[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 76 (Wednesday, June 14, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1141-E1142]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CHILD WELFARE LEAGUE OF AMERICA

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 14, 2006

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to your attention the 
outstanding work and commitment of the Child Welfare League of America, 
CWLA. This organization acts on the premise that every child is 
valuable and has something to contribute to society. They believe that 
our children are entitled to nurturance, protection, and the chance to 
develop to his or her full human potential.
  The CWLA testified before the Human Resources Subcommittee of the 
Ways and Means Committee on May 23, 2006 to review proposals to improve 
child protective services, all in an effort to highlight the importance 
of the child welfare system in ensuring that children and families are 
afforded the necessary resources and services available.
  Although the family and the child welfare system have specific 
responsibilities, we all know that society as a whole shares the 
responsibility for promoting healthy human growth and development.
  I am submitting at this time part I of the testimony given by CWLA 
and hope that you will find it informative.

       Hello, I am Linda Spears, Vice President of Corporate 
     Communications and Development of the Child Welfare League of 
     America, CWLA. I am honored to submit comments on behalf of 
     CWLA, and our nearly 900 public and private nonprofit, child-
     serving member agencies this afternoon. The attention given 
     by the Human Resources Subcommittee of the Ways and Means 
     Committee focusing on the child protective services system 
     and the reauthorization of the Promoting Safe and Stable 
     Families, PSSF, program further shows the intent to ensure 
     that our children have the appropriate resources and services 
     available to them.
       CWLA believes that as a country we must confirm our 
     commitment to prevent child abuse and neglect and to support 
     children who have been abused and neglected. We support 
     strengthened partnerships between federal, state, and local 
     governments and providers in the nonprofit and charitable 
     communities in order to do a better job of protecting our 
     nation's children.

                   Improving the Child Welfare System


                       Child Protective Services

       In 2004, an estimated 3 million children were reported as 
     abused or neglected and received an assessment or screening 
     to determine whether or not there was evidence of abuse or 
     neglect. Approximately 872,000 children were substantiated as 
     abused or neglected. These numbers are similar to previous 
     years. Another consistent pattern is that more than sixty 
     percent of child victims were victims of neglect, while 
     eighteen percent were physically abused and ten percent were 
     sexually abused. Thirty percent of victims were age 3 or 
     younger. We also know that 1,490 children died from child 
     abuse in 2004. Overall eighty-three percent of the time a 
     parent or parents were involved in the abuse. Another 
     consistent statistic from year to year is that of the 
     children who have been substantiated as abused or neglected, 
     nearly 40 percent do not receive follow up services.
       The foundation on which child protective services, CPS, is 
     established and what should always be the first goal of any 
     CPS response is keeping children safe from child abuse and 
     neglect. The CPS response begins with the assessment of 
     reports of child abuse and neglect. If CPS determines the 
     child is at risk of abuse and neglect or has been abused or 
     neglected, CPS should ensure the child and his or her family 
     receive services and supports from the public child 
     protection agency and the community.
       CWLA believes the best ways to ensure children are safe 
     from all forms of maltreatment are comprehensive, community-
     based approaches to protecting children and supporting and 
     strengthening families. Public and private agencies, in 
     collaboration with individual citizens and community 
     entities, can prevent and remedy child maltreatment, achieve 
     child safety, and promote child and family well-being.
       Child protective service, CPS, systems in the fifty states 
     are funded by a variety of sources. In fact, funding goes 
     beyond the two programs specifically targeted for today's 
     hearing, the IV-B part 1 and IV-B part 2 programs. 
     Consistently the Social Services Block Grant, SSBG, serves as 
     a major source of funding with thirty-eight states spending 
     $194 million in SSBG funds in 2004 for child protective 
     services. These funds include some TANF dollars transferred 
     into SSBG. We highlight this because SSBG, which is under the 
     jurisdiction of this subcommittee, is threatened with a 
     potential reduction of $500 million in the President's 
     proposed FY 2007 budget, a thirty percent reduction in 
     funding that would be devastating to CPS and many other child 
     welfare services. State CPS systems also draw from the Child 
     Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, CAPTA, but funding under 
     the state grants part of that program is limited to $27 
     million and has never reached its full authorized funding 
     level.
       A CPS system that functions well is one that has a fully 
     staffed and competent workforce. When understaffed and 
     overworked, this system of child protection will fail. CWLA 
     cannot emphasize enough the need for a national child welfare 
     workforce strategy that puts well trained and educated 
     workers in place, keeps caseloads at manageable levels, and 
     provides competent supervision and ongoing training.
       It is also important to note that CPS is only one part of 
     the child welfare system and it cannot be viewed in 
     isolation. If the efforts at reunification of a family fail, 
     or the adoption fails, or services are not available for 
     families and children who come into contact with the system, 
     then we may find these very same children entering the system 
     again. Children with a prior history of maltreatment are more 
     likely to experience a recurrence of maltreatment than those 
     who were not prior victims.


                         The Need for Services

       CWLA's vision for an optimal child welfare system 
     encompasses a continuum of services ranging from prevention 
     of abuse and neglect to permanency and stability for children 
     who experience out of home care. Key ingredients of this 
     system are a family-centered approach, an ample, stable, and 
     highly professional workforce, the availability and targeted 
     application of services to prevent child abuse and neglect, 
     maintaining families when maltreatment has occurred and child 
     safety can be reasonably assured, and achieving permanency 
     and stability for children who must experience foster care. 
     These components are consistent with current research and 
     with federal expectations associated with the Child and 
     Family Service Review process.
     Family centered approach
       Research in child maltreatment, juvenile justice, 
     children's mental health, and parent education supports the 
     effectiveness of interventions that involve the entire family 
     over those targeting the individual parent or child alone. A 
     family-centered approach engages families in addressing the 
     problems that affect the care of their children. Such 
     engagement has been linked positively to compliance with and 
     completion of case plans.
     Stable professional workforce
       Effective child welfare services are based on accurate 
     differential assessments and require knowledge of human 
     behavior, the factors underlying child maltreatment, and the 
     way in which both risks and protective factors interact to 
     produce an overall picture of a family's needs. Thus, it is 
     not surprising that child welfare workforce research suggests 
     the need for staff that have formal social work education, 
     especially that obtained through specialized child welfare 
     programs such as those developed through Title IV-E-supported 
     agency-university partnerships. Studies further point to the 
     importance of

[[Page E1142]]

     consistent mentoring by competent supervisors, and to a 
     supportive and flexible organizational environment. All of 
     these factors have been linked to reduced staff turnover, 
     which recent research suggests is critically important both 
     to minimize costs associated with frequent hiring and 
     training and to improve outcomes for children and families. 
     Greater amount of caseworker contact with children and 
     parents has also been associated with better outcomes. These 
     findings make it imperative that agencies maintain staff in 
     sufficient numbers to provide manageable workloads that do 
     not require caseworkers to sacrifice the provision of direct 
     services in order to complete administrative tasks and 
     documentation.
     Prevention of abuse and neglect
       Studies have demonstrated the effectiveness or promise of 
     several approaches to prevention of child maltreatment. 
     Models such as Nurse Family Partnerships and Healthy Families 
     have produced evidence that they positively impact a variety 
     of outcomes for children and families, including prevention 
     of abuse and neglect. Likewise, high quality pre-
     kindergarten programs like the Chicago Child Parent 
     Centers and Head Start that include parental involvement 
     and supports have also demonstrated effectiveness. 
     Independent studies have found that the financial savings 
     achieved by the most effective of these approaches far 
     exceeds their costs. Rigorous cost-benefit analyses 
     conducted by the Washington State Institute for Public 
     Policy showed cost savings for several pre-kindergarten 
     and home visitation programs as well as for Parent-Child 
     Interaction Therapy, a center-based intervention that 
     provides direct coaching to parents as they interact with 
     their young children.
       Several interventions that target older children and their 
     families have also been demonstrated to have benefits in 
     lessening children's problematic behavior and improving 
     family functioning. Family-based therapeutic models such as 
     Functional Family Therapy and Multi-Systemic Therapy have 
     been rigorously tested in sites across the country and, 
     despite some variation in findings, there is substantial 
     evidence of their benefits to youth and their families.
     Maintaining families
       Many children can be safely maintained in their families 
     through the timely application of interventions that 
     correctly target the underlying causes of maltreatment. A 
     number of studies support the benefits of interventions that 
     have a behavioral, skill-building focus and that address 
     family functioning in multiple domains including home, 
     school, and community. Cognitive behavioral models have been 
     demonstrated to reduce physical punishment and parental 
     aggression in less time than alternative approaches. The most 
     effective treatment involves all members of the family and 
     addresses not only parenting skills, but also parent-child 
     interaction and a range of parental life competencies such as 
     communication, problem solving, and anger control. Attention 
     to immediate, concrete needs has also been identified as a 
     key factor in supporting family engagement and positive 
     outcomes.
     Permanency and stability
       A wealth of research demonstrates the importance of 
     children being nurtured in a stable family environment, 
     confirming the need to move those who must enter foster care 
     into permanent living situations as quickly as possible. 
     Recent studies suggest that, when children must leave their 
     families, well-supported kinship placements have the 
     potential to provide more stable and normalizing environments 
     than unrelated family care.
       Most children who enter foster care are able to return to 
     their families of origin, often within less than one year. 
     However, when that is not possible, alternatives such as 
     adoption or subsidized guardianship can offer long term 
     stability. Cost analyses of child welfare services have 
     linked kinship care and subsidized guardianship to cost 
     savings. One study found the cost of effecting an adoption 
     for children in foster care to range from $6,000 to $28,539, 
     or an average of $19,141, suggesting that this permanency 
     alternative has the potential to achieve a substantial 
     savings over long term foster care.
       While research supports the use of family care when deemed 
     appropriate by a full assessment, group care is another 
     placement option that may offer benefits for certain youth 
     when used strategically, for a period of time indicated by 
     ongoing assessment, and as part of a plan to maintain or 
     rebuild family and community connections. However, family 
     care, even in therapeutic foster care settings with multiple 
     supportive services, tends to be substantially less 
     expensive.
     Aftercare and transitional services
       Data indicate that about 25 percent of all children who 
     exit out-of-home care will return at some point, often within 
     one year. The likelihood of re-entry is especially great when 
     children or parents have more numerous or complex needs or 
     when they are exposed to more extreme environmental 
     stressors. Although the likelihood of maltreatment recurrence 
     and/or subsequent re-entry into foster care is undoubtedly 
     related to decision-making and services offered prior to 
     reunification, it strongly suggests a need for aftercare 
     services.
       The limited research in family reunification aftercare, 
     indicates that it is most successful when it is initially 
     intensive and includes the availability of concrete services 
     and ongoing assessment of risk. The association of social 
     isolation with failed reunification also suggests the 
     importance of linking with extended family, extra-familial 
     social networks, and informal resources. Tapering off of 
     services should be based on the family's needs rather than on 
     an arbitrary time frame.
       Services during and after the adoption process are also an 
     important part of the service continuum. Although the rate of 
     adoption dissolution is quite low overall, research indicates 
     that some placements may have greater needs for follow-up 
     services and supports. One study reported that, while less 
     than 30% of all adoptive families used post-adoption services 
     other than informational resources, most families adopting 
     through a public agency used some type of counseling. This 
     finding was attributed to the larger number of special needs 
     of children placed with these families. As in other types of 
     child welfare intervention, family-focused approaches appear 
     to be the most helpful in supporting adoption stability. 
     Research suggests that adoptive parents may also value 
     participation in support groups, access to literature and 
     seminars, and concrete services like respite care, subsidies, 
     and health benefits.
       Services targeting youth who will exit foster care to 
     independence are another important component of a continuum 
     of care. Studies have identified four key elements: school 
     completion, high-intensity supports over time, a work 
     experience component, and the presence of a stable, caring 
     adult as factors leading to successful transition of youth to 
     work and independence. Youth have been shown to benefit from 
     a plan based on systematic assessment, combined with focused 
     skills development, involvement of caregivers as teachers, 
     and re-establishing or maintaining connections to birth/
     extended family and community.

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