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1 | AN ACT concerning State government.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, | ||||||
3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the | ||||||
5 | Strengthening the Child Welfare Workforce for Children and | ||||||
6 | Families Act. | ||||||
7 | Section 5. Purpose. It is the purpose of this Act to create | ||||||
8 | a task force to study the compensation and workload of child | ||||||
9 | welfare workers to determine the role that compensation and | ||||||
10 | workload play in the recruitment and retention of child welfare | ||||||
11 | workers, and to determine the role that staff turnover plays in | ||||||
12 | achieving safety and timely permanency for children. | ||||||
13 | Section 10. Task Force on Strengthening the Child Welfare | ||||||
14 | Workforce for Children and Families. | ||||||
15 | (a) As used in this Act: | ||||||
16 | "Child welfare workers" or "staff" means child welfare | ||||||
17 | caseworkers, child welfare specialists, and child welfare | ||||||
18 | specialist supervisors. | ||||||
19 | "Child welfare services job" mean an employment position as | ||||||
20 | a child welfare caseworker, child welfare specialist, or child | ||||||
21 | welfare specialist supervisor. | ||||||
22 | (b) The Task Force on Strengthening the Child Welfare |
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1 | Workforce for Children and Families is created to do all of the | ||||||
2 | following: | ||||||
3 | (1) Perform a policy and literature review regarding: | ||||||
4 | (i) compensation and caseload standards in the field of | ||||||
5 | child welfare; (ii) staff turnover rates; and (iii) the | ||||||
6 | impact compensation, caseload, and staff turnover have on | ||||||
7 | achieving safety and timely permanency for children. | ||||||
8 | (2) Survey employers in the public and private sector | ||||||
9 | to determine: | ||||||
10 | (A) how many child welfare service jobs exist;
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11 | (B) the compensation paid to child welfare | ||||||
12 | workers; | ||||||
13 | (C) how many child welfare service jobs are filled | ||||||
14 | and how many are vacant; | ||||||
15 | (D) how many child welfare service jobs are filled | ||||||
16 | by persons who have at least 18 months in the position; | ||||||
17 | (E) the rate of turnover for child welfare workers; | ||||||
18 | and | ||||||
19 | (F) the causes of turnover for child welfare | ||||||
20 | workers. | ||||||
21 | (3) Conduct a detailed time log analysis for child | ||||||
22 | welfare workers to determine how much time is available to | ||||||
23 | complete each administrative task and how much time is | ||||||
24 | actually spent to complete each administrative task. The | ||||||
25 | time log analysis shall expressly ask child welfare workers | ||||||
26 | the following question for each administrative task, "Is |
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1 | this task duplicative of one that you have already | ||||||
2 | completed?". | ||||||
3 | (4) Develop recommendations on how to (i) improve the | ||||||
4 | recruitment and retention of child welfare workers; and | ||||||
5 | (ii) reduce the turnover rates for child welfare workers. | ||||||
6 | (c) Members of the Task Force shall include: | ||||||
7 | (1) 2 members appointed by the Governor; | ||||||
8 | (2) 2 legislative members appointed by the Speaker of | ||||||
9 | the House of Representatives, one of whom shall be | ||||||
10 | designated as Co-Chairperson; | ||||||
11 | (3) 2 legislative members appointed by the Minority | ||||||
12 | Leader of the House of Representatives, one of whom shall | ||||||
13 | be designated as Co-Chairperson; | ||||||
14 | (4) 2 legislative members appointed by the President of | ||||||
15 | the Senate, one of whom shall be designated as | ||||||
16 | Co-Chairperson; | ||||||
17 | (5) 2 legislative members appointed by the Senate | ||||||
18 | Minority Leader, one of whom shall be designated as | ||||||
19 | Co-Chairperson; | ||||||
20 | (6) the Director of the Illinois Criminal Justice | ||||||
21 | Information Authority, or his or her designee; | ||||||
22 | (7) the Director of Children and Family Services, or | ||||||
23 | his or her designee; | ||||||
24 | (8) the Director of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, | ||||||
25 | or his or her designee; | ||||||
26 | (9) the Principal Investigator for the Child |
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1 | Protection Training Academy at the University of Illinois; | ||||||
2 | (10) a person appointed by a labor union that | ||||||
3 | represents State employees; | ||||||
4 | (11) a current private sector employee appointed by the | ||||||
5 | Speaker of the House of Representatives; and | ||||||
6 | (12) a person representing a non-profit, statewide | ||||||
7 | organization that represents private sector child welfare | ||||||
8 | providers. | ||||||
9 | (d) The Children and Family Research Center of the | ||||||
10 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign shall provide | ||||||
11 | administrative and other support to the Task Force. | ||||||
12 | (e) The Department of Children and Family Services shall | ||||||
13 | engage the services of a university-based consultant to aid in | ||||||
14 | the collection, cataloguing, and analysis of child welfare data | ||||||
15 | and whose services shall conclude when the Task Force submits | ||||||
16 | its final report to the General Assembly and the Governor as | ||||||
17 | required under subsection (h). | ||||||
18 | (f) The Task Force shall consider contracting with a | ||||||
19 | qualified company, university, or other entity with | ||||||
20 | demonstrated experience studying and improving human resources | ||||||
21 | management. | ||||||
22 | (g) The Task Force shall meet no less than 6 times. | ||||||
23 | (h) The Task Force shall submit a preliminary report to the | ||||||
24 | General Assembly and the Governor no later than October 1, | ||||||
25 | 2019, and a final electronic report, along with recommendations | ||||||
26 | and any proposed legislation, to the General Assembly and the |
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1 | Governor by January 1, 2020. | ||||||
2 | The reports to the General Assembly shall be filed with the | ||||||
3 | Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the | ||||||
4 | Senate in electronic form only, in the manner that the Clerk | ||||||
5 | and the Secretary shall direct. | ||||||
6 | (i) The Task Force is dissolved on January 1, 2021.
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7 | Section 15. Repeal. This Act is repealed on January 1, | ||||||
8 | 2021. | ||||||
9 | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | ||||||
10 | becoming law. |