[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Page 22741]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR SOCIAL WORKERS AND ATTORNEYS CAN IMPROVE CHILD 
                            WELFARE SERVICES

  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I am very proud to join my friend and 
colleague, Senator DeWine, as an original cosponsor of two important 
bills, S. 3165 and S. 3166, to offer loan forgiveness to social workers 
and attorneys willing to work in the child welfare field. Senator 
DeWine has been an inspiring leader on child welfare issues for many 
years, and I am delighted to work closely with him to continue to seek 
ways to improve the administrative agencies and legal courts that serve 
such vulnerable children.
  The bills are designed to encourage students graduating with social 
work degrees and law degrees to spend several years working in the 
child welfare system. Eligible students would receive loan forgiveness 
for working in child welfare agencies and courts for abused and 
neglected children. The amount of loan forgiveness would increase over 
time to reward experience, and to retain social workers and attorneys 
in the system.
  Every day, approximately 500,000 children are in the foster care 
system. Services to such children need to be improved so that every 
child's health and safety is paramount, and every child secures a 
permanent home. These priorities were established in the 1997 Adoption 
and Safe Families Act, thanks to the leadership of Senator DeWine and a 
bipartisan coalition. To achieve such bold goals, we must have trained, 
committed social workers and skilled attorneys serving such children 
and their families.
  There is a compelling need to invest in social workers. The turnover 
rate for child welfare agencies has doubled in the past decade. Making 
decisions about a child's health and safety is a serious challenge, and 
we need more experienced and trained social workers to serve children 
and their families.
  Many social workers are burdened with a staggering caseload. The 
number of social workers per children in the child welfare system 
varies widely from state to state, and not all states even report their 
child protective services workforce data. Still, we know there is a 
compelling need in many places. The Child Maltreatment 2000 Report 
published by the Department of Health and Human Services indicates that 
the national average is 130 children per investigative workers, and 
several states acknowledge that workers have over 200 children to 
monitor and assess. Obviously, we need to recruit and retain qualified 
social workers to serve children and families at risk.
  Experienced attorneys are also needed to help manage the individual 
cases and to help ensure that the bold, new time frames established by 
the Adoption and Safe Families Act are met. Under this new law, courts 
face stricter requirements to monitor and make decisions about a 
child's safety, health, and placement in a permanent home. This means 
qualified attorneys need to work with the courts, the agencies, and the 
families.
  In West Virginia, and across our country, children and families in 
the child welfare system need and deserve qualified social workers and 
attorneys. Senator DeWine's bill to offer student loan forgiveness 
would provide the right incentive to recruit and retain new 
professionals in the system. It would be a meaningful addition to the 
Higher Education Act reauthorization.

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