II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4342 

To establish a National Child Abuse Hotline. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 28, 2020 

Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Ms. SINEMA) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish a National Child Abuse Hotline. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Child Abuse 

5 Help Hotline Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL CHILD ABUSE HOTLINE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 

8 Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec9 retary’’) may award a grant to a nonprofit entity to pro10 vide for the establishment and ongoing operation of a Na11 tional Child Abuse Hotline, which shall provide a 24-hour, 


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1 national, toll-free telephone hotline to improve capacity for 

2 the provision of crisis intervention, assistance, and infor3 mation services with respect to child abuse or neglect, to 

4 victims of child abuse or neglect, and to parents, care5 givers, mandated reporters, and other concerned commu6 nity members, including through implementation of other 

7 communication technologies to improve access for such 

8 victims and other individuals. 

9 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive the grant 

10 under subsection (a), an entity shall have experience in 

11 operating a hotline that provides information and assist12 ance to victims of child abuse or neglect, and to parents, 

13 caregivers, and mandated reporters. 

14 (c) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

15 under subsection (a), a nonprofit entity shall submit an 

16 application to the Secretary, at such time and in such 

17 manner as the Secretary may require, and containing— 

18 (1) a complete description of the entity’s plan 

19 for the operation of a national child abuse hotline, 

20 including descriptions of— 

21 (A) the professional development program 

22 for hotline personnel, including technology pro23 fessional development to ensure that all individ24 uals affiliated with the hotline are able to effecVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Aug 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4342.IS S4342

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1 tively operate any technological systems used by 

2 the hotline; 

3 (B) the qualifications for hotline personnel; 

4 (C) the methods for the creation, mainte5 nance, and updating of a resource database; 

6 (D) a plan for publicizing the availability 

7 of the hotline throughout the United States; 

8 (E) a plan for providing service to non9 English speaking callers, including service 

10 through hotline personnel who have non-English 

11 language capability; 

12 (F) a plan for facilitating access to the 

13 hotline and alternative modality services by in14 dividuals with hearing impairments and disabil15 ities; 

16 (G) a plan for providing crisis counseling, 

17 general assistance, and referrals to youth vic18 tims of child abuse; and 

19 (H) a plan for utilizing available commu20 nications technologies other than the telephone 

21 hotline, as appropriate, such as texting or live 

22 chat; 

23 (2) information to demonstrate that the enti24 ty— 


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1 (A) has the capacity and the expertise to 

2 maintain a child abuse and neglect hotline; 

3 (B) has the ability to provide information 

4 and referrals for contacts, directly connect con5 tacts to such service providers, and employ cri6 sis interventions; and 

7 (C) complies with Federal privacy laws and 

8 has established quality assurance practices; and 

9 (3) such other information, assurances, and 

10 agreements as the Secretary may require. 

11 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For pur12 poses of carrying out this section, there are authorized to 

13 be appropriated $1,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 

14 through 2025. 

Æ 


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