ADVISORY

FROM THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS

SUBCOMMITTEE ON INCOME SECURITY AND FAMILY SUPPORT

Herger Announces Hearing to Review Proposals to Improve Child Protective Services

Congressman Wally Herger (R-CA), Chairman, Subcommittee on Human Resources of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing to review proposals to improve child protective services.  The hearing will take place on Tuesday, May 23, 2006, in room B‑318 Rayburn House Office Building, beginning at 2:00 p.m.

Oral testimony at this hearing will be from both invited and public witnesses.  Invited witnesses will include a representative from the U.S. Government Accountability Office and other experts in how States use Federal funds for child protective services.  Any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Subcommittee and for possible inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.

BACKGROUND:

The Child Welfare Services (CWS) program and the Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) program (both authorized under Title IV-B of the Social Security Act) provide approximately $700 million in annual Federal funds to support services to ensure children are raised in safe, loving families.  Combined, this is the largest source of Federal funds provided to States to assist at-risk families, further protect children from abuse and neglect, and prevent the unnecessary separation of children from their parents.  Since the program’s inception in the 1930s, States have had considerable flexibility in the use of CWS funds.  However, concern that few States were spending CWS funds for targeted services to help at-risk families resulted in Congress creating the PSSF program in 1993 (P.L. 103-66).  Funds from the PSSF program must be spent for family support services, family preservation services, time-limited reunification services, or post-adoption services.  While the CWS program is indefinitely authorized, the authorization of the PSSF program expires at the end of fiscal year 2006, requiring Congressional action this year to extend or otherwise improve the PSSF program.   

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently completed initial Child and Family Service Reviews (CFSRs) in each State.  The CFSRs are designed to assess each State’s child protection program to ensure the program promotes the safety, permanency, and well-being of children, such as through services supported by CWS and PSSF funds.  Significantly, as established in a May 13, 2004 Subcommittee hearing, no State was in full compliance with all measures of the CFSRs.  The CFSRs revealed States need to work to prevent repeat abuse and neglect of children; improve services provided to families to reduce the risk of future harm, including better monitoring of families’ participation in services; strengthen upfront services provided to families to prevent unnecessary family break-up and protect children who remain at home; improve ways States assess the needs of family members and provide services; and better engage parents and children when developing case plans outlining necessary services to assist families. 

            In light of these findings, there is considerable interest in ensuring States utilize CWS and PSSF funds to improve child protection programs and ensure at-risk families receive appropriate services.  In the course of considering potential PSSF reauthorization legislation, the Committee is interested in learning about: (1) services provided to families that have been evaluated and shown to achieve improved child outcomes; (2) how families have been assisted by these programs; and (3) what additional steps Congress should take to ensure Federal funds support local services that allow children to safely remain in their own communities.  The Committee is especially interested in hearing from families or former foster youth who have direct experience with such services.

In announcing the hearing, Chairman Herger stated, “It is important that we do all we can to help families receive services to prevent child abuse and neglect.  I look forward to learning about how Federal funds have been used to provide services to protect children, whether those services are effective, and what else we can do to improve how we protect vulnerable children from harm.  Based on the record to date, much more work needs to be done.”

FOCUS OF THE HEARING:

The focus of this hearing will be to review proposals to improve child protective services. 

DETAILS FOR SUBMISSIONS OF REQUESTS TO BE HEARD:

Requests to be heard at the hearing must be made by telephone to Matthew Turkstra or Cooper Smith at (202) 225-1721 no later than the close of business, Wednesday, May 17, 2006.  The telephone request should be followed by a formal written request faxed to Allison Giles, Chief of Staff, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, 1102 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515, at (202) 225-2610.  The staff of the Committee will notify by telephone those scheduled to appear as soon as possible after the filing deadline.  Any questions concerning a scheduled appearance should be directed to the Committee staff at (202) 225‑1721.

In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, the Committee may not be able to accommodate all requests to be heard.  Those persons and organizations not scheduled for an oral appearance are encouraged to submit written statements for the record of the hearing in lieu of a personal appearance.  All persons requesting to be heard, whether they are scheduled for oral testimony or not, will be notified as soon as possible after the filing deadline.

Witnesses scheduled to present oral testimony are required to summarize briefly their written statements in no more than five minutes.  THE FIVE-MINUTE RULE WILL BE STRICTLY ENFORCED.   The full written statement of each witness will be included in the printed record, in accordance with House Rules.

In order to assure the most productive use of the limited amount of time available to question witnesses, all witnesses scheduled to appear before the Committee are required to submit 100 copies, along with an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect or MS Word format, of their prepared statement for review by Members prior to the hearing.  Testimony should arrive at the Subcommittee office, B-318 Rayburn House Office Building, no later than close of business on Friday, May 19, 2006.  The 100 copies can be delivered to the Subcommittee staff in one of two ways:  (1) Government agency employees can deliver their copies to B-318 Rayburn House Office Building in an open and searchable box, but must carry with them their respective government issued identification to show the U.S. Capitol Police, or (2) for non-government officials, the copies must be sent to the new Congressional Courier Acceptance Site at the location of 2^nd and D Streets, N.E., at least 48 hours prior to the hearing date.  Please ensure that you have the address of the Subcommittee, B-318 Rayburn House Office Building, on your package, and contact the staff of the Subcommittee at (202) 225‑1025 of its impending arrival.  Due to new House mailing procedures, please avoid using mail couriers such as the U.S. Postal Service, UPS, and FedEx.  When a couriered item arrives at this facility, it will be opened, screened, and then delivered to the Committee office, within one of the following two time frames:  (1) expected or confirmed deliveries will be delivered in approximately 2 to 3 hours, and (2) unexpected items, or items not approved by the Committee office, will be delivered the morning of the next business day.  The U.S. Capitol Police will refuse all non-governmental courier deliveries to all House Office Buildings.  

WRITTEN STATEMENTS IN LIEU OF PERSONAL APPEARANCE:

Please Note:  Any person(s) and/or organization(s) wishing to submit for the hearing record must follow the appropriate link on the hearing page of the Committee website and complete the informational forms.  From the Committee homepage, http://waysandmeans.house.gov, select “109^th Congress” from the menu entitled, “Hearing Archives” (http://waysandmeans.house.gov/Hearings.asp?congress=17).  Select the hearing for which you would like to submit, and click on the link entitled, “Click here to provide a submission for the record.”  Once you have followed the online instructions, completing all informational forms and clicking “submit” on the final page, an email will be sent to the address which you supply confirming your interest in providing a submission for the record.  You MUST REPLY to the email and ATTACH your submission as a Word or WordPerfect document, in compliance with the formatting requirements listed below, by close of business Tuesday, June 6, 2006.  Finally, please note that due to the change in House mail policy, the U.S. Capitol Police will refuse sealed-package deliveries to all House Office Buildings.  Those filing written statements who wish to have their statements distributed to the press and interested public at the hearing can follow the same procedure listed above for those who are testifying and making an oral presentation.  For questions, or if you encounter technical problems, please call (202) 225-1721.

FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:

            The Committee relies on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record. As always, submissions will be included in the record according to the discretion of the Committee. The Committee will not alter the content of your submission, but we reserve the right to format it according to our guidelines. Any submission provided to the Committee by a witness, any supplementary materials submitted for the printed record, and any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any submission or supplementary item not in compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.

                1.   All submissions and supplementary materials must be provided in Word or WordPerfect format and MUST NOT exceed a total of 10 pages, including attachments.  Witnesses and submitters are advised that the Committee relies on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record.

                2.  Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing.  Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased.  All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.

                3.  All submissions must include a list of all clients, persons, and/or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears.  A supplemental sheet must accompany each submission listing the name, company, address, telephone and fax numbers of each witness.

Note:  All Committee advisories and news releases are available on the World Wide Web at http://waysandmeans.house.gov.

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 The Committee seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with disabilities. If you are in need of special accommodations, please call 202-225-1721 or 202-226-3411 TTD/TTY in advance of the event (four business days notice is requested). Questions with regard to special accommodation needs in general (including availability of Committee materials in alternative formats) may be directed to the Committee as noted above.