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1    AN ACT concerning State government.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5Strengthening the Child Welfare Workforce for Children and
6Families Act.
 
7    Section 5. Purpose. It is the purpose of this Act to create
8a task force to study the compensation and workload of child
9welfare workers to determine the role that compensation and
10workload play in the recruitment and retention of child welfare
11workers, and to determine the role that staff turnover plays in
12achieving safety and timely permanency for children.
 
13    Section 10. Task Force on Strengthening the Child Welfare
14Workforce for Children and Families.
15    (a) As used in this Act:
16    "Child welfare workers" or "staff" means child welfare
17caseworkers, child welfare specialists, and child welfare
18specialist supervisors.
19    "Child welfare services job" mean an employment position as
20a child welfare caseworker, child welfare specialist, or child
21welfare specialist supervisor.
22    (b) The Task Force on Strengthening the Child Welfare

 

 

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1Workforce for Children and Families is created to do all of the
2following:
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;
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
10University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign shall provide
11administrative and other support to the Task Force.
12    (e) The Department of Children and Family Services shall
13engage the services of a university-based consultant to aid in
14the collection, cataloguing, and analysis of child welfare data
15and whose services shall conclude when the Task Force submits
16its final report to the General Assembly and the Governor as
17required under subsection (h).
18    (f) The Task Force shall consider contracting with a
19qualified company, university, or other entity with
20demonstrated experience studying and improving human resources
21management.
22    (g) The Task Force shall meet no less than 6 times.
23    (h) The Task Force shall submit a preliminary report to the
24General Assembly and the Governor no later than October 1,
252019, and a final electronic report, along with recommendations
26and any proposed legislation, to the General Assembly and the

 

 

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1Governor by January 1, 2020.
2    The reports to the General Assembly shall be filed with the
3Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the
4Senate in electronic form only, in the manner that the Clerk
5and the Secretary shall direct.
6    (i) The Task Force is dissolved on January 1, 2021.
 
7    Section 15. Repeal. This Act is repealed on January 1,
82021.
 
9    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
10becoming law.