II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 708

To improve the administrative efficiency and effectiveness of the Nation’s

abuse and neglect courts and the quality and availability of training

for judges, attorneys, and volunteers working in such courts, and for

other purposes consistent with the Adoption and Safe Families Act

of 1997.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 24, 1999

Mr. DEWINE (for himself, Mr. ROCKEFELLER, Mr. CHAFEE, Ms. LANDRIEU,

Mr. LEVIN, Mr. KERRY, and Mr. KERREY) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To improve the administrative efficiency and effectiveness

of the Nation’s abuse and neglect courts and the quality

and availability of training for judges, attorneys, and

volunteers working in such courts, and for other purposes

consistent with the Adoption and Safe Families Act of

1997.

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 Abuse

5 and Neglect Courts Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 Congress finds the following:

3 (1) Under both Federal and State law, the

4 courts play a crucial and essential role in the Na5 tion’s child welfare system and in ensuring safety,

6 stability, and permanence for abused and neglected

7 children under the supervision of that system.

8 (2) The Adoption and Safe Families Act of

9 1997 (Public Law 105–89; 111 Stat. 2115) estab10 lishes explicitly for the first time in Federal law that

11 a child’s health and safety must be the paramount

12 consideration when any decision is made regarding a

13 child in the Nation’s child welfare system.

14 (3) The Adoption and Safe Families Act of

15 1997 promotes stability and permanence for abused

16 and neglected children by requiring timely decision17 making in proceedings to determine whether children

18 can safely return to their families or whether they

19 should be moved into safe and stable adoptive homes

20 or other permanent family arrangements outside the

21 foster care system.

22 (4) To avoid unnecessary and lengthy stays in

23 the foster care system, the Adoption and Safe Fami24 lies Act of 1997 specifically requires, among other

25 things, that States move to terminate the parental
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1 rights of the parents of those children who have

2 been in foster care for 15 of the last 22 months.

3 (5) While essential to protect children and to

4 carry out the general purposes of the Adoption and

5 Safe Families Act of 1997, the accelerated timelines

6 for the termination of parental rights and the other

7 requirements imposed under that Act increase the

8 pressure on the Nation’s already overburdened abuse

9 and neglect courts.

10 (6) The administrative efficiency and effective11 ness of the Nation’s abuse and neglect courts would

12 be substantially improved by the acquisition and im13 plementation of computerized case-tracking systems

14 to identify and eliminate existing backlogs, to move

15 abuse and neglect caseloads forward in a timely

16 manner, and to move children into safe and stable

17 families. Such systems could also be used to evaluate

18 the effectiveness of such courts in meeting the pur19 poses of the amendments made by, and provisions

20 of, the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997.

21 (7) The administrative efficiency and effective22 ness of the Nation’s abuse and neglect courts would

23 also be improved by the identification and implemen24 tation of projects designed to eliminate the backlog

25 of abuse and neglect cases, including the temporary
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1 hiring of additional judges, extension of court hours,

2 and other projects designed to reduce existing case3 loads.

4 (8) The administrative efficiency and effective5 ness of the Nation’s abuse and neglect courts would

6 be further strengthened by improving the quality

7 and availability of training for judges, court per8 sonnel, agency attorneys, guardians ad litem, volun9 teers who participate in court-appointed special ad10 vocate (CASA) programs, and attorneys who rep11 resent the children and the parents of children in

12 abuse and neglect proceedings.

13 (9) While recognizing that abuse and neglect

14 courts in this country are already committed to the

15 quality administration of justice, the performance of

16 such courts would be even further enhanced by the

17 development of models and educational opportunities

18 that reinforce court projects that have already been

19 developed, including models for case-flow procedures,

20 case management, representation of children, auto21 mated interagency interfaces, and ‘‘best practices’’

22 standards.

23 (10) Judges, magistrates, commissioners, and

24 other judicial officers play a central and vital role in

25 ensuring that proceedings in our Nation’s abuse and
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1 neglect courts are run efficiently and effectively. The

2 performance of those individuals in such courts can

3 only be further enhanced by training, seminars, and

4 an ongoing opportunity to exchange ideas with their

5 peers.

6 (11) Volunteers who participate in court-ap7 pointed special advocate (CASA) programs play a

8 vital role as the eyes and ears of abuse and neglect

9 courts in proceedings conducted by, or under the su10 pervision of, such courts and also bring increased

11 public scrutiny of the abuse and neglect court sys12 tem. The Nation’s abuse and neglect courts would

13 benefit from an expansion of this program to cur14 rently underserved communities.

15 (12) Improved computerized case-tracking sys16 tems, comprehensive training, and development of,

17 and education on, model abuse and neglect court

18 systems, particularly with respect to underserved

19 areas, would significantly further the purposes of the

20 Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 by reducing

21 the average length of an abused and neglected

22 child’s stay in foster care, improving the quality of

23 decision-making and court services provided to chil24 dren and families, and increasing the number of

25 adoptions.
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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

2 In this Act:

3 (a) ABUSE AND NEGLECT COURTS.—The term

4 ‘‘abuse and neglect courts’’ means the State and local

5 courts that carry out State or local laws requiring pro6 ceedings (conducted by or under the supervision of the

7 courts)—

8 (1) that implement part B and part E of title

9 IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 620 et seq.;

10 670 et seq.) (including preliminary disposition of

11 such proceedings);

12 (2) that determine whether a child was abused

13 or neglected;

14 (3) that determine the advisability or appro15 priateness of placement in a family foster home,

16 group home, or a special residential care facility; or

17 (4) that determine any other legal disposition of

18 a child in the abuse and neglect court system.

19 (b) AGENCY ATTORNEY.—The term ‘‘agency attor20 ney’’ means an attorney or other individual, including any

21 government attorney, district attorney, attorney general,

22 State attorney, county attorney, city solicitor or attorney,

23 corporation counsel, or privately retained special pros24 ecutor, who represents the State or local agency adminis25 trating the programs under parts B and E of title IV of

26 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 620 et seq.; 670 et
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1 seq.) in a proceeding conducted by, or under the super2 vision of, an abuse and neglect court, including a pro3 ceeding for termination of parental rights.

4 (c) ATTORNEY REPRESENTING A CHILD.—The term

5 ‘‘attorney representing a child’’ means an attorney or a

6 guardian ad litem who represents a child in a proceeding

7 conducted by, or under the supervision of, an abuse and

8 neglect court.

9 (d) ATTORNEY REPRESENTING A PARENT.—The

10 term ‘‘attorney representing a parent’’ means an attorney

11 who represents a parent who is an official party to a pro12 ceeding conducted by, or under the supervision of, an

13 abuse and neglect court.

14 SEC. 4. GRANTS TO STATE COURTS AND LOCAL COURTS TO

15 AUTOMATE THE DATA COLLECTION AND

16 TRACKING OF PROCEEDINGS IN ABUSE AND

17 NEGLECT COURTS.

18 (a) AUTHORITY TO AWARD GRANTS.—

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2),

20 the Attorney General, acting through the Office of

21 Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the

22 Office of Justice Programs, shall award grants in

23 accordance with this section to State courts and

24 local courts for the purposes of—
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1 (A) enabling such courts to develop and

2 implement automated data collection and case3 tracking systems for proceedings conducted by,

4 or under the supervision of, an abuse and ne5 glect court;

6 (B) encouraging the replication of such

7 systems in abuse and neglect courts in other ju8 risdictions; and

9 (C) requiring the use of such systems to

10 evaluate a court’s performance in implementing

11 the requirements of parts B and E of title IV

12 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 620 et

13 seq.; 670 et seq.).

14 (2) LIMITATIONS.—

15 (A) NUMBER OF GRANTS.—Not less than

16 20 nor more than 50 grants may be awarded

17 under this section.

18 (B) PER STATE LIMITATION.—Not more

19 than 2 grants authorized under this section

20 may be awarded per State.

21 (C) USE OF GRANTS.—Funds provided

22 under a grant made under this section may only

23 be used for the purpose of developing, imple24 menting, or enhancing automated data collec25 tion and case-tracking systems for proceedings
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1 conducted by, or under the supervision of, an

2 abuse and neglect court.

3 (b) APPLICATION.—

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—A State court or local court

5 may submit an application for a grant authorized

6 under this section at such time and in such manner

7 as the Attorney General may determine.

8 (2) INFORMATION REQUIRED.—An application

9 for a grant authorized under this section shall con10 tain the following:

11 (A) A description of a proposed plan for

12 the development, implementation, and mainte13 nance of an automated data collection and case14 tracking system for proceedings conducted by,

15 or under the supervision of, an abuse and ne16 glect court, including a proposed budget for the

17 plan and a request for a specific funding

18 amount.

19 (B) A description of the extent to which

20 such plan and system are able to be replicated

21 in abuse and neglect courts of other jurisdic22 tions that specifies the common case-tracking

23 data elements of the proposed system, includ24 ing, at a minimum—
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1 (i) identification of relevant judges,

2 court, and agency personnel;

3 (ii) records of all court proceedings

4 with regard to the abuse and neglect case,

5 including all court findings and orders

6 (oral and written); and

7 (iii) relevant information about the

8 subject child, including family information

9 and the reason for court supervision.

10 (C) In the case of an application submitted

11 by a local court, a description of how the plan

12 to implement the proposed system was devel13 oped in consultation with related State courts,

14 particularly with regard to a State court im15 provement plan funded under section 13712 of

16 the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993

17 (42 U.S.C. 670 note) if there is such a plan in

18 the State.

19 (D) In the case of an application that is

20 submitted by a State court, a description of

21 how the proposed system will integrate with a

22 State court improvement plan funded under

23 section 13712 of such Act if there is such a

24 plan in the State.
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1 (E) After consultation with the State agen2 cy responsible for the administration of parts B

3 and E of title IV of the Social Security Act (42

4 U.S.C. 620 et seq.; 670 et seq.)—

5 (i) a description of the coordination of

6 the proposed system with other child wel7 fare data collection systems, including the

8 Statewide automated child welfare infor9 mation system (SACWIS) and the adop10 tion and foster care analysis and reporting

11 system (AFCARS) established pursuant to

12 section 479 of the Social Security Act (42

13 U.S.C. 679); and

14 (ii) an assurance that such coordina15 tion will be implemented and maintained.

16 (F) Identification of an independent third

17 party that will conduct ongoing evaluations of

18 the feasibility and implementation of the plan

19 and system and a description of the plan for

20 conducting such evaluations.

21 (G) A description or identification of a

22 proposed funding source for completion of the

23 plan (if applicable) and maintenance of the sys24 tem after the conclusion of the period for which

25 the grant is to be awarded.
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1 (H) An assurance that any contract en2 tered into between the State court or local court

3 and any other entity that is to provide services

4 for the development, implementation, or mainte5 nance of the system under the proposed plan

6 will require the entity to agree to allow for rep7 lication of the services provided, the plan, and

8 the system, and to refrain from asserting any

9 proprietary interest in such services for pur10 poses of allowing the plan and system to be rep11 licated in another jurisdiction.

12 (I) An assurance that the system estab13 lished under the plan will provide data that al14 lows for evaluation (at least on an annual basis)

15 of the following information:

16 (i) The total number of cases that are

17 filed in the abuse and neglect court.

18 (ii) The number of cases assigned to

19 each judge who presides over the abuse

20 and neglect court.

21 (iii) The average length of stay of

22 children in foster care.

23 (iv) With respect to each child under

24 the jurisdiction of the court—
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1 (I) the number of episodes of

2 placement in foster care;

3 (II) the number of days placed in

4 foster care and the type of placement

5 (foster family home, group home, or

6 special residential care facility);

7 (III) the number of days of in8 home supervision; and

9 (IV) the number of separate fos10 ter care placements.

11 (v) The number of adoptions,

12 guardianships, or other permanent disposi13 tions finalized.

14 (vi) The number of terminations of

15 parental rights.

16 (vii) The number of child abuse and

17 neglect proceedings closed that had been

18 pending for 2 or more years.

19 (viii) With respect to each proceeding

20 conducted by, or under the supervision of,

21 an abuse and neglect court—

22 (I) the timeliness of each stage of

23 the proceeding from initial filing

24 through legal finalization of a perma-
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1 nency plan (for both contested and

2 uncontested hearings);

3 (II) the number of adjournments,

4 delays, and continuances occurring

5 during the proceeding, including iden6 tification of the party requesting each

7 adjournment, delay, or continuance

8 and the reasons given for the request;

9 (III) the number of courts that

10 conduct or supervise the proceeding

11 for the duration of the abuse and ne12 glect case;

13 (IV) the number of judges as14 signed to the proceeding for the dura15 tion of the abuse and neglect case;

16 and

17 (V) the number of agency attor18 neys, children’s attorneys, parent’s at19 torneys, guardians ad litem, and vol20 unteers participating in a court-ap21 pointed special advocate (CASA) pro22 gram assigned to the proceeding dur23 ing the duration of the abuse and ne24 glect case.
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1 (J) A description of how the proposed sys2 tem will reduce the need for paper files and en3 sure prompt action so that cases are appro4 priately listed with national and regional adop5 tion exchanges, and public and private adoption

6 services.

7 (K) An assurance that the data collected in

8 accordance with subparagraph (I) will be made

9 available to relevant Federal, State, and local

10 government agencies and to the public.

11 (L) An assurance that the proposed system

12 is consistent with other civil and criminal infor13 mation requirements of the Federal govern14 ment.

15 (M) An assurance that the proposed sys16 tem will provide notice of timeframes required

17 under the Adoption and Safe Families Act of

18 1997 (Public Law 105–89; 111 Stat. 2115) for

19 individual cases to ensure prompt attention and

20 compliance with such requirements.

21 (c) CONDITIONS FOR APPROVAL OF APPLICA22 TIONS.—

23 (1) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—A State court or local

25 court awarded a grant under this section shall
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1 expend $1 for every $3 awarded under the

2 grant to carry out the development, implemen3 tation, and maintenance of the automated data

4 collection and case-tracking system under the

5 proposed plan.

6 (B) WAIVER FOR HARDSHIP.—The Attor7 ney General may waive or modify the matching

8 requirement described in subparagraph (A) in

9 the case of any State court or local court that

10 the Attorney General determines would suffer

11 undue hardship as a result of being subject to

12 the requirement.

13 (C) NON-FEDERAL EXPENDITURES.—

14 (i) CASH OR IN KIND.—State court or

15 local court expenditures required under

16 subparagraph (A) may be in cash or in

17 kind, fairly evaluated, including plant,

18 equipment, or services.

19 (ii) NO CREDIT FOR PRE-AWARD EX20 PENDITURES.—Only State court or local

21 court expenditures made after a grant has

22 been awarded under this section may be

23 counted for purposes of determining

24 whether the State court or local court has
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1 satisfied the matching expenditure require2 ment under subparagraph (A).

3 (2) NOTIFICATION TO STATE OR APPROPRIATE

4 CHILD WELFARE AGENCY.—No application for a

5 grant authorized under this section may be approved

6 unless the State court or local court submitting the

7 application demonstrates to the satisfaction of the

8 Attorney General that the court has provided the

9 State, in the case of a State court, or the appro10 priate child welfare agency, in the case of a local

11 court, with notice of the contents and submission of

12 the application.

13 (3) CONSIDERATIONS.—In evaluating an appli14 cation for a grant under this section the Attorney

15 General shall consider the following:

16 (A) The extent to which the system pro17 posed in the application may be replicated in

18 other jurisdictions.

19 (B) The extent to which the proposed sys20 tem is consistent with the provisions of, and

21 amendments made by, the Adoption and Safe

22 Families Act of 1997 (Public Law 105–89; 111

23 Stat. 2115), and parts B and E of title IV of

24 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 620 et seq.;

25 670 et seq.).
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1 (C) The extent to which the proposed sys2 tem is feasible and likely to achieve the pur3 poses described in subsection (a)(1).

4 (4) DIVERSITY OF AWARDS.—The Attorney

5 General shall award grants under this section in a

6 manner that results in a reasonable balance among

7 grants awarded to State courts and grants awarded

8 to local courts, grants awarded to courts located in

9 urban areas and courts located in rural areas, and

10 grants awarded in diverse geographical locations.

11 (d) LENGTH OF AWARDS.—No grant may be award12 ed under this section for a period of more than 5 years.

13 (e) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Funds provided to a

14 State court or local court under a grant awarded under

15 this section shall remain available until expended without

16 fiscal year limitation.

17 (f) REPORTS.—

18 (1) ANNUAL REPORT FROM GRANTEES.—Each

19 State court or local court that is awarded a grant

20 under this section shall submit an annual report to

21 the Attorney General that contains—

22 (A) a description of the ongoing results of

23 the independent evaluation of the plan for, and

24 implementation of, the automated data collec-
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1 tion and case-tracking system funded under the

2 grant; and

3 (B) the information described in subsection

4 (b)(2)(I).

5 (2) INTERIM AND FINAL REPORTS FROM AT6 TORNEY GENERAL.—

7 (A) INTERIM REPORTS.—Beginning 2

8 years after the date of enactment of this Act,

9 and biannually thereafter until a final report is

10 submitted in accordance with subparagraph

11 (B), the Attorney General shall submit to Con12 gress interim reports on the grants made under

13 this section.

14 (B) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 90

15 days after the termination of all grants awarded

16 under this section, the Attorney General shall

17 submit to Congress a final report evaluating the

18 automated data collection and case-tracking

19 systems funded under such grants and identi20 fying successful models of such systems that

21 are suitable for replication in other jurisdic22 tions. The Attorney General shall ensure that a

23 copy of such final report is transmitted to the

24 highest State court in each State.
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1 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is

2 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section,

3 $10,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2000 through

4 2004.

5 SEC. 5. GRANTS TO REDUCE PENDING BACKLOGS OF

6 ABUSE AND NEGLECT CASES TO PROMOTE

7 PERMANENCY FOR ABUSED AND NEGLECTED

8 CHILDREN.

9 Part E of title IV of the Social Security Act (42

10 U.S.C. 670 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the

11 following:

12 ‘‘SEC. 479B. GRANTS TO REDUCE BACKLOGS OF ABUSE AND

13 NEGLECT CASES.

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the amount appro15 priated under subsection (f), the Secretary shall make

16 grants to State courts or local courts for the purposes of—

17 ‘‘(1) promoting the permanency goals estab18 lished in the Adoption and Safe Families Act of

19 1997 (Public Law 105–89; 111 Stat. 2115); and

20 ‘‘(2) enabling such courts to reduce existing

21 backlogs of cases pending in abuse and neglect

22 courts, especially with respect to cases to terminate

23 parental rights and cases in which parental rights to

24 a child have been terminated but an adoption of the

25 child has not yet been finalized.
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1 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.—A State court or local court

2 shall submit an application for a grant under this section,

3 in such form and manner as the Secretary shall require,

4 that contains a description of the following:

5 ‘‘(1) The barriers to achieving the permanency

6 goals established in the Adoption and Safe Families

7 Act of 1997 that have been identified.

8 ‘‘(2) The size and nature of the backlogs of

9 children awaiting termination of parental rights or

10 finalization of adoption.

11 ‘‘(3) The strategies the State court or local

12 court proposes to use to reduce such backlogs and

13 the plan and timetable for doing so.

14 ‘‘(4) How the grant funds requested will be

15 used to assist the implementation of the strategies

16 described in paragraph (3).

17 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—Funds provided under a grant

18 awarded under this section may be used for any purpose

19 that the Secretary determines is likely to successfully

20 achieve the purposes described in subsection (a), including

21 temporarily—

22 ‘‘(1) establishing night court sessions for abuse

23 and neglect courts;
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1 ‘‘(2) hiring additional judges, magistrates, com2 missioners, hearing officers, referees, special mas3 ters, and other judicial personnel for such courts;

4 ‘‘(3) hiring personnel such as clerks, adminis5 trative support staff, case managers, mediators, and

6 attorneys for such courts; or

7 ‘‘(4) extending the operating hours of such

8 courts.

9 ‘‘(d) NUMBER OF GRANTS.—Not less than 15 nor

10 more than 20 grants shall be awarded under this section.

11 ‘‘(e) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Funds awarded

12 under a grant made under this section shall remain avail13 able for expenditure by a grantee for a period not to ex14 ceed 3 years from the date of the grant award.

15 ‘‘(f) REPORT ON USE OF FUNDS.—Not later than the

16 date that is halfway through the period for which a grant

17 is awarded under this section, and 90 days after the end

18 of such period, a State court or local court awarded a

19 grant under this section shall submit a report to the Sec20 retary that includes the following:

21 ‘‘(1) The barriers to the permanency goals es22 tablished in the Adoption and Safe Families Act of

23 1997 that are or have been addressed with grant

24 funds.
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1 ‘‘(2) The nature of the backlogs of children that

2 were pursued with grant funds.

3 ‘‘(3) The specific strategies used to reduce such

4 backlogs.

5 ‘‘(4) The progress that has been made in reduc6 ing such backlogs, including the number of children

7 in such backlogs—

8 ‘‘(A) whose parental rights have been ter9 minated; and

10 ‘‘(B) whose adoptions have been finalized.

11 ‘‘(5) Any additional information that the Sec12 retary determines would assist jurisdictions in

13 achieving the permanency goals established in the

14 Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997.

15 ‘‘(g) DEFINITION OF ABUSE AND NEGLECT COURT.—

16 In this section, the term ‘abuse and neglect court’ has the

17 meaning given that term in section 3(a) of the Strength18 ening Abuse and Neglect Courts Act of 1999.

19 ‘‘(h) APPROPRIATION.—Out of any money in the

20 Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated,

21 there are appropriated for fiscal year 2000 $10,000,000

22 for the purpose of making grants under this section.’’.
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1 SEC. 6. TRAINING IN CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT PRO2 CEEDINGS.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 474(a)(3) of the Social

4 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 674(a)(3)) is amended—

5 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (C), (D),

6 and (E) as subparagraphs (D), (E), and (F), respec7 tively; and

8 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (B), the

9 following:

10 ‘‘(C) 75 percent of so much of such ex11 penditures as are for the training (including

12 cross-training with personnel employed by, or

13 under contract with, the State or local agency

14 administering the plan in the political subdivi15 sion, training on topics relevant to the legal

16 representation of clients in proceedings con17 ducted by or under the supervision of an abuse

18 and neglect court (as defined in section 3(a) of

19 the Strengthening Abuse and Neglect Courts

20 Act of 1999), and training on related topics

21 such as child development and the importance

22 of developing a trusting relationship with a

23 child) of judges, judicial personnel, law enforce24 ment personnel, agency attorneys (as defined in

25 section 3(b) of such Act), attorneys rep26 resenting parents in proceedings conducted by,
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1 or under the supervision of, an abuse and ne2 glect court (as so defined), attorneys rep3 resenting children in such proceedings, guard4 ians ad litem, and volunteers who participate in

5 court-appointed special advocate (CASA) pro6 grams, to the extent such training is related to

7 provisions of, and amendments made by, the

8 Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (Pub9 lic Law 105–89; 111 Stat. 2115), provided that

10 any such training that is offered to judges or

11 other judicial personnel shall be offered by, or

12 under contract with, the State or local agency

13 in collaboration with the judicial conference or

14 other appropriate judicial governing body oper15 ating in the State,’’.

16 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

17 (1) Section 473(a)(6)(B) of such Act (42

18 U.S.C. 673(a)(6)(B)) is amended by striking

19 ‘‘474(a)(3)(E)’’ and inserting ‘‘474(a)(3)(F)’’.

20 (2) Section 474(a)(3)(D) of such Act (42

21 U.S.C. 674(a)(3)(D)) (as redesignated by paragraph

22 (1)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘subparagraph (C)’’

23 and inserting ‘‘subparagraph (D)’’.
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1 (3) Section 474(c) of such Act (42 U.S.C.

2 674(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘subsection

3 (a)(3)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (a)(3)(D)’’.

4 SEC. 7. STATE STANDARDS FOR AGENCY ATTORNEYS.

5 Section 471(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

6 671(a)) is amended—

7 (1) in paragraph (22), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the

8 end;

9 (2) in paragraph (23), by striking the period

10 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

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

12 ‘‘(24) provides that, not later than January 1,

13 2001, the State shall develop and encourage the im14 plementation of guidelines for all agency attorneys

15 (as defined in section 3(b) of the Strengthening

16 Abuse and Neglect Courts Act of 1999), including

17 legal education requirements for such attorneys re18 garding the handling of abuse, neglect, and depend19 ency proceedings.’’.

20 SEC. 8. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR CHILD ABUSE, NE21 GLECT, AND DEPENDENCY MATTERS.

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

23 Human Services, in coordination with the Attorney Gen24 eral, shall provide the technical assistance, training, and

25 evaluations authorized under this section through grants,
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1 contracts, or cooperative arrangements with other entities,

2 including universities, and national, State, and local orga3 nizations. The Secretary of Health and Human Services

4 and the Attorney General should ensure that entities that

5 have not had a previous contractual relationship with the

6 Department of Health and Human Services, the Depart7 ment of Justice, or another Federal agency can compete

8 for grants for technical assistance, training, and evalua9 tions.

10 (b) PURPOSE.—Technical assistance shall be pro11 vided under this section for the purpose of supporting and

12 assisting State and local courts that handle child abuse,

13 neglect, and dependency matters to effectively carry out

14 new responsibilities enacted as part of the Adoption and

15 Safe Families Act of 1997 (Public Law 105–89; 111 Stat.

16 2115) and to speed the process of adoption of children

17 and legal finalization of permanent families for children

18 in foster care by improving practices of the courts involved

19 in that process.

20 (c) ACTIVITIES.—Technical assistance consistent

21 with the purpose described in subsection (b) may be pro22 vided under this section through the following:

23 (1) The dissemination of information, existing

24 and effective models, and technical assistance to

25 State and local courts that receive grants under sec-
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1 tion 4 concerning the automated data collection and

2 case-tracking systems and outcome measures re3 quired under that section.

4 (2) The provision of specialized training on

5 child development that is appropriate for judges, ref6 erees, nonjudicial decision-makers, administrative,

7 and other court-related personnel, and for agency at8 torneys, attorneys representing children, guardians

9 ad litem, volunteers who participate in court-ap10 pointed special advocate (CASA) programs, or par11 ents.

12 (3) The provision of assistance and dissemina13 tion of information about best practices of abuse and

14 neglect courts for effective case management strate15 gies and techniques, including automated data col16 lection and case-tracking systems, assessments of

17 caseload and staffing levels, management of court

18 dockets, timely decision-making at all stages of a

19 proceeding conducted by, or under the supervision

20 of, an abuse and neglect court, and the development

21 of streamlined case flow procedures, case manage22 ment models, early case resolution programs, mecha23 nisms for monitoring compliance with the terms of

24 court orders, models for representation of children,

25 automated interagency interfaces between data
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1 bases, and court rules that facilitate timely case

2 processing.

3 (4) The development and dissemination of

4 training models for judges, attorneys representing

5 children, agency attorneys, guardians ad litem, and

6 volunteers who participate in court-appointed special

7 advocate (CASA) programs.

8 (5) The development of standards of practice

9 for agency attorneys, attorneys representing chil10 dren, guardians ad litem, volunteers who participate

11 in court-appointed special advocate (CASA) pro12 grams, and parents in such proceedings.

13 (d) TRAINING REQUIREMENT.—Any training offered

14 in accordance with this section to judges or other judicial

15 personnel shall be offered in collaboration with the judicial

16 conference or other appropriate judicial governing body

17 operating with respect to the State in which the training

18 is offered.

19 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is

20 authorized to carry out this section $5,000,000 for the pe21 riod of fiscal years 2000 through 2004.
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1 SEC. 9. GRANTS TO EXPAND THE COURT-APPOINTED SPE2 CIAL ADVOCATE PROGRAM IN UNDERSERVED

3 AREAS.

4 (a) GRANTS TO EXPAND CASA PROGRAMS IN UN5 DERSERVED AREAS.—The Administrator of the Office of

6 Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the De7 partment of Justice shall make a grant to the National

8 Court-Appointed Special Advocate Association for the pur9 poses of—

10 (1) expanding the recruitment of, and building

11 the capacity of, court-appointed special advocate

12 programs located in the 15 largest urban areas;

13 (2) developing regional, multijurisdictional

14 court-appointed special advocate programs serving

15 rural areas; and

16 (3) providing training and supervision of volun17 teers in court-appointed special advocate programs.

18 (b) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENDI19 TURES.—Not more than 5 percent of the grant made

20 under this subsection may be used for administrative ex21 penditures.

22 (c) DETERMINATION OF URBAN AND RURAL

23 AREAS.—For purposes of administering the grant author24 ized under this subsection, the Administrator of the Office

25 of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the De26 partment of Justice shall determine whether an area is
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1 one of the 15 largest urban areas or a rural area in ac2 cordance with the practices of, and statistical information

3 compiled by, the Bureau of the Census.

4 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is

5 authorized to be appropriated to make the grant author6 ized under this section, $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2000.

Æ