NASW Government Relations Action Alert

NASW& National Child Abuse Coalition Action Alert Contacts Needed For CAPTA Funding

April 27, 2005

BACKGROUND

In the coming weeks, congressional appropriators will start drafting the FY06 funding bill for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Funding for domestic spending is extremely tight, so it is important that legislators, especially members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees hear from constituents about the need for increasing funding for the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). Legislative staff have made it clear that programs with vocal constituent support will get the most attention.

ACTION NEEDED

Contacts are needed with legislators, especially members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. An extra effort should be made to contact members of the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittees. A list of Appropriations Committee members follows--Subcommittee members are in capital letters.

Send an e-mail to your Representatives and Senators directly through NASW's Congress Web: http://63.66.87.48/cweb4/index.cfm?orgcode=NASW The letter is titled "Child Welfare: CAPTA Appropriations." Or call your legislators through the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121

MESSAGE

As a constituent, social worker, and member of the National Association of Social Workers, I urge you to support $142 million in FY 2006 appropriations for the programs in the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA).

• $42 million for CAPTA basic state grants, the same level as the President's FY05 request
• $65 million for CAPTA community-based prevention grants, also the same level as the President's FY05 request
• $35 million for CAPTA research and demonstration grants, the authorized level

The need for services for abused and neglected children and their families is as great today, if not greater, than it was last year when the President challenged Congress to increase CAPTA funding to higher levels to help states improve their child protective services.

Ninety percent of states report difficulty in recruiting and retaining child welfare workers because of issues like low salaries, high caseloads, insufficient training and limited supervision. Nationally, the average caseload for child welfare workers is double the recommended number.

Our children deserve better. They and I are counting on your support. Thank you.

HOUSE & SENATE COMMITTEES ON APPROPRIATIONS

Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee Members in Caps

ALABAMA

• House: Robert Aderholt (R)
• House: Bud Cramer (D)
• Senate: RICHARD SHELBY (R)

ALASKA

• Senate: TED STEVENS (R)

ARIZONA

• House: Jim Kolbe (R)
• House: Ed Pastor (D)

ARKANSAS

• House: Marion Berry (D)

CALIFORNIA

• House: Jerry Lewis (R), Chair, Full Committee
• House: RANDY "DUKE" CUNNINGHAM (R)
• House: LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD (D)
• House: Sam Farr (D)
• House: John Doolittle (R)
• Senate: Dianne Feinstein (D)

COLORADO

• Senate: Wayne Allard (R)

CONNECTICUT

• House: ROSA DELAURO (D)

FLORIDA

• House: Bill Young (R)
• House: Allen Boyd (D)
• House: DAVE WELDON (R)
• House: Ander Crenshaw (R)

GEORGIA

• House: Jack Kingston (R)
• House: Sanford Bishop (D)

HAWAII

• Senate: DANIEL INOUYE (D)

IDAHO

• House: Michael Simpson (R)
• Senate: LARRY CRAIG (R)

ILLINOIS

• House: Ray LaHood (R)
• House: Mark Steven Kirk (R)
• House: JESSE JACKSON, JR. (D)
• Senate: RICHARD DURBIN (D)

INDIANA

• House: Peter Visclosky (D)

IOWA

• House:Tom Latham (R)
• Senate: TOM HARKIN (D), RANKING MEMBER, SUBCOMMITTEE

KANSAS

• House: Todd Tiahrt (R)
• Senate: Sam Brownback (R)

KENTUCKY

• House: Harold Rogers (R)
• House: ANNE NORTHUP (R)
• Senate: Mitch McConnell (R)

LOUISIANA

• House: Rodney Alexander (R)
• Senate: MARY LANDRIEU (D)

MARYLAND

• House: STENY HOYER (D)
• Senate: Barbara Mikulski (D)

MASSACHUSETTS

• House: John Olver (D)

MICHIGAN

• House: Joe Knollenberg (R)
• House: Carolyn Kilpatrick (D)

MINNESOTA

• House: Martin Sabo (D)

MISSISSIPPI

• House: ROGER WICKER (R)
• Senate: THAD COCHRAN (R), CHAIR, FULL COMMITTEE

MISSOURI

• House: Jo Ann Emerson (R)
• Senate: Kit Bond (R)

MONTANA

• Senate: Conrad Burns
• House: Dennis Rehberg (R)

NEVADA

• Senate: HARRY REID (D)

NEW HAMPSHIRE

• Senate: JUDD GREGG (R)

NEW JERSEY

• House: Rodney Frelinghuysen (R)
• House: Steven Rothman (D)

NEW MEXICO

• Senate: Pete Domenici (R)

NEW YORK

• House: JAMES WALSH (R)
• House: NITA LOWEY (D)
• House: Jose Serrano (D)
• House: Maurice Hinchey (D)
• House: John Sweeney (R)

NORTH CAROLINA

• House: Charles Taylor (R)
• House: David Price (D)

NORTH DAKOTA

• Senate: Byron Dorgan (D)

OHIO

• House: RALPH REGULA (R), CHAIR, SUBCOMMITTEE
• House: Marcy Kaptur (D)
• House: David Hobson (R)
• Senate: MIKE DEWINE (R)

OKLAHOMA

• House: ERNEST ISTOOK, JR. (R)

PENNSYLVANIA

• House: John Murtha (D)
• House: DON SHERWOOD (R)
• House: JOHN PETERSON (R)
• House: Chaka Fattah (D)
• Senate: ARLEN SPECTER (R), CHAIR, SUBCOMMITTEE

RHODE ISLAND

• House: PATRICK KENNEDY (D)

SOUTH CAROLINA

• House: James Clyburn (D)

SOUTH DAKOTA

• Senate: Tim Johnson (D)

TENNESSEE

• House: Zach Wamp (R)

TEXAS

• House: Henry Bonilla (R)
• House: Chet Edwards (D)
• House: KAY GRANGER (R)
• House: John Culberson (R)
• House: John Carter (R)
• Senate: KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON (R)

UTAH

• Senate: Bob Bennett (R)

VERMONT

• Senate: Patrick Leahy (D)

VIRGINIA

• House: Frank Wolf (R)
• House: James Moran (D)
• House: Virgil Goode (R)

WASHINGTON

• House: Norm Dicks (D)
• SENATE: PATTY MURRAY (D)

WEST VIRGINIA

• House: Alan Mollohan (D)
• Senate: Robert Byrd (D), Ranking Member, Full Committee

WISCONSIN

• House: DAVID OBEY (D), RANKING MEMBER, FULL & SUBCOMMITTEE
• Senate: HERBERT KOHL (D)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: CAPTA FUNDING

• Current funding levels did not meet the President's proposed budget for FY 2005. Level funding for these programs in FY06, when inflation is considered, would represent a $2 million cut--a cut in services to abused children and their families, and a cut in the number of caseworkers available to investigate cases of abuse and to protect children from further harm.
• Recent HHS data show that in 2003 child protective service agencies investigated an estimated 906,000 substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect.
• An estimated 1,500 children die of abuse or neglect each year. The most endangered are the youngest. Children under 4 account for over three-quarters of the child abuse fatalities, and over 43 percent never reach their first birthday.
• Services for families and children victimized by abuse or neglect are inadequate. States report that 43 percent of victims of child maltreatment do not receive any treatment services to remediate the negative consequences of abuse and neglect.
• CAPTA funding for research and demonstration grants is inadequate to find better ways of treating child maltreatment and preventing its occurrence. With current appropriations, HHS is only able to fund one out of eight applications for field-initiated research.
• According to HHS, additional CAPTA funds would support prevention services, like parenting education and home visiting for an additional 55,000 children and families, enable state child protective service systems to shorten the time for the delivery of post-investigative services by 40 percent and increase the number of children receiving services by almost 20 percent.
• Prevention services to overburdened families are far less costly than the damage inflicted on children from abuse and neglect. A 2001 study calculated the total costs of child abuse to exceed $94 billion annually--direct costs such as law enforcement, medical treatment, and foster care and long-term indirect costs including juvenile delinquency, and special education.

AS ALWAYS, THANKS FOR YOUR ADVOCACY!

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