Government Relations Action Alert

Co-sponsors Needed for Child Protective Services Workforce Improvement Act

THE ISSUE AT HAND

On June 11, 2003, in a continuation of his long-time commitment to improving the lives of this country’s most vulnerable children, Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) introduced the Child Protection Services Workforce Improvement Act (H.R. 2437). This bill is similar to legislation the Congressman introduced during the last Congress in 2001, the Child Protection Services Improvement Act, but focuses more specifically on the child welfare workforce. The legislation is, in part, a response to the findings in a March 2003 General Accounting Office (GAO) report, HHS Could Play a Greater Role in Helping Child Welfare Agencies Recruit and Retain Staff. More information on the report, which was requested by Rep. Stark and Rep. Jim Greenwood (R-PA), can be found below, under “Background.”

The CPS Workforce Improvement Act includes three major provisions:

(1)   Matching Grant Program. Authorized at $500 million over five years, this program provides grants to states to improve the quality of their child welfare workforce. Funds could be used for a variety of workforce improvements, such as raising salaries, increasing education and training, reducing turnover and vacancy rates, hiring additional staff, and increasing worker safety.

(2)   Loan Forgiveness Program. Authorized at $10 million in FY 2004 and “such sums as necessary” for FYs 2005-2008, this program provides loan forgiveness for students who complete degrees in social work (BSW or MSW) or related fields, and who work full-time in a public or private child welfare agency. As with most loan forgiveness programs, only loans awarded after the bill is signed into law would be eligible. Forgiveness would begin at 20 percent after the second consecutive year of employment, continue at 20 percent after the third year, and rise to 30 percent after the fourth and fifth years.

(3)   Expansion of Title IV-E Short-tern Training. Reimbursable training costs would be expanded to include basic mental health training and training for staff in private child welfare agencies.

Additional information on the bill¾including a copy of the bill, itself¾is available on the Library of Congress’ legislative Web site at http://thomas.loc.gov

ACTION NEEDED

Contact your U.S. Representative and ask him/her to cosponsor the CPS Workforce Improvement Act. Republican co-sponsors are especially critical. Without strong bipartisan support, the bill is unlikely to be seriously considered.

A draft letter for urging your Representative to cosponsor the bill is available through NASW’s Congress Web at https://www.socialworkers.org/advocacy/grassroots/congressweb.asp Congress Web automatically identifies your Representative from your zip code. Feel free to modify the letter to include specific information about your state’s child welfare agency and/or your local training program.

Even if this particular bill does not make its way through the lengthy legislative process, promoting it provides an opportunity to educate your members of Congress about the needs of the child welfare workforce, the value of the education and skills professional social workers bring to child welfare, and the value of continued federal support for child welfare training.

Special Note on Bush Administration’s Title IV-E “Block Grant” Proposal

The need and value of continuing federal support for child welfare training is particularly important in light of a proposal by the Bush Administration to increase funding flexibility in Title IV-E foster care. While details on the plan have not been made public, the outlines are similar to other block grant proposals. Under a foster care block grant, IV-E training programs would be in great jeopardy. Schools and programs of social work currently administer the bulk of the child welfare training programs.

The House Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee held a hearing on the President’s proposal on June 11, 2003. Testimony from the hearing is posted on the Subcommittee’s Web site at http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=all&comm=2

BACKGROUND

GAO Report. The GAO report, HHS Could Play a Greater Role in Helping Child Welfare Agencies Recruit and Retain Staff, highlights the challenges child welfare agencies face in recruiting and retaining qualified workers, how those challenges have affected the safety and permanency outcomes of children in foster care, and workforce practices that have been implemented to successfully confront those challenges.

The report cites several studies that found bachelor’s in social work (BSW) and master’s in social work (MSW) degrees correlate with higher job performance and lower turnover rates. According to a national study, however, fewer than 15 percent of child welfare agencies require caseworkers to hold either BSWs or MSWs.

One of the promising practices cited in the report is the use of partnerships between social work education programs and public child welfare agencies to train staff. The partnerships, funded through the federal Title IV-E program, have been shown to improve recruitment, retention, and worker competence.

The GAO report is available online at www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-357 A brief overview of the report, along with information on a second report on the “human services” workforce by the Casey Foundation, is available on NASW’s Web site at https://www.socialworkers.org/advocacy/updates/041803.asp

Other Legislation. Another bill, designed to address a broader range of improvements in the child welfare system, has been introduced by Rep. Ben Cardin (D-MD). Like the Stark bill, the Child Protective Services Improvement Act (H.R. 1534), would provide grants to improve the quality of the child welfare workforce. However, the Cardin bill also would increase collaborative efforts between child welfare and substance abuse agencies, update the eligibility standards for federal foster care and adoption assistance, and extend federal assistance for subsidized guardianship payments. NASW is also supporting H.R. 1534.  Additional information on this bill can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov

AS ALWAYS, THANKS FOR YOUR ADVOCACY!