Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 120.djvu/1264

 PUBLIC LAW 109–288—SEPT. 28, 2006

120 STAT. 1233

Public Law 109–288 109th Congress An Act To amend part B of title IV of the Social Security Act to reauthorize the promoting safe and stable families program, and for other purposes.

Sept. 28, 2006 [S. 3525]

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006’’. SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

The Congress finds as follows: (1) For Federal fiscal year 2004, child protective services (CPS) staff nationwide reported investigating or assessing an estimated 3,000,000 allegations of child maltreatment, and determined that 872,000 children had been abused or neglected by their parents or other caregivers. (2) Combined, the Child Welfare Services (CWS) and Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) programs provide States about $700,000,000 per year, the largest source of targeted Federal funding in the child protection system for services to ensure that children are not abused or neglected and, whenever possible, help children remain safely with their families. (3) A 2003 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that little research is available on the effectiveness of activities supported by CWS funds—evaluations of services supported by PSSF funds have generally shown little or no effect. (4) Further, the Department of Health and Human Services recently completed initial Child and Family Service Reviews (CFSRs) in each State. No State was in full compliance with all measures of the CFSRs. The CFSRs also revealed that 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 by better monitoring the participation of families in services), and strengthen upfront services provided to families to prevent unnecessary family break-up and protect children who remain at home. (5) Federal policy should encourage States to invest their CWS and PSSF funds in services that promote and protect the welfare of children, support strong, healthy families, and reduce the reliance on out-of-home care, which will help ensure all children are raised in safe, loving families. (6) CFSRs also found a strong correlation between frequent caseworker visits with children and positive outcomes for these

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Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006. Intergovernmental relations. 42 USC 1305 note. 42 USC 621 note.

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