II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1067 

To amend title IV of the Social Security Act to allow the Secretary of 

Health and Human Services to award competitive grants to enhance 

collaboration between State child welfare and juvenile justice systems. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 8, 2017 

Mr. PETERS (for himself and Mr. GRASSLEY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend title IV of the Social Security Act to allow the 

Secretary of Health and Human Services to award competitive grants to enhance collaboration between State 

child welfare and juvenile justice systems. 

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 ‘‘Childhood Outcomes 

5 Need New Efficient Community Teams’’ or the ‘‘CON6 NECT Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO AWARD COMPETITIVE GRANTS TO 

2 ENHANCE COLLABORATION BETWEEN STATE 

3 CHILD WELFARE AND JUVENILE JUSTICE 

4 SYSTEMS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 436 of the Social Security 

6 Act (42 U.S.C. 629f) is amended by adding at the end 

7 the following new subsection: 

8 ‘‘(c) AUTHORITY TO AWARD GRANTS TO STATES TO

9 ENHANCE COLLABORATION BETWEEN STATE CHILD

10 WELFARE AND JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEMS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this subsection 

12 is to authorize the Secretary to make grants to State 

13 child welfare and juvenile justice agencies to collabo14 rate in the collection of data relating to dual status 

15 youth and to develop practices, policies, and proto16 cols to confront the challenges presented and experi17 enced by dual status youth. 

18 ‘‘(2) AUTHORITY TO AWARD GRANTS.— 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 

20 award competitive grants jointly to a State 

21 child welfare agency and a State juvenile justice 

22 agency to facilitate or enhance collaboration be23 tween the child welfare and juvenile justice sys24 tems of the State in order to carry out pro25 grams to address the needs of dual status 

26 youth. 


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1 ‘‘(B) FUNDING.—Any grants awarded 

2 under this subsection shall be awarded from the 

3 amounts made available under subsection (a) of 

4 this section, after the application of subsection 

5 (b) of this section and before the determination 

6 of allotments under section 433. 

7 ‘‘(C) LENGTH OF GRANTS.— 

8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A grant shall be 

9 awarded under this subsection for a period 

10 of not less than 2, and not more than 5, 

11 fiscal years, subject to clause (ii). 

12 ‘‘(ii) EXTENSION OF GRANT.—On ap13 plication of the grantee, the Secretary may 

14 extend for not more than 2 fiscal years the 

15 period for which a grant is awarded under 

16 this subsection. 

17 ‘‘(3) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.— 

18 ‘‘(A) APPLICATION.—In order for a State 

19 to be eligible for a grant under this subsection, 

20 it shall submit an application, to be approved 

21 by the Secretary, that includes— 

22 ‘‘(i) a description of the proposed 

23 leadership collaboration group (including 

24 the membership of such group), and how 

25 such group will manage and oversee a reVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:09 May 12, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1067.IS S1067

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1 view and analysis of current practices while 

2 working to jointly address enhanced prac3 tices to improve outcomes for dual status 

4 youth; 

5 ‘‘(ii) a description of how the State 

6 proposes to— 

7 ‘‘(I) identify dual status youths; 

8 ‘‘(II) identify individuals who are 

9 at risk of becoming dual status 

10 youths; 

11 ‘‘(III) identify common charac12 teristics shared by dual status youths 

13 in the State; and 

14 ‘‘(IV) determine the prevalence of 

15 dual status youths in the State; 

16 ‘‘(iii) a description of current and pro17 posed practices and procedures that the 

18 State intends to use to— 

19 ‘‘(I) screen and assess dual sta20 tus youths for risks and treatment 

21 needs; 

22 ‘‘(II) provide targeted and evi23 dence-based services, including edu24 cational, behavioral health, and proVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:09 May 12, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1067.IS S1067

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1 social treatment interventions for dual 

2 status youths; and 

3 ‘‘(III) provide for a lawful proc4 ess to enhance or ensure the abilities 

5 of the State and any relevant agencies 

6 to share information and data about 

7 dual status youths while maintaining 

8 confidentiality and privacy protections 

9 under State and Federal law; and 

10 ‘‘(iv) a certification that the State has 

11 involved local governments, as appropriate, 

12 in the development, expansion, modifica13 tion, operation, or improvement of pro14 posed policy and practice reforms to ad15 dress the needs of dual status youths. 

16 ‘‘(B) NO SUPPLANTATION OF OTHER

17 FUNDS.—Any amounts paid to a State under a 

18 grant under this subsection shall be used to 

19 supplement and not supplant other State ex20 penditures on dual status youths or children in21 volved with either the child welfare or juvenile 

22 justice systems. 

23 ‘‘(C) REPORT.—A State child welfare 

24 agency and a State juvenile justice agency re25 ceiving a grant under this subsection shall 


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1 jointly submit to the Secretary and to the Ad2 ministrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice 

3 and Delinquency Prevention of the Department 

4 of Justice a report on the activities carried out 

5 under the grant at the end of each fiscal year 

6 during the period of the grant. Such report 

7 shall include— 

8 ‘‘(i) a description of the scope and na9 ture of the dual status youth population in 

10 the State, including the number of dual 

11 status youth; 

12 ‘‘(ii) a description of the evidence13 based practices and procedures used by the 

14 agencies to carry out the activities de15 scribed in subclauses (I) through (III) of 

16 subparagraph (A)(iii); and 

17 ‘‘(iii) an analysis of the effects of such 

18 practices and procedures, including infor19 mation regarding— 

20 ‘‘(I) the collection of data related 

21 to individual dual status youths; 

22 ‘‘(II) aggregate data related to 

23 the dual status youth population, in24 cluding— 


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1 ‘‘(aa) characteristics of dual 

2 status youths in the State; 

3 ‘‘(bb) case processing time4 lines; and 

5 ‘‘(cc) information related to 

6 case management, the provision 

7 of targeted services, and place8 ments within the foster care or 

9 juvenile justice system; and 

10 ‘‘(III) the extent to which such 

11 practices and procedures have contrib12 uted to— 

13 ‘‘(aa) higher educational at14 tainment for dual status youths; 

15 ‘‘(bb) fewer delinquency re16 ferrals for dual status youths; 

17 ‘‘(cc) shorter stays in inten18 sive restrictive placements for 

19 dual status youths; or 

20 ‘‘(dd) such other outcomes 

21 for dual status youths as the 

22 State child welfare agency and 

23 State juvenile justice agency may 

24 identify. 


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1 ‘‘(4) TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 

2 The Secretary may support State child welfare agen3 cies and State juvenile justice agencies by offering a 

4 program, developed in consultation with organiza5 tions and agencies with subject matter expertise, of 

6 training and technical assistance to assist the agen7 cies in developing programs and protocols— 

8 ‘‘(A) to facilitate or enhance collaboration 

9 between State child welfare agencies and State 

10 juvenile justice agencies; and 

11 ‘‘(B) for effectively working with Federal 

12 agencies and child welfare and juvenile justice 

13 agencies from other States. 

14 ‘‘(5) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the 

15 date of enactment of this subsection, and every 3 

16 years thereafter, the Secretary and the Attorney 

17 General of the Department of Justice shall jointly 

18 submit to the Committee on Finance and the Com19 mittee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the Com20 mittee on Ways and Means and the Committee on 

21 Education and the Workforce of the House of Rep22 resentatives, a report on the grants provided under 

23 this subsection. 

24 ‘‘(6) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 


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1 ‘‘(A) DUAL STATUS YOUTH.—The term 

2 ‘dual status youth’ means a child who has come 

3 into contact with both the child welfare and ju4 venile justice systems and occupies various 

5 statuses in terms of the individual’s relationship 

6 to such systems. 

7 ‘‘(B) LEADERSHIP COLLABORATION

8 GROUP.—The term ‘leadership collaboration 

9 group’ means a group composed of senior offi10 cials from the State child welfare agency, the 

11 State juvenile justice agency, and other relevant 

12 youth and family-serving public agencies and 

13 private organizations, including, to the extent 

14 practicable, representatives from the State judi15 ciary branch. 

16 ‘‘(C) STATE JUVENILE JUSTICE AGENCY.— 

17 The term ‘State juvenile justice agency’ means 

18 the agency of the State or Indian tribe respon19 sible for administering grant funds awarded 

20 under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 

21 Prevention Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5601 et 

22 seq.). 

23 ‘‘(D) STATE CHILD WELFARE AGENCY.— 

24 The term ‘State child welfare agency’ means 

25 the State agency responsible for administering 


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1 the program under subpart 1, or, in the case of 

2 a tribal organization that is receiving payments 

3 under section 428, the tribal agency responsible 

4 for administering such program.’’. 

5 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Subsections (b) 

6 and (c) of section 433 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 633) are 

7 each amended by striking ‘‘section 436(b)’’ and inserting 

8 ‘‘subsections (b) and (c) of section 436’’. 

Æ 


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