FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Contact: (202) 225-1025
December 2, 1998
No. HR-20
Congressman E. Clay Shaw, Jr., (R-FL), Chairman, Subcommittee on Human Resources of the Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a field hearing on child protection programs in Florida and other States. The hearing will take place on Monday, December 14, 1998, in the Fort Lauderdale City Hall, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, beginning at 10:00 a.m.
In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. Witnesses will include a State legislator, State and local social service administrators, judicial and law enforcement representatives, child welfare practitioners, and researchers. Any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Committee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.
BACKGROUND:
The Subcommittee has jurisdiction over most Federal foster care and adoption programs. The first major reform of the child welfare system in almost two decades, the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 ( P.L. 105-89), was initiated in the Subcommittee and signed into law just one year ago. The legislation establishes new procedural requirements to promote child safety, to shorten the time a child spends in foster care, and to expedite the adoption process. One of the most important requirements makes a child's health and safety the paramount concern in any efforts made by the State to preserve or reunify families. The legislation also provided States with additional resources from the Federal Government including the expansion of family preservation programs and the promotion of adoption services.
The Subcommittee is traveling to Florida to determine what barriers exist to full implementation of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 and to exercise oversight over programs established to protect abused and neglected children. The hearing will provide an opportunity for the Subcommittee to hear directly from State legislators who, along with the Federal Government, provide funding for child protection programs, from judges and appointed legal advocates who adjudicate and represent abused and neglected children in court, and from child protection administrators and practitioners who provide services to maltreated children and their families.
In announcing the hearing, Chairman Shaw stated: "The Subcommittee is holding this hearing as part of our ongoing responsibility to monitor the effectiveness of child protection programs throughout the United States. The safety of abused and neglected children must be a paramount concern at all levels of government and in all parts of our communities. We are especially interested in how the major child protection reforms enacted as part of the 1997 adoption law are being implemented in Florida and what more needs to be done to keep children safe both in their own families and in the foster care system."
FOCUS OF THE HEARING:
The hearing will focus on what the Federal Government can do to help State and local governments provide assistance to troubled children and their families and to keep children safe in the foster care system. The Subcommittee is interested in learning about the problems that exist in Florida and elsewhere across the nation that result in leaving abused children in dangerous situations either by returning them to unfit biological parents or by placing them in a child protection system that fails to protect them.
DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:
Any person or organization wishing to submit a written statement for the printed record of the hearing should submit six (6) single-spaced copies of their statement, along with an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect 5.1 format, with their name, address, and hearing date noted on a label, by the close of business, Monday, December 28, 1998, to A.L. Singleton, Chief of Staff, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, 1102 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515.
FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:
Each statement presented for printing to the Committee by a witness, any written statement or exhibit submitted for the printed record or any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any statement or exhibit 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 statements and any accompanying exhibits for printing must be submitted on an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette WordPerfect 5.1 format, typed in single space and may not exceed a total of 10 pages including attachments. Witnesses are advised that the Committee will rely 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. A witness appearing at a public hearing, or submitting a statement for the record of a public hearing, or submitting written comments in response to a published request for comments by the Committee, must include on his statement or submission a list of all clients, persons, or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears.
4. A supplemental sheet must accompany each statement listing the name, company, address, telephone and fax numbers where the witness or the designated representative may be reached. This supplemental sheet will not be included in the printed record.
The above restrictions and limitations apply only to material being submitted for printing. Statements and exhibits or supplementary material submitted solely for distribution to the Members, the press, and the public during the course of a public hearing may be submitted in other forms.
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.