[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 16193]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               INTRODUCTION OF THE CHILD SAFE ACT OF 2004

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. WALLY HERGER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 19, 2004

  Mr. HERGER. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Child Safety, 
Adoption, and Family Enhancement Act (Child SAFE) of 2004. This 
legislation would reform the Nation's child protection programs to 
ensure that children are safe and families are strengthened.
  Like the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program 
before the historic 1996 welfare reforms, the Nation's child protection 
programs are broken. More than 500,000 children are in foster care 
today. Foster care should be a temporary, short-term placement for 
children until they can be reunited with their parents or placed with a 
safe, adoptive family. However, on average, children remain in foster 
care for almost three years. Unfortunately, too many of these children 
also will experience further abuse and physical and emotional scars 
that will haunt them for decades.
  Every State's child protection program failed recent Federal reviews. 
Since November 2003, the Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee I 
chair has heard from more than 40 witnesses who have testified that the 
current child protection programs are ill-equipped to prevent abuse and 
keep children safe. In May 2004, after a year of study, the nonpartisan 
Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care proposed major changes to 
current financing rules for child protection programs. Many of the Pew 
Commission's recommendations are included in the Child SAFE Act. It is 
time to respond to the growing body of evidence demanding change and 
better accountability from our Nation's child protection programs.
  The Child SAFE Act would focus on outcomes, rather than process, to 
better protect children by (1) providing more resources, (2) promoting 
better outcomes, (3) increasing accountability for results, and (4) 
increasing State flexibility. The legislation would increase overall 
child protection program funding over the next 10 years by $2 billion. 
Federal funding for every child protection activity--foster care, 
adoption, family services, and caseworker oversight--would rise over 
the next 10 years.
  Current child protection programs provide limited funding for 
services to assist families and keep them safely together. At the same 
time, the system provides open ended funding if kids are removed from 
their families, leading many to conclude that the system encourages an 
over-reliance on foster care. The result is that countless children are 
abused and too many families broken up.
  The Child SAFE Act would provide Federal foster care aid for every 
child regardless of income, addressing a longstanding concern among 
families, advocates and program officials. It also would guarantee 
rising foster care funding to States regardless of the number of 
children in care. That means that States that promote more up-front 
services to either keep kids out of foster care or move them more 
quickly through foster care will have even more dollars to invest in 
additional services. This will remove any financial incentive for a 
State to needlessly remove a child from their family or let that child 
languish in foster care for years.
  The Child SAFE Act also would promote adoption of children from the 
public child welfare system. Federal adoption assistance will be 
available for these children regardless of income. Since 1995, the 
number of children adopted from the public child welfare system has 
more than doubled. However, more than 129,000 children in foster care 
await adoptive families. We must encourage States to do more to find 
safe, loving homes for these children.
  The legislation would increase Federal aid for family services and 
caseworkers. Federal aid would be (1) merged, (2) guaranteed, and (3) 
increased by a total of $2 billion over 10 years. States would have 
more funds, more flexibility, and greater incentives to serve families 
and prevent children's removal to foster care.
  The Child SAFE Act also provides increased funding to Indian tribes 
for child protection programs. It expands funding and services for 
children placed with relatives. The legislation requires an assessment 
of children entering foster care--many of whom have deep physical and 
emotional scars--to determine what services they might need. States 
that excel in protecting children would receive a share of $400 million 
in new performance funds. And the legislation is fully offset by 
provisions previously passed in the House welfare reform bill (H.R. 4).
  I thank my colleagues, Mrs. Johnson, Mr. DeLay, Mr. Lewis, Mr. Camp, 
and Mr. Cantor for joining me in introducing this important 
legislation. This legislation will improve our Nation's child 
protection programs so that children are safe and in loving families. I 
invite all Members to support it.

                          ____________________