry.

3.

Definitions

In this Act: (1)

Clinical social worker

The term clinical social worker has the meaning given the term in section 1861(hh)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(hh)(1)). (2)

Commission

The term Commission means the Social Work Reinvestment Commission. (3)

Community-based program

The term community-based program means an agency, organization, or other entity, carrying out a program that provides direct social work services, or community development services, at a neighborhood, locality, or regional level, to address human service, health care, or psychosocial needs. (4)

High need and high demand population

The term high need and high demand population means a group that lacks sufficient resources and, as a result, has a greater probability of being harmed by specific social, environmental, or health problems than the population as a whole. The group at issue may be a group residing in an area defined by the Health Resources and Services Administration as a health professional shortage area, which has a shortage of primary medical care, dental, or mental health providers. (5)

Historically black college or university

The term historically black college or university means a part B institution, as defined in section 322 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061). (6)

Minority-serving institution

The term minority-serving institution means an educational institution that serves a large percentage of minority students (as determined by the Secretary of Education), including Alaska Native-serving institutions, Native Hawaiian-serving institutions, Asian-American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions, Predominantly Black Institutions, historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and Native American-serving, nontribal institutions (which shall have the meanings given the terms in section 241(1) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1033(1))). (7)

Related professional researcher

The term related professional researcher means a person who is professionally engaged in research in a social, political, economic, health, or mental health field. The research referred to in this paragraph is primarily conducted by doctoral level researchers under university, government, research institute, or community agency auspices. (8)

Secretary

The term Secretary means the Secretary of Health and Human Services. (9)

Social work

The term social work means— (A)the professional activity of helping individuals, groups, or communities enhance or restore capacity for social and psychosocial functioning and creating societal conditions favorable to that enhancement or restoration; (B)an activity, the practice of which consists of the professional application of values, principles, and techniques related to the professional activity described in subparagraph (A), including— (i)diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders with individuals, families, and groups; (ii)helping communities or groups provide or improve social and health services and participating in relevant legislative processes; and (iii)helping people obtain tangible services; and (C)an activity, the practice of which requires knowledge of— (i)human development; (ii)behavior of social, economic, and cultural institutions; and (iii)the interaction of the factors described in clauses (i) and (ii). (10)

Social work researcher

The term social work researcher means a person who studies social work at the individual, family, group, community, policy, or organizational level, focusing across the human life span on prevention of, intervention in, treatment of, aftercare of, and rehabilitation from acute and chronic social and psychosocial conditions, and includes a person examining the effect of policies on social work practice. The study referred to in this paragraph is primarily conducted by researchers with doctoral degrees who are social workers or faculty under university, government, research institute, or community agency auspices. (11)

Social worker

The term social worker means a graduate of a school of social work with a baccalaureate, master’s, or doctoral degree, who uses knowledge and skills to provide social work services for clients who may be individuals, families, groups, communities, organizations, or society in general.