[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 8, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E24-E25]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE FAILED CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, January 7, 2003

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, there is an urgent need 
for the Congress to overhaul the failed child welfare system.
  In 2000, almost 3 million instances of child abuse or neglect were 
reported and more than 870,000 incidents substantiated, and 556,000 
children lived in foster care. A particularly horrendous example of 
abuse, and the failure of state agencies to address it, fills the 
newspapers today in reporting the tragedy in Newark, NJ.
  Despite spending billions of dollars on child welfare, we continue to 
fail these and other children every day. Recent audits by the 
Department of Health and Human Services have found that every state 
examined is out of compliance with federal regulations to protect 
children. 
  Unfortunately, nearly every Member can find horrific stories in their 
own state about the failure of the child welfare system. In the most 
recent New Jersey tragedy, despite the state welfare system being 
repeatedly notified about abuse in this family over 10 years, two young 
brothers were found starving and neglected with their brother laying 
dead in another part of the basement. Serious reform at the local, 
state and federal levels is long overdue.
  In November 2002, Representatives Rangel and Cardin and I convened a 
Child Welfare Summit that brought together child welfare experts, 
administrators, judges, and academicians to discuss the state of child 
welfare reform. Summit participants discussed the great need for reform 
and the communities in which improvements have been achieved. They 
called for more community involvement and partnerships, better 
investment in prevention, standards of accountability for welfare 
systems and improved caseworker training, supervision and retention.
  The following article from The Washington Post discusses the urgent 
need for reform and some of the recommendations of the Summit. Congress 
needs to act without delay to review these findings and implement 
changes to safeguard our most vulnerable children.

                [From the Washington Post, Jan. 2, 2003]

                        Before the Next Tragedy

                            By Susan Notkin

       We have become accustomed to the headlines: A child in 
     foster care is missing. An infant is left alone in a locked 
     car on a hot day. A child dies at the hands of a parent whose 
     acts of abuse or neglect went unnoticed--or, worse, were 
     noticed and ignored by those who might have helped. One 
     week's troubling stories may come from Florida, Michigan or 
     Texas, but the next week it could just as easily be another 
     state, another child in the news.
       These tragedies initiate predictable events. Politicians, 
     journalists and others point fingers. A caseworker, 
     supervisor or child welfare commissioner resigns. A blue 
     ribbon panel is convened. But real system reform seems 
     impossible, and the sense of urgency fades until the next 
     headline.
       In the year 2000, nearly 3 million cases of child abuse or 
     neglect were reported, with more than 870,000 incidents 
     substantiated. For each day of that year, three children died 
     as a result of abuse or neglect. In 2000, more than half-a-
     million children were in foster care nationwide, many 
     residing in communities far from their homes and families.
       The problem is not lack of caring. Child welfare workers 
     and administrators go to work everyday hoping to do their 
     best for vulnerable children and families. But state and 
     local agencies suffer from inadequate resources, high 
     turnover, poor training, low pay and outrageously heavy 
     caseloads. At present, dozens of states are either involved 
     in child welfare class action lawsuits or are operating under 
     court order for failing to adequately protect abused and 
     neglected children. Still we lack the political will for 
     major reform.
       Recently, national child welfare experts and congressional 
     leaders held a Child Welfare Summit to discuss urgent 
     problems confronting child welfare services and to recommend 
     priorities for reform.
       Participants called for major changes in our nation's 
     approach to protecting children. They recommended investing 
     in prevention instead of continuing with inadequate after-
     the-fact responses. They stressed that efforts to hold child 
     welfare systems more accountable must be coupled with 
     relevant standards

[[Page E25]]

     for child welfare practice that make accountability possible. 
     They supported measures to build skills and improve 
     compensation for caseworkers, increase caseworker retention 
     and provide rewards for superior performance. Nearly all 
     participants spoke to the need to address the over 
     representation of children of color in our child welfare 
     system.
       Perhaps the area of greatest consensus was that government 
     alone cannot effectively protect children. We need much 
     greater community involvement, especially in the form of 
     partnerships between public child welfare agencies and local 
     communities. Such partnerships make keeping children safe 
     everybody's business. Neighbors and community leaders reach 
     out to vulnerable families to talk about good parenting. They 
     carry the challenge of child abuse prevention to neighborhood 
     meeting, block parties, picnics and congregations of 
     different faiths. These partnerships offer individualized 
     services based on a family's needs and give families at risk 
     more say in the decisions that affect their lives.
       Because child welfare, mental health, substance abuse and 
     domestic violence agencies typically work with the same 
     families, community partnerships ensure that their services 
     are coordinated. And when children must be placed outside 
     their homes, every effort is made to keep them in their own 
     communities. Community partnerships are already showing great 
     promise in more than 50 locations across the country, 
     including cities as diverse as Jacksonville, Fla., Cedar 
     Rapids, Iowa, and Atlanta.
       The task of changing the way we conduct child welfare is 
     demanding, but we have no choice. The terrible cost to 
     children and families who fall in the cracks of the current 
     system is obvious enough, but the financial cost is also 
     daunting. Prevent Child Abuse America reports that we spend 
     more than $93 billion annually in direct and indirect 
     responses to child abuse and neglect. We could spend this 
     money far more wisely by implementing the types of reforms 
     recommended by the nation's leading child welfare experts. 
     This is the future we must invest in.

                          ____________________