II 111th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 938 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES April 30, 2009 Ms. Landrieu (for herself, Mr. Burr, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Levin, Mr. Begich, Mrs. Hagan, Mr. Bayh, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Casey, Mrs. Lincoln, and Mrs. Gillibrand) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To require the President to call a White House Conference on Children and Youth in 2010.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the White House Conference on Children and Youth in 2010 Act.

2.

Findings and policy

(a)

Findings

Congress finds the following: (1)In 2006 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)Each year child abuse and neglect costs the United States an estimated $104 billion. (5)Over 500,000 children (including youth) were in foster care at the end of fiscal year 2006 and nearly 800,000 spent at least some time in foster care during the year. (6)While 51,000 children are adopted from the foster care system each year, more than 125,000 children are waiting to be adopted. (7)Each year approximately 25,000 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. (8)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, public health and health care professionals, educators, and advocates. (9)There is an overrepresentation of certain populations, including Native Americans, African-Americans and Hispanic populations, in the child welfare system. (10)Rural communities face special barriers to addressing human service needs including a lack of providers, the challenge posed by attempting to serve a widely dispersed population over a large geographic area and cultural differences. (11)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. (12)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. (13)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. (14)The child welfare system has an important role to play in preventing abuse and neglect from occurring in the first place, but is often unable to support prevention efforts due to funding and regulatory constraints. (15)Key indicators of child health indicators demonstrate declining health of our Nation's children including increased rates of chronic disease among children, preventable deaths from childhood injury, and the potential for children born in this generation to not live as long as their parents. (b)

Policy

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, State and local health departments, child welfare advocates, child abuse prevention experts, guardians, parents and other key participants in such child welfare systems, with a goal of enhancing and protecting the lives, health 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 in the first place, 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, and increase the overall health and well-being of children.

3.

Authorization of the conference

(a)

Authority To Call the Conference

The 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)

Planning and Direction

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, the Department of Agriculture and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. (c)

Purposes of the Conference

The 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 improve the health and well-being of children, including children with special health care needs; (4)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; (5)to promote the role of State and local family courts in each State child welfare system; (6)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; (7)to make recommendations that will reduce the overrepresentation of certain populations including but not limited to Native American, African-American, and Hispanic populations in the child welfare system; (8)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; (9)to develop such specific and comprehensive recommendations for State-level executive and legislative action as may be appropriate for maintaining and improving the health and well-being of children in such system; and (10)to review the status of recommendations regarding child welfare made by previous White House conferences.

4.

Policy committee

(a)

Establishment

There is established a Policy Committee, which shall be comprised of 17 members to be selected as follows: (1)

Presidential appointees

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 continuum of child health and welfare services, from prevention, to intervention, to treatment, including providers and children directly affected by the child welfare system. (2)

House of representatives appointees

(A)

Majority appointees

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)

Minority appointees

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)

Senate appointees

(A)

Majority appointees

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)

Minority appointees

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; Vacancies

Members 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)

Voting; Chairperson

(1)

Voting

The Policy Committee shall act by the vote of a majority of the members present. (2)

Chairperson

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)

Meetings

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)

General duties

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; (ii)prevention experts, including professionals with direct experience providing services to prevent child abuse and neglect; (iii)child health experts, including health services and public health professionals working to improve the health of children nationwide, and (iv)children and families in the child welfare system. (e)

Powers of the Policy Committee

(1)

Information from federal agencies

The 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)

Postal services

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)

Personnel

(1)

Travel expenses

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 employees

Any 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.

Conference delegates

To carry out the purposes of the Conference, the Secretary shall convene delegates for the conference, who shall be fairly balanced in terms of geography, 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, experts in the field of child abuse prevention, health and mental health professionals, educators, families and children (including youth) affected by the child welfare system, and the general public.

6.

Conference administration

(a)

Administration

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, child abuse prevention organizations, State and local health departments, child health and well-being organizations, 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)

Duties

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.

Report of the conference

(a)

Proposed Report

(1)

Preparation

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); (B)recommendations of the Conference for the implementation of such policy; (C)recommendations to decrease the incidence of child abuse or neglect from occurring; and (D)recommendations to improve health outcomes and measures of well-being for children. (2)

Publication and submission

The 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 Report

The 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)

Final Report

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)

Definitions

In this Act: (1)

Secretary

The term Secretary means the Secretary of Health and Human Services. (2)

State

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 Mariana Islands. (b)

References

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)

In General

There is authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 to carry out this Act. (b)

Limitation on Appropriations

Authority 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.