II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1823 

To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to better enable 

State child welfare agencies to prevent human trafficking of children 

and serve the needs of children who are victims of human trafficking, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 13 (legislative day, DECEMBER 11), 2013 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself and Mrs. HAGAN) introduced the following bill; which 

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

Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act 

to better enable State child welfare agencies to prevent 

human trafficking of children and serve the needs of 

children who are victims of human trafficking, and for 

other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Strengthening the 

5 Child Welfare Response to Human Trafficking Act of 

6 2013’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. BEST PRACTICES GUIDELINES TO COMBAT TRAF2 FICKING OF CHILDREN. 

3 Within 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 

4 Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 

5 develop and publish guidelines to assist State, Indian 

6 tribe, and tribal organization child welfare agencies and 

7 juvenile and family courts in efforts to appropriately serve 

8 youth who are victims of trafficking (as defined in section 

9 103(15) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 

10 (22 U.S.C. 7102(15))) and youth who are at-risk of be11 coming such a victim. In developing the guidelines, the 

12 Secretary shall consult appropriate agencies throughout 

13 the Federal Government, including the Department of 

14 Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Depart15 ment of Homeland Security, the Department of Edu16 cation, the Department of Labor, and the Trafficking in 

17 Persons Office of the Department of State. In developing 

18 the guidelines, the Secretary should also utilize multi-dis19 ciplinary research, evidence-based and promising models 

20 and programs, and is encouraged to include input from 

21 child welfare agencies that have developed trafficking-spe22 cific programs, juvenile and family courts, law enforce23 ment agencies with anti-human trafficking protocols in 

24 place, runaway and homeless youth organizations, anti25 human trafficking nonprofit organizations, and human 

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1 trafficking survivors. The guidelines shall include sections 

2 on the following: 

3 (1) PERSONNEL RESOURCES.—Sample training 

4 materials, protocols, and screening tools that pre5 pare child welfare personnel to identify and serve 

6 youth who are victims of trafficking (as so defined) 

7 or are at-risk of becoming such a victim. 

8 (2) SERVICE DELIVERY.—Specific strategies to 

9 identify victims, manage cases, and improve services 

10 to meet the unique needs of foster youth who are 

11 also victims of trafficking (as so defined). The strat12 egies should be comprehensive, multi-disciplinary, 

13 client-centered, strength-based, trauma-informed, 

14 and inclusive of all genders. 

15 (3) COLLABORATION.—Sample protocols for ef16 fective, cross-system collaboration between local 

17 agencies and non-profit organizations, including 

18 child welfare, medical and health professionals, Fed19 eral, State, and local police, juvenile detention cen20 ters and courts, and runaway and homeless youth 

21 programs, schools, and organizations already serving 

22 victims of trafficking (as so defined). 

23 (4) RESIDENTIAL PLACEMENT.—A list of rec24 ommendations to establish safe residential place25 ments for foster youth who have been trafficked (as 

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1 so defined) as well as training guidelines for care2 givers that serve youth being cared for outside the 

3 home. 

4 (5) DOCUMENTATION AND DATA.—Sample pro5 tocols and recommended strategies in order to iden6 tify victims as well as collect, document, and share 

7 data across systems. Recommendations should be de8 signed to help agencies better understand the type 

9 of trafficking involved, the scope of the problem, the 

10 specific needs of the population to be served, and the 

11 degree of victim interaction with multiple systems. 

12 Recommendations may address incorporating human 

13 trafficking designations in existing statewide auto14 mated child welfare information systems. 

15 (6) PREVENTION.—Recommended actions for 

16 child welfare agencies and personnel that will help to 

17 prevent foster youth from becoming victims of 

18 human trafficking. 

19 SEC. 3. STREAMLINE DATA COLLECTION AND REPORTING. 

20 (a) STATE PLAN REQUIREMENTS UNDER THE FOS21 TER CARE AND ADOPTION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.—Sec22 tion 471(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)) 

23 is amended— 

24 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

25 (32); 

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1 (2) by striking the period at the end of para2 graph (33) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

3 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(34) provides that— 

5 ‘‘(A) reasonable efforts shall be made to— 

6 ‘‘(i) identify and document appro7 priately in agency records each child over 

8 whom the agency has responsibility for 

9 placement, care, or supervision and who is 

10 identified as being a victim of trafficking 

11 (as defined in section 103(15) of the Traf12 ficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 

13 U.S.C. 7102(15))), as such a victim; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) specify in the records of the 

15 agency the type of trafficking described in 

16 subparagraphs (A) and (B) of section 

17 103(9) of such Act to which the child has 

18 been subjected; and 

19 ‘‘(B) the agency shall report within 72 

20 hours to appropriate law enforcement agencies 

21 for entry into the National Crime Information 

22 Center database the identity of each child to 

23 whom the agency is providing child welfare 

24 services who— 

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1 ‘‘(i) is missing or has been abducted; 

2 or 

3 ‘‘(ii) is identified as a victim of traf4 ficking (as so defined).’’. 

5 (b) CAPTA AMENDMENTS.—Section 106 of the 

6 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 

7 5106a) is amended— 

8 (1) in subsection (b)(2)(B)— 

9 (A) in clause (xxii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

10 the end; 

11 (B) in clause (xxiii), by striking the semi12 colon at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

13 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(xxiv) provisions and procedures for 

15 the assessment and identification of vic16 tims of trafficking (as described in para17 graph (9) of section 103 of the Trafficking 

18 Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 

19 7102)), as well as comprehensive training 

20 and services to serve such victims;’’; and 

21 (2) in subsection (d), by adding at the end the 

22 following: 

23 ‘‘(17) The number of children determined to be 

24 a victim of each type of trafficking described in sub25 paragraphs (A) and (B) of section 103(9) of the 

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1 Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 

2 U.S.C. 7102(9)).’’. 

3 SEC. 4. REPORT TO THE CONGRESS. 

4 Within 18 months after the date of the enactment 

5 of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

6 shall submit to the Congress a report that— 

7 (1) outlines the prevalence of the acts and prac8 tices that constitute severe forms of trafficking in 

9 persons (as defined in section 103(9) of the Traf10 ficking Victims Protection Act of 2000) and de11 scribes the specific type of trafficking described in 

12 such section to which children who are under the 

13 placement, care, or supervision of State, Indian 

14 tribe, or tribal organization child welfare agencies 

15 nationwide have been subjected; 

16 (2) includes the general trends and context of 

17 trafficking sustained by the children, including spe18 cific information on victims of sex trafficking (as de19 scribed in section 103(9)(A) of such Act) and vic20 tims of labor trafficking (as described in section 

21 103(9)(B) of such Act); 

22 (3) lists data specific to each State, Indian 

23 tribe, or tribal organization child welfare agency; 

24 (4) summarizes the practices and protocols uti25 lized by State agencies to identify and serve child 

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1 victims of trafficking (as defined in section 103(15) 

2 of such Act) as well as the extent to which these 

3 procedures exist within State agencies around the 

4 Nation; 

5 (5) proposes an ongoing method of supporting 

6 and monitoring the efforts of State, Indian tribe, 

7 and tribal organization child welfare agencies to 

8 serve children over whom the agency has responsi9 bility for placement, care, or supervision and who 

10 are identified as being a victim of trafficking (as de11 fined in section 103(15) of such Act); 

12 (6) evaluates the feasibility and appropriateness 

13 of collecting annual or semiannual data from child 

14 welfare agencies regarding the number of and serv15 ices provided to child trafficking victims served by 

16 child welfare agencies; 

17 (7) evaluates the effects of the method proposed 

18 under paragraph (2) of this subsection on the agen19 cies with responsibility for implementing the method; 

20 and 

21 (8) specifies any changes in law or regulation 

22 that will be necessary to implement the method pro23 posed under such paragraph (2). 

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1 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise provided in 

3 this section, the amendments made by this Act shall take 

4 effect on the date that is 1 year after the date of the enact5 ment of this Act. 

6 (b) DELAY PERMITTED IF STATE LEGISLATION RE7 QUIRED.—In the case of a State plan approved under part 

8 E of title IV of the Social Security Act which the Secretary 

9 of Health and Human Services determines requires State 

10 legislation (other than legislation appropriating funds) in 

11 order for the plan to meet the additional requirements im12 posed by this Act, the State plan shall not be regarded 

13 as failing to comply with the requirements of such part 

14 solely on the basis of the failure of the plan to meet such 

15 additional requirements before the 1st day of the 1st cal16 endar quarter beginning after the close of the 1st regular 

17 session of the State legislature that ends after the 1-year 

18 period beginning with the date of the enactment of this 

19 Act. For purposes of the preceding sentence, in the case 

20 of a State that has a 2-year legislative session, each year 

21 of the session is deemed to be a separate regular session 

22 of the State legislature. 

Æ 

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