The United States Congress has the opportunity to address several issues concerning child abuse and child abuse prevention this year.  While more than 870,000 children in the United States were confirmed as abused in 2004 (California and Alaska did not report victimization totals) the good news is child abuse can be prevented and stopped, and families strengthened, by proven programs that work. Legislation currently before the Congress would provide major new funds to finance these programs. Legislation and appropriations Vote Kids support include:

Title XX–Social Services Block Grant (SSBG)
Allocates funding to help states deliver social services. States like Pennsylvania spend over 25% of this money on services to prevent child abuse and neglect. Authorized at a level of $2.8 billion, SSBG, the federal government’s single largest support for child welfare services, has been cut significantly since 1997, shortchanging child abuse prevention, child care, and other critical crime-prevention investments. Vote Kids supports increasing the SSBG to its original funding level of $2.8 billion.

The Child Protection and Drug Partnership Act (S614 108th Congress)
Would provide money for state child welfare and substance abuse agencies to increase treatment services in child abuse and neglect cases.  This bill would provide $1.9 billion over the next five years. This bill did not get out of the Senate Finance Committee and several House committees in the 108th Congress. Vote Kids supports the re-introduction of this bill, along with a companion in the US House of Representatives, and for Congress to hold hearings and bring this measure to a vote in both chambers.

To Provide Loan Forgiveness to Social Workers Who Work for Child Protective Agencies (HR127)
In recent years the child welfare workforce crisis has developed as the result of the following 3 major factors: a) overall low levels of unemployment and the resulting increase in competition for workers in all sectors of the economy, b) the increasing numbers of children and families needing service coupled with the decreasing numbers of workers in the employment pool, and c) the relatively low pay and difficult working conditions that exist in many child welfare agencies. According to the legislation, the national vacancy rate in State child welfare agencies is 8.1 percent, and 14.3 percent for private agencies, and the overall turnover rate in child welfare agencies has doubled since 1991, to 13.9 percent in public agencies and to 46.5 percent in private agencies. HR127 is a solid first step needed to encourage more workers to enter the child welfare services field and to improve the salaries, working conditions, and training of workers who provide these critically important services. Vote Kids supports this legislation, and supports its passage with a five year appropriation of at least 100,000,000.

Click below to help spotlight this legislation to improve the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect.