Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006
Public Law 109-288 · S. 3525 · 109th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by George W. Bush (R) on Sep 28, 2006 · Social Welfare
Sponsor: Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Cosponsors: None
Passage votes
- HouseVoice vote
- SenateUnanimous consent
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006 - (Sec. 3) Amends part B (Child and Family Services) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) with respect to the promoting safe and stable families (PSSF) program to: (1) reauthorize PSSF at current levels for FY2007-FY2011, including discretionary grants; and (2) appropriate to the Secretary of Health and Human Services an additional $40 million for FY2006 for PSSF.
Requires the state to submit annually to the Secretary copies of forms CFS 101-Part I and CFS 101-Part II (or any successor forms) that: (1) report on planned child and family services expenditures for the immediately succeeding fiscal year; and (2) provide specified information about PSSF and certain other programs, including the numbers of families and of children, as well as the population, served by the state agency.
Requires the Secretary to submit a compilation of such state reports annually to specified congressional committees.
Prohibits the Secretary from making any payment of PSSF funds to a state for administrative costs that exceed 10% of the state's total program expenditures.
(Sec. 4) Requires the Secretary to reserve specified funds for allotment for FY2008-FY2011, which a state shall use to support monthly caseworker visits with children in foster care under state responsibility, with a primary emphasis on activities designed to improve caseworker retention, recruitment, training, and ability to access the benefits of technology.
Prohibits a state from using its allotment to supplant any federal funds paid to the state under SSA title IV part E (Federal Payments for Foster Care and Adoption Assistance).
Requires the Secretary to reserve specified amounts for FY2007-FY2011 for awarding targeted grants to increase the well-being of, and to improve the permanency outcomes for, children affected by methamphetamine or other substance abuse.
Authorizes the Secretary to make competitive grants to regional partnerships to provide, through interagency collaboration and integration of programs and services, services and activities designed to increase the well-being of, improve permanency outcomes for, and enhance the safety of children who are in an out-of-home placement or are at risk of being placed in an out-of-home placement as a result of a parent's or caretaker's methamphetamine or other substance abuse.
Requires the Secretary to award such grants to regional partnerships in amounts of between $500,000 and $1 million per grant per fiscal year. Specifies the federal share of service costs. Directs the Secretary to establish indicators that will be used to assess periodically the performance of the grant recipients.
Specifies amounts reserved for evaluation, research, training, and technical assistance.
(Sec. 5) Increases the set-asides for Indian tribes from 2% to 3% of any discretionary funds appropriated and from 1% to 3% of the mandatory funds authorized and remaining after the separate reservation of funds for monthly caseworkers is made.
Provides for allotments to tribal consortia.
(Sec. 6) Revises requirements for the Child Welfare Services program.
Authorizes appropriations for FY2007-FY2011.
Declares that the purpose of the program is to promote state flexibility in the development and expansion of a coordinated child and family services program that utilizes community-based agencies and ensures all children are raised in safe, loving families.
Requires a state plan to: (1) include assurances that not more than 10% of its expenditures will be for administrative expenses; (2) describe how the state actively consults with and involves physicians or other appropriate medical professionals in assessing the health and well-being of children in foster care under state responsibility and determining appropriate medical treatment for children; and (3) provide for disaster response procedures.
Provides for the reallotment of funds.
Prohibits federal payments for fiscal years after FY2007 for child care, foster care maintenance payments, and adoption assistance payments from exceeding the level of such payments for FY2005. Declares that state expenditures of nonfederal funds for foster care maintenance payments for fiscal years after FY2007 shall not be considered state plan expenditures to the extent that their total exceeds the total of such expenditures for FY2005.
(Sec. 7) Requires each state plan for child welfare services to describe standards for the content and frequency of caseworker visits for children in foster care under state responsibility which, at a minimum, ensure that: (1) the children are visited on a monthly basis; and (2) the visits are well-planned and focused on issues pertinent to case planning and service delivery to ensure the children's safety, permanency, and well-being.
Prohibits the Secretary from making a payment to a state in FY2008 unless the state has provided data which shows: (1) the percentage of children in foster care under state responsibility who were visited on a monthly basis by the caseworker handling the child's case; and (2) the percentage of the visits that occurred in the child's residence.
Directs the Secretary to establish an outline of the steps to be taken to ensure, by October 1, 2011, that: (1) at least 90% of the children in foster care under state responsibility are visited by their caseworkers on a monthly basis; and (2) the majority of the visits occur in the child's residence. Provides for: (1) penalizing states which do not make progress in meeting such goal; (2) progress reports from the Secretary to Congress on states meeting standards for frequency of caseworker visits for children in foster care; and (3) inclusion of information on caseworker visits in annual child well-being outcome reports.
(Sec. 8) Reauthorizes and extends through FY2011 the program for mentoring children of prisoners (MCOP).
Requires the Secretary to enter into a three-year, renewable cooperative agreement with an eligible entity for a Service Delivery Demonstration Project to: (1) identify children of prisoners in need of mentoring services; (2) provide their families with a voucher for mentoring services and a list of providers in their residential area; and (3) monitor and oversee the delivery of mentoring services by providers that accept the vouchers.
Directs the Secretary to reserve certain funds for such Project.
(Sec. 9) Reauthorizes and extends through FY2011 the court improvement program.
(Sec. 10) Amends SSA title IV part E to require a foster care proceeding to include, in an age-appropriate manner, consultation with the child that is the subject of the proceeding.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Related bills
1 bill the Library of Congress relates to this one.
H.R. 5640Related bill
Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006
Data notes
Related bills are identified by the Congressional Research Service, the House and the Senate: companion and identical bills, bills with similar text, bills that were folded into this law, and rules that brought it to the floor. A bill that is itself a public law in this site’s data links here; the others link to Congress.gov.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 27 actions.
- Sep 28, 2006Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 109-288.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Sep 27, 2006FloorFloor · Presented to President.
- Sep 26, 2006Resolving differencesResolving differences · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- Resolving differencesResolving differences · On motion that the House suspend the rules and agree to the Senate amendments to the House amendments Agreed to by voice vote.
- Resolving differencesResolving differences · Mr. Herger moved that the House suspend the rules and agree to the Senate amendments to the House amendments.
- FloorFloor · DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on S. 3525.
- OtherOther · Resolving differences -- House actions: On motion that the House suspend the rules and agree to the Senate amendments to the House amendments Agreed to by voice vote.
- Sep 20, 2006Resolving differencesResolving differences · Senate concurred to House amendments with an amendment and an amendment to the title by Unanimous Consent.
- FloorFloor · Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- OtherOther · Resolving differences -- Senate actions: Senate concurred to House amendments with an amendment and an amendment to the title by Unanimous Consent.
- Jul 26, 2006FloorFloor · Message on House action received in Senate and at desk: House amendments to Senate bill.
- Jul 25, 2006FloorFloor · The title of the measure was amended. Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote.
- FloorFloor · DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on S. 3525.
- FloorFloor · Considered under suspension of the rules.
- FloorFloor · Mr. Herger moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
- Jul 17, 2006FloorFloor · Received in the House.
- CommitteeCommittee · Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
- Jul 14, 2006FloorFloor · Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- Jul 13, 2006FloorFloor · Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
- FloorFloor · Measure laid before Senate by unanimous consent.
- Jun 23, 2006FloorFloor · By Senator Grassley from Committee on Finance filed written report. Report No. 109-269.
- Jun 15, 2006CalendarCalendar · Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 470.
- CommitteeCommittee · Committee on Finance. Original measure reported to Senate by Senator Grassley. Without written report.
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in Senate
Data notes
Every action the Library of Congress lists for the bill, from introduction to signing, plus the dated committee hearings. The source lists many steps twice (the chamber’s own entry and the Library of Congress copy, or a presidential and a became-law entry with the same words); those are shown once. Amendments are listed in their own section.
Amendments
3 amendments offered to the bill, with the last recorded step of each.
- Agreed to
S.Amdt. 5025SenateSen. Chuck GrassleyR-IA· offered Sep 20, 2006Agreed to
To amend the title of the Act.
Sep 20, 2006: Amendment SA 5025 agreed to in Senate by Unanimous Consent.
- Agreed to
S.Amdt. 5024SenateSen. Chuck GrassleyR-IA· offered Sep 20, 2006Agreed to
To provide a complete substitute.
Sep 20, 2006: Amendment SA 5024 agreed to in Senate by Unanimous Consent.
- Agreed to
S.Amdt. 4675SenateSen. Chuck GrassleyR-IA· offered Jul 13, 2006Agreed to
To make certain revisions to the bill.
Jul 13, 2006: Amendment SA 4675 agreed to in Senate by Unanimous Consent.
Data notes
Amendments offered to this bill in either chamber, as the Library of Congress records them: each with a status read from its last recorded step: agreed to, rejected, withdrawn, ruled out of order, fell with another amendment, or offered with no vote recorded (most Senate amendments are only ever offered). The wording of each amendment is the source’s. Amendments to amendments and amendments to other bills are not listed.
Official record
The bill’s full text is on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.