[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 91 (Thursday, June 19, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8257-S8260]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   KEEPING CHILDREN AND FAMILIES SAFE ACT OF 2003--CONFERENCE REPORT

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask the Chair to lay before the 
Senate a conference report to accompany S. 342, the Child Abuse 
Protection Act.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the conference report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Committee of Conference on the disagreeing votes of the 
     two Houses on the amendment of the House to the bill (S. 
     342), to amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act 
     to make improvements to and reauthorize programs under the 
     Act, and

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     for other purposes, having met, have agreed that the Senate 
     recede from its disagreement to the amendment of the House, 
     and agree to the same with an amendment, signed by all of the 
     conferees on the part of both Houses.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the Senate will proceed to 
its consideration.
  (The conference report is printed in the Record of the House 
proceedings of June 12, 2003)
  Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I am pleased today to speak in support of 
the conference agreement reached by the House of Representatives and 
the Senate for S. 342, the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 
2003.
  This act reauthorizes several programs that are key to protecting our 
most vulnerable children and families: The child Abuse Prevention and 
Treatment Act, CAPTA; the Adoption Opportunities Act; The Abandoned 
Infants Assistance Act; the Family Violence Prevention and Services 
Act; and the Children's Justice Act.
  The Keeping Children and Families Safe Act works to reduce child 
abuse and neglect by encouraging new training and better qualifications 
for front-line child and family service workers. This legislation also 
improves links between child protective services, health and mental 
health agencies, and judicial systems to improve services for at risk 
children and to mitigate the damaging impact that child abuse and 
neglect can cause.
  For children who are removed from their homes as a result of child 
abuse or neglect, this Act helps to ensure they are placed into safe 
foster care or adoptive homes. By requiring that criminal background 
checks are performed on all adults residing in foster homes, this Act 
helps to prevent further abuse to the child. Through the 
reauthorization of the Adoption Opportunities Act, this legislation 
also helps to better facilitate the adoption of children with special 
needs by working to eliminate interjurisdictional barriers to adoption.
  Lastly, the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act gives victims of 
domestic violence greater access to shelters in times of emergency 
through the reauthorization of the Family Violence Prevention and 
Services Act.
  This important legislation responds to some of the most serious needs 
of children and families. I commend the work of the House of 
Representatives, who acted earlier today to pass this Conference 
report. I also thank the ranking member of the Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions Committee Senator Kennedy for his work on this 
bill, as well as Senators Alexander and Dodd, the chairman and ranking 
member of the Subcommittee on Children and Families.
  Protecting our most vulnerable populations is a significant priority 
and passage of this legislation sends a clear message that Congress is 
deeply committed to the interests of children and their families. I am 
very pleased that the House and Senate will send the Keeping Children 
and Families Safe Act of 2003 to the President for his signature.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, the bipartisan legislation before the 
Senate today will continue our Federal commitment to see that the 
Nation's most vulnerable children are protected and safe.
  Child abuse and child neglect continue to be serious problems. Each 
year, thousands of children suffer. On any given day, 2,400 children 
are discovered to be victims of child abuse or neglect. Tragically, 3 
of those children die each day as a result.
  Abuse and neglect harm children from all backgrounds and all walks of 
life. Too many children are in situations in which their basic needs 
are not provided for. Too many children are subject to physical harm or 
emotional trauma. Too many children are victims of sexual abuse. We can 
do better and we must do better.
  For nearly 30 years, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act has 
supported States in their efforts to respond to the immediate needs of 
children subjected to abuse and neglect, and helped them and their 
families take the road to recovery.
  We all know it's a huge challenge. Each week, child protective 
service agencies in local communities respond to more than 50,000 
suspected cases of child abuse and neglect. Despite their hard work, 
nearly half of all children in substantiated cases of abuse receive no 
follow-up services or support.
  This legislation is an important step toward responding to the needs 
of every neglected and abused child in every community in our country. 
It is an important step toward seeing that children in desperate 
circumstances have the support they need to stop the abuse and deal 
with the harmful effects.
  This legislation will renew our federal commitment to help states 
improve their own response to child abuse and neglect. More will be 
done to promote better planning at the Federal, State, and local 
levels, facilitate more effective referrals to the available services, 
and broaden the scope of the response.
  More will be done to see that those responsible for investigating or 
working with abused children and their families have the necessary 
training and skills to do their jobs effectively and efficiently. 
States will be encouraged to provide new safety training to child abuse 
caseworkers. New cross-training will help caseworkers identify signs of 
domestic violence and substance abuse that often signal child abuse.
  More will be done to strengthen community efforts. Our bill will 
ensure that local citizens oversee, review, and improve the practices 
of child protective services. It will promote partnerships between 
public agencies and community-based organizations to share the 
responsibility of reducing child abuse and neglect in their 
communities.
  More will be done to end geographic barriers to adoption and provide 
permanent homes for abused children.
  More will be done to combat the destructive effects of family 
violence and provide immediate help to its victims. A new electronic 
network will link victims to organizations available to help them, 24-
hours-a-day, 365 days-a-year.
  More will also be done to reduce the social and emotional impact of 
domestic violence on children. A new demonstration program will support 
direct services, referrals, and appropriate interventions for the 10 
million children who witness domestic violence each year.
  Our colleague, Senator Wellstone, was one of the greatest champions 
for abused children. I commend the conferees for their work to include 
this important program that he cared about so deeply.
  As our communities across the nation continue their efforts to 
respond more effectively to every incident of child abuse and neglect, 
they must do so with resources already stretched thin. This bipartisan 
legislation increases the authorization for the Child Abuse Prevention 
and Treatment Act to $200 million in order to deliver the support that 
local communities need to do this important work.
  I commend Senator Gregg and all of the conferees for their work and 
their leadership on this legislation. It's a major step toward 
guaranteeing help for children and families to overcome the devastating 
effects of abuse, neglect, and violence in their lives.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I rise today with my colleagues 
Senators Gregg, Kennedy, and Dodd to pass the conference report for S. 
342, ``The Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003.'' I also 
want to congratulate Senator Gregg, the chairman of the conference 
committee, and commend his leadership.
  Unlike many Federal Government programs, this is a relatively small 
level of funding, but it is vital for the safety and sanctity of our 
most precious resource--our children. S. 342 reauthorizes the ``Child 
Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, (CAPTA),'' which provides grants to 
States to improve child protection systems and grants to support 
community-based family resource and support services. The changes made 
to this program will encourage new training and better qualifications 
for child and family service workers. Additionally, this program will 
create or improve coordination between child protection services and 
education, health, mental health, and judicial systems to ensure that 
children who are abused and neglected are properly identified and 
receive referrals to appropriate services.
  Tennessee has used CAPTA funding for many innovative pilot programs, 
such as Therapeutic Visitation Services. This is a pilot project that 
provides intensive service to families with

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children in the foster care system from four rural areas in east 
Tennessee. The goal is to preserve and strengthen family relationships 
while facilitating visitation between children and biological parents. 
Children in the pilot program saw their parents sooner and more 
frequently.
  In Davidson County, the Chap-Plus program provides service and helps 
coordinate care for families that are stressed due to their child's 
medical condition, such as a life threatening disease. Another program 
that receives CAPTA funding is the University of Tennessee Legally 
Defensible Child Interviewing program, which trains Child Protective 
Services case managers. This training is focused on improving 
interviewing skills of investigative teams when they interview children 
who are the possible victims of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse.
  These important programs will benefit from this legislation. I thank 
my colleagues for voting for this bill.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I am pleased to join with my colleagues in 
supporting the conference report on legislation to reauthorize CAPTA, 
the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. This measure is very 
aptly called the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003.
  The conference report we are approving today would strengthen efforts 
to prevent child abuse and neglect. It would promote increased sharing 
of information and partnerships between child protective services and 
education, health, and juvenile justice systems. It would encourage a 
variety of new training programs to improve child protection, 
particularly cross-training in recognizing domestic violence and 
substance abuse in addition to child abuse detection and protection 
training.
  The Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003 renews grants to 
States to improve child protection systems and increases to $200 
million the authorization for child abuse investigations, training of 
child protection service, CPS, workers, and community child abuse 
prevention programs.
  For States to receive funding, they must meet several new 
requirements: have triage procedures to provide appropriate referrals 
of a child ``not at risk of imminent harm'' to a community organization 
or for voluntary preventive services; have policies and procedures for 
the referral of abused children under the age of three to early 
intervention services funded under Part C of the Individuals with 
Disabilities Education Act; have policies in place to address the needs 
of infants who are born and identified as having been physically 
affected by prenatal exposure to illegal drugs, which must include a 
safe plan of care for the child; have policies of improved training, 
retention, and supervision of caseworkers; and require criminal 
background record checks for prospective foster and adoptive parents 
and all other adults living in the household, not later than 2 years 
after the law's enactment.
  Child abuse and neglect continue to be significant problems in the 
United States.
  Nearly 3 million referrals concerning the welfare of about 5 million 
children were made to Child Protection Services, CPS, agencies 
throughout the Nation in 2001. Of these referrals, about two-thirds, 
67.3 percent, were ``screened-in'' for further assessment and 
investigation. Professionals, including teachers, law enforcement 
officers, social service workers, and physicians made more than half, 
56.5 percent, of the screened-in reports. About 903,000 children were 
found to be victims of child maltreatment. Over half, 59 percent, 
suffered neglect, including medical neglect; 19 percent were physically 
abused; 10 percent were sexually abused; 6.8 percent were emotionally 
maltreated; and 19.5 percent were associated with ``other'' forms of 
maltreatment such as abandonment, threats of harm to the child, and 
drug addiction. About 275,000, or 20 percent, of abused children were 
placed in foster care as a result of CPS investigation or assessment.
  Many of these children fail to receive adequate protection and 
services.
  The most tragic consequence of child maltreatment is death. In 2001, 
about 1,300 children died of abuse and/or neglect. Children younger 
than six years of age accounted for 85 percent of child fatalities and 
children younger than one year of age accounted for 41 percent of child 
fatalities.
  Child abuse is not a new phenomenon. For more than a decade, numerous 
reports have called attention to the tragic abuse and neglect of 
children and the inadequacy of our Child Protection Service systems to 
protect our children.
  In 1990, the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect concluded 
that ``child abuse and neglect is a national emergency.'' In 1995, the 
U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect reported that ``State 
and local CPS caseworkers are often overextended and cannot adequately 
function under their current caseloads.'' The report also stated that, 
``in many jurisdictions, caseloads are so high that CPS response is 
limited to taking the complaint call, making a single visit to the 
home, and deciding whether or not the complaint is valid, often without 
any subsequent monitoring of the family.''
  A 1997 General Accounting Office, GAO, report found that, ``the CPS 
system is in crisis, plagued by difficult problems, such as growing 
caseloads, increasingly complex social problems and underlying child 
maltreatment, and ongoing systemic weakness in day-to-day operations.'' 
According to GAO, CPS weaknesses include ``difficulty in maintaining a 
skilled workforce; the inability to consistently follow key policies 
and procedures designed to protect children; developing useful case 
data and record-keeping systems, such as automated case management; and 
establishing good working relationships with the courts.''
  According to a May 2001 report conducted by the American Public Human 
Services Association, APHSA, the Child Welfare League of America, CWLA, 
and the Alliance for Children and Families, annual staff turnover is 
high and morale is low among CPS workers. The report found that CPS 
workers had an annual turnover rate of 22 percent, 76 percent higher 
than the turnover rate for total agency staff. The ``preventable'' 
turnover rate was 67 percent, or two-thirds higher than the rate for 
all other direct service workers and total agency staff. In some 
States, 75 percent or more of staff turnovers were preventable.
  States rated a number of retention issues as highly problematic. In 
descending order they are: workloads that are too high and/or 
demanding; caseloads that are too high; too much worker time spent on 
travel, paperwork, courts, and meetings; workers not feeling valued by 
the agency; low salaries; supervision problems; and insufficient 
resources for families and children.
  To prevent turnover and retain quality CPS staff, some States have 
begun to increase in-service training, increase education 
opportunities, increase supervisory training, increase or improve 
orientation, increase worker safety, and offer flex-time or changes in 
office hours. Most States, however, continue to grapple with staff 
turnover and training issues.
  Continued public criticism of CPS efforts, continued frustration by 
CPS staff and child welfare workers, and continued abuse and neglect, 
and death, of our Nation's children, served as the backdrop as we 
composed the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act CAPTA, 
reauthorization bill this year.
  The Child Protection System mission must focus on the safety of 
children. To ensure that the system works as intended, CPS needs to be 
appropriately staffed. The staff need to receive appropriate training 
and cross-training to better recognize substance abuse and domestic 
violence problems.
  The conference agreement we are passing today encourages triage 
approaches and differential response systems so that those reports 
where children are most at risk of imminent harm can be prioritized.
  The bill specifically emphasizes collaborations in communities 
between CPS, health agencies, including mental health agencies, 
schools, and community-based groups to help strengthen families and 
provide better protection for children.
  The bill provides grants for prevention programs and activities to 
prevent child abuse and neglect. By focusing this assistance on at-risk 
families, we can help improve the likelihood that a

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child will grow up on a home without violence, abuse, or neglect.
  Beyond the CAPTA title of this legislation, the bill reauthorize the 
Family Violence Prevention and Services Act, including new efforts to 
address the needs of children who witness domestic violence, and a new 
highly secure web site to increase the likelihood that when an abused 
spouse calls for help, such calls will be handled as efficiently as 
possible with on-line links to shelters immediately letting the caller 
know of open shelters and the services these shelters offer. The 
measure also reauthorizes the Adoption Opportunities Act, and the 
Abandoned Infants Assistance Act.
  Child protection ought not be a partisan issue. This bill will help 
ensure that it is not. I want to commend and thanks my colleagues on 
the conference committee--Chairman Gregg, Senator Kennedy, Senator 
Alexander, and Senator DeWine as well as my colleagues in the House for 
their efforts to craft a bipartisan initiative that can help to prevent 
and alleviate suffering among our Nation's children.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. I ask unanimous consent that the conference report be 
agreed to, that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and 
that any statements relating thereto be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The conference report was agreed to.

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