Keeping Families Together Act of 2007

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a State family support grant program to end the practice of parents giving legal custody of their seriously emotionally disturbed children to State agencies for the purpose of obtaining mental health services for those children.

1/24/2007--Introduced.
Keeping Families Together Act of 2007 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, to award competitive matching grants to states to establish systems of care to provide mental health treatment and services to all children who are in the custody of the state or at-risk of entering into the custody of the state for the purpose of receiving mental health services. Requires states to use grant funds for certain activities, including to:
(1) expand public health insurance programs to cover community-based mental health and family support services for such children and their families that will be sustainable after the grant has expired;
(2) provide outreach and public education concerning available programs and activities; and
(3) provide training and professional development for personnel who work with such children. Requires the Administrator to establish a task force to examine:
(1) problems of mental health in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems;
(2) issues with respect to access by children and youth to mental health services; and
(3) the role of federal agencies in promoting access by children and youth to mental health services.

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Sponsor

• James Ramstad
• and 45 Co-Sponsors
  • Thomas Allen
  • Rep. Xavier Becerra [D, CA-31]
  • Rep. George Butterfield [D, NC-1]
  • Rep. Michael Capuano [D, MA-8]
  • Rep. Michael Castle [R, DE-0]
  • Rep. Ben Chandler [D, KY-6]
  • Rep. Steve Cohen [D, TN-9]
  • Rep. Elijah Cummings [D, MD-7]
  • Rep. Danny Davis [D, IL-7]
  • Rep. Rahm Emanuel [D, IL-5]
  • Rep. Jo Ann Emerson [R, MO-8]
  • Rep. Chaka Fattah [D, PA-2]
  • Rep. Jim Gerlach [R, PA-6]
  • Rep. Barton Gordon [D, TN-6]
  • Rep. Brian Higgins [D, NY-27]
  • Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee [D, TX-18]
  • Rep. Patrick Kennedy [D, RI-1]
  • Rep. Ronald Kind [D, WI-3]
  • Rep. Peter King [R, NY-3]
  • Rep. Thaddeus McCotter [R, MI-11]
  • Rep. James McDermott [D, WA-7]
  • Rep. John McHugh [R, NY-23]
  • Michael McNulty
  • Rep. Brad Miller [D, NC-13]
  • Rep. Dennis Moore [D, KS-3]
  • Rep. James Moran [D, VA-8]
  • Rep. Sue Myrick [R, NC-9]
  • Rep. William Pascrell [D, NJ-8]
  • Rep. Collin Peterson [D, MN-7]
  • Charles Pickering
  • Rep. Todd Platts [R, PA-19]
  • Rep. David Price [D, NC-4]
  • Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen [R, FL-18]
  • Rep. Janice Schakowsky [D, IL-9]
  • Rep. Joe Sestak [D, PA-7]
  • Christopher Shays
  • Rep. Carol Shea-Porter [D, NH-1]
  • Rep. Fortney Stark [D, CA-13]
  • Rep. Bart Stupak [D, MI-1]
  • Rep. Lee Terry [R, NE-2]
  • Rep. Henry Waxman [D, CA-30]
  • Rep. Robert Wexler [D, FL-19]
  • Rep. Lynn Woolsey [D, CA-6]
  • Rep. David Wu [D, OR-1]
  • Rep. Donald Young [R, AK-0]
  close

Committees

• House Energy and Commerce
• 1 more
  • House Energy and Commerce
  close

Amendments

This bill has no amendments.

Amendments to H.R.687

Number	Status	Purpose

Bill Status

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Introduced		Voted on by House		Voted on by Senate		Considered By President		Bill Becomes Law
January 24, 2007

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All Bill Actions

• Feb 02, 2007: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
• Introduced on Jan 24, 2007.
• Jan 24, 2007: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

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Related Bills:

• S.382

Related Issue Areas:

• Children
• Academic performance
• Budgets
• Case management
• 54 more
• Child health
• Child welfare
• Community health services
• Continuing education
• Criminal justice
• Criminal statistics
• Custody of children
• Data banks
• Dropouts
• Education
• Educational accountability
• Educational statistics
• Elementary and secondary education
• Elementary education
• Executive departments
• Families
• Family courts
• Family services
• Federal advisory bodies
• Federal aid to child health services
• Foster home care
• Government information
• Government paperwork
• Government publicity
• Government statistics
• Group homes
• Health insurance
• Health planning
• Health policy
• Home care services
• Housing
• Intergovernmental fiscal relations
• Job training
• Juvenile delinquency
• Law
• Medicaid
• Medical care
• Medical screening
• Medical tests
• Medically uninsured
• Medicine
• Mental health services
• Patient satisfaction
• Performance measurement
• Poor children
• Preventive medicine
• Secondary education
• State and local government
• State finance
• State laws
• Technology
• Welfare
• Welfare waivers
• Youth services

Data from the Congressional Research Service

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Blog Coverage

December 02, 2008 OpEdNews » Yes. I voted for Obama because he has a nice six-pack.

Obama endorsed the Keeping Families Together Act (HR 687 and S 382), which aims to end the practice of families of seriously mentally ill children who cannot afford the care their kids need from surrendering custody to the state so the ...

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Source: OpEdNews - OpEdNews.Com Progressive, Tough...

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October 19, 2008 Both the Obama and McCain campaigns say that mental health care is ...

Obama endorsed the Keeping Families Together Act (HR 687 and S 382), which aims to end the practice of families of seriously mentally ill children who cannot afford the care their kids need from surrendering custody to the state so the ...

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September 21, 2008 The Hill Blog» Blog Archive » Let’s Talk About Mental Health ...

No matter who wins the presidency in 2008, passing the “Keeping Families Together Act” (S.382/H.R.687) should be an explicit White House priority. Let’s bring kids home—by providing flexible service options in local communities and ...

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Source: The Hill Blog

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