Bill Amendment: IL SB2628 | 2017-2018 | 100th General Assembly

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List

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Bill Title: CHILD WELFARE WORKFORCE

Status: 2018-08-14 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 100-0879 [SB2628 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2017-SB2628-Senate_Amendment_001.html

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Sen. Julie A. Morrison

Filed: 4/4/2018

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AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 2628
AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 2628 by replacing
everything after the enacting clause with the following:
"Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
Strengthening the Child Welfare Workforce for Children and
Families Act.
Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds all of the
following:
(1) On July 31, 2017, 19,619 children and youth were
receiving services through the Department of Children and
Family Services after having been abused or neglected.
(2) The State's effort to serve abused or neglected
children and their families includes utilizing child
welfare workers who are employed by the Department of
Children and Family Services or by private agencies. Eighty
percent of children, youth, and families who receive child

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welfare services are assigned to private agencies from whom
the Department of Children and Family Services purchases
services.
(3) Unfortunately, as indicated by the following data,
the State's efforts have been underwhelming in regard to
child safety and timely permanent placements:
(i) The percentage of children experiencing a
recurrence of maltreatment within 6 months of an
initial incident increased, that is worsened, from
6.6% to 7.7% (an increase of 15.9%), at the same time
that the national average performance for child
welfare agencies decreased, that is improved, from 5%
to 4.9% (that is a percentage improvement of 2.7%).
(ii) The percentage of children experiencing
maltreatment in foster care increased, that is
worsened, from 0.39% to 0.57% (that is an increase of
46.1%), at the same time that the national average
performance for child welfare agencies decreased, that
is improved, from 0.34% to 0.27% (that is a percentage
improvement of 21.4%).
(iii) The percentage of children reunited with
their families who were in care less than 12 months
decreased, that is worsened, from 58.7% to 36.9% (that
is a 37.1% change for the worse). Across the same time
span, the national average performance for child
welfare agencies decreased slightly, from 68.3% to

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66.1% (that is a 3.3% change, defined as "no change" by
the federal government).
(iv) The percentage of children adopted who were in
care between 12 and 24 months decreased, that is
worsened, from 9.6% to 6.4%, (that is a 33% change for
the worse). Across the same time span, the national
average performance for child welfare agencies
improved slightly.
(4) In order to improve child safety, achieve timely
permanent placements, and ensure child well-being, a child
welfare workforce that is stable, capable, trained, and
supported is a necessary condition:
(i) The National Council on Crime and Delinquency
found that high turnover rates among child welfare
workers are significantly correlated to higher rates
of child maltreatment, and that the correlation
between turnover rates and maltreatment recurrence at
every point in time was strong and statistically
significant.
(ii) The United States General Accounting Office
surveyed child welfare caseworkers regarding the
effects of staff turnover on safety and permanency for
children. Caseworkers reported that high turnover
rates and staffing shortages leave the remaining
caseworkers with insufficient time to conduct the
types of home visits that are necessary to assess

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children's safety and to make well-supported decisions
to ensure safe and stable permanent placements. Staff
turnover also disrupts the continuity of services,
particularly when newly assigned caseworkers have to
conduct or reevaluate educational, health, and safety
assessments due to poor or insufficient information in
case files left behind by former caseworkers.
Section 10. Purpose. It is the purpose of this Act to
create a task force to study the compensation and workload of
child welfare workers to determine the role that compensation
and workload play in the recruitment and retention of child
welfare workers, and to determine the role that staff turnover
plays in achieving safety and timely permanency for children.
Section 15. Task Force on Strengthening the Child Welfare
Workforce for Children and Families.
(a) As used in this Act:
"Child welfare workers" or "staff" means child welfare
caseworkers, child welfare specialists, and child welfare
specialist supervisors.
"Child welfare services job" mean an employment position as
a child welfare caseworker, child welfare specialist, or child
welfare specialist supervisor.
(b) The Task Force on Strengthening the Child Welfare
Workforce for Children and Families is created to do all of the

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following:
(1) Perform a policy and literature review regarding:
(i) compensation and caseload standards in the field of
child welfare; (ii) staff turnover rates; and (iii) the
impact compensation, caseload, and staff turnover have on
achieving safety and timely permanency for children.
(2) Survey employers in the public and private sector
to determine:
(A) how many child welfare service jobs exist;
(B) the compensation paid to child welfare
workers;
(C) how many child welfare service jobs are filled
and how many are vacant;
(D) how many child welfare service jobs are filled
by persons who have at least 18 months in the position;
(E) the rate of turnover for child welfare workers;
and
(F) the causes of turnover for child welfare
workers.
(3) Conduct a detailed time log analysis for child
welfare workers to determine how much time is available to
complete each administrative task and how much time is
actually spent to complete each administrative task. The
time log analysis shall expressly ask child welfare workers
the following question for each administrative task, "Is
this task duplicative of one that you have already

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completed?"
(4) Develop recommendations on how to (i) improve the
recruitment and retention of child welfare workers; and
(ii) reduce the turnover rates for child welfare workers.
(c) Members of the Task Force shall include:
(1) 2 members appointed by the Governor;
(2) 2 legislative members appointed by the Speaker of
the House of Representatives, one of whom shall be
designated as Co-Chairperson;
(3) 2 legislative members appointed by the Minority
Leader of the House of Representatives;
(4) 2 legislative members appointed by the President of
the Senate, one of whom shall be designated as
Co-Chairperson;
(5) 2 legislative members appointed by the Senate
Minority Leader;
(6) the Director of the Illinois Criminal Justice
Information Authority, or his or her designee;
(7) the Director of Children and Family Services, or
his or her designee;
(8) the Director of Commerce and Economic Opportunity,
or his or her designee;
(9) the Principal Investigator for the Child
Protection Training Academy at the University of Illinois;
(10) a current public-sector child welfare employee
appointed by the Governor;

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(11) a current private sector employee appointed by the
Speaker of the House of Representatives; and
(12) the chief executive officer of the Illinois
Collaboration on Youth, or his or her designee.
(d) The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
shall provide administrative and other support to the Task
Force.
(e) The Department of Children and Family Services shall
hire a Total Workforce Analyst to aid in the collection,
cataloguing, and analysis of child welfare workforce data.
(f) The Task Force shall consider contracting with a
qualified company, university, or other entity with
demonstrated experience studying and improving human resources
management.
(g) The Task Force shall meet no less than 6 times.
(h) The Task Force shall submit a preliminary report to the
General Assembly and the Governor no later than October 1,
2019, and a final report, along with recommendations and any
proposed legislation, to the General Assembly and the Governor
by January 1, 2020. The Task Force is dissolved on January 1,
2021.
Section 20. Repeal. This Act is repealed on January 1,
2021.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon

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becoming law.".