[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 14 (Wednesday, January 24, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E181-E182]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           INTRODUCTION OF THE KEEPING FAMILIES TOGETHER ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 24, 2007

  Mr. STARK. Madam Speaker, I rise today to join Congressmen Ramstad 
and Kennedy in introducing the bipartisan and bicameral ``Keeping 
Families Together Act.'' This bill is a first step in ending the 
practice of custody relinquishment, which the President's New Freedom 
Commission on Mental Health called ``appalling.'' Every year, families 
are forced to give up legal custody of their severely mentally ill 
children to State child welfare agencies in order get these children 
the health care they need. Senators Susan Collins (ME) and Tom Harkin 
(IA) are introducing companion legislation in the Senate.
  Imagine being the parent of a sick child desperately in need of 
assistance. Your private insurance does not cover mental health care, 
yet you earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. If you want your child 
to get treatment you must turn over custody to the child welfare or 
juvenile justice agency. Now, imagine what affect this awful situation 
has on the child. The child is already battling mental illness and is 
now ``abandoned'' by their family and stigmatized as a ``foster 
child.''
  These are horrible decisions that a family should never be forced to 
make. Yet, a 2003 GAO report, surveying 19 States, found that over 
12,700 mentally ill children were placed with child welfare or juvenile 
justice agencies for the sole purpose of obtaining needed mental health 
care. The actual number of families torn apart is certainly much higher 
when all 50 States are taken into account.
  The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law has further elaborated on 
the situations that cause parents and guardians to have to give up 
their mentally ill children to State agencies. These situations include 
the following:
  The family has either exhausted private health benefits, or the 
benefits did not cover the required services, such as residential 
treatment programs.
  The family lives in a jurisdiction in which children are deprived of 
mental health services through the Individuals with Disabilities 
Act (IDEA) as a result of a restrictive definition of serious mental 
illness. For example, the school simply labels these children as 
``discipline problems'' and do not properly identify their mental 
illness.

  The family resides in a jurisdiction that falsely interprets federal 
child welfare law (Title IV-E of the Foster Care and Adoption 
Assistance Program) as requiring custody relinquishment even for 
temporary out-of-home placements.
  Whatever the cause may be for the families' desperate situation, 
their nightmare is certainly real. The ``Keeping Families Together 
Act'' is a first step toward ending this nightmare and ensuring 
children get the care they need without being torn from their families.
  This bill does two primary things:
  It creates $100 million in competitive State grants over 6 years to 
improve access to State mental health and family support services for 
families in danger of losing their children because they cannot afford 
mental health care. States are eligible if they are willing to end the 
practice of child custody relinquishment and create alternate avenues 
to getting children needed care while keeping them with their families.
  It establishes a federal interagency task force, as recommended by 
the April 2003 GAO report, to monitor and evaluate the family support 
grants. The task force will make recommendations to Congress for 
improving mental health services and removing barriers that have caused 
child custody relinquishment. This will give Congress the information 
we

[[Page E182]]

need to take further action in the future to end custody relinquishment 
across the country.
  This bill is a great start, however, the bill is only large enough to 
provide a handful of States with grants. Therefore, it is critical that 
we work with the aforementioned task force to examine what is working 
in the grantee States. We can then begin to implement those solutions 
in all States.
  We have known about this problem for many years. Along with my 
colleagues, Senator Collins and Harkin and Representatives Ramstad and 
Kennedy, I have worked hard to educate the public and the Congress 
about this issue. Unfortunately, education and awareness are no longer 
enough. We first introduced legislation on this issue in 1995. Now is 
the time to act.
  The ``Keeping Families Together Act'' is a crucial first step toward 
ending the barbaric practice of custody relinquishment. I hope my 
colleagues and I can work together to quickly implement this 
legislation. This bill will allow many, but not all, States to develop 
innovative new programs that address the mental health needs of 
children while keeping families intact. Once we have learned what 
succeeds at the State level, we must then return to this issue and 
enact legislation that will end the practice of custody relinquishment 
in all States.

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