The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“CHILD PROTECTION AND FAMILY SUPPORT ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S3282-S3283 on June 6, 2017.
The Department is one of the oldest in the US, focused primarily on law enforcement and the federal prison system. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, detailed wasteful expenses such as $16 muffins at conferences and board meetings.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
CHILD PROTECTION AND FAMILY SUPPORT ACT
Mr. DAINES. Madam President, I am honored today to announce legislation that Senator Peters and I have introduced that provides another option for children in the foster care system in Montana and across the country.
I worked with a host of Montana groups to develop the Child Protection and Family Support Act of 2017, including a handful of nonprofit organizations focused on foster youth, the Montana attorney general, Indian Tribes, and individual constituents. I am pleased to have their support on this legislation.
Montana is in the midst of a child welfare crisis. We have a record 3,400 children in foster care, and about a third of those children are there because of methamphetamine use by their parents.
Montana state law requires the Office of the Child and Family Ombudsman to investigate circumstances surrounding child fatalities when the child was involved with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services Child and Family Services Division within 12 months of the date of the child's death.
Last December, the Montana Department of Justice issued a report and the findings were devastating: It detailed 14 child deaths that met these parameters.
Of the 14 cases reviewed, 11 involved children 2 years old or younger. In nine of those cases, the children were 1 year old or younger. Eleven cases included allegations of drug use, four of which indicated methamphetamine use. Six cases indicated issues of domestic violence, and eight cases involved parents who received child protective services in Montana when they themselves were children. I have been told that at least seven children have met a similar fate in the first 5 months of 2017 alone. The death of one child is too many.
Under current Federal policy, a child must be removed from the home of a parent and, after removal, cannot be living with the parent, in order to be eligible for a title IV-E foster care maintenance payment. My bill would permit title IV-E foster care maintenance payment support, for up to 12 months, for a child in foster care who is placed with a parent in a licensed residential family-based treatment facility. This would allow the parent to get the help they need while keeping the family intact.
Secondly, the bill would reauthorize the Administration for Children and Families' Regional Partnership Grant, RPG, Program. These competitive grants reduce the risk of foster care due to parental substance abuse, an issue of utmost importance to Montana. Since their inception in 2006, two Montana grantees have utilized and benefited from RPGs: the Center for Children and Families in Billings, MT, and the Apsaalooke Nation Housing Authority in Crow Agency.
My bill reauthorizes and strengthens this grant program with modest improvements. For example, it encourages the use of RPGs to address the needs of children and families affected by methamphetamine, heroin, and opioid substance use disorders, help implement effective title IV-E prevention services, and focus on improved outcomes for families, including children and their parents. The bill further requires that, in addition to the State child welfare agency, every funded partnership must include the State agency that administers the Federal substance abuse prevention and treatment block grant and, if the partnership intends to serve children placed in out-of-home care, the court that handles child abuse and neglect proceedings in the region.
Among the long list of eligible grant applicants and partners, Native American Tribes, Tribal consortiums, and Tribal organizations are all eligible grantees, and I hope they will increasingly utilize RPGs, especially given the unique foster care challenges in Indian communities.
As a U.S. Senator, as a person of faith, as a father, and as an American, I believe in helping the most vulnerable in our society--in this case, innocent children.
I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.
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