I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4446 

To amend the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 to strengthen juvenile 

and family courts. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 13, 2010 

Mr. HELLER (for himself, Ms. TITUS, and Ms. BERKLEY) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 to 

strengthen juvenile and family courts. 

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 Out5 comes for America’s Juvenile and Family Courts Act of 

6 2010’’. 

7 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO STRENGTHEN JUVENILE AND 

8 FAMILY COURTS. 

9 Subtitle C of the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 

10 (42 U.S.C. 13021–13024) is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘Subtitle C—Programs for Juvenile 

2 and Family Court Judges 

3 ‘‘SEC. 221. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

4 ‘‘Congress finds the following: 

5 ‘‘(1) The prevention of child abuse and neglect 

6 can help stop the cycle of violence in communities. 

7 ‘‘(2) Research indicates that child abuse and 

8 neglect is associated with the early onset of juvenile 

9 crime and that there is a significant relationship be10 tween child maltreatment and delinquency. 

11 ‘‘(3) The co-occurrence of domestic violence and 

12 child abuse or neglect in a majority of studies 

13 ranged from 30 to 60 percent of families. 

14 ‘‘(4) There are currently over 500,000 children 

15 in the Nation’s foster care system, and in 2005 

16 there were an estimated 1,700,000 delinquency cases 

17 handled in juvenile courts nationwide. 

18 ‘‘(5) Children and youth in the Nation’s juve19 nile and family court systems require judicial over20 sight and effective services to ensure timely and 

21 meaningful resolution of their cases. 

22 ‘‘(6) Juvenile and family court judges can hold 

23 systems accountable for ensuring that children and 

24 youth receive the services they need, and in cases of 

25 juvenile delinquency, that children and youth are 


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1 held accountable for their actions, while ensuring 

2 safety of communities. 

3 ‘‘(7) Juvenile and family court judges require 

4 education, technical assistance and research which 

5 can provide the knowledge and information they 

6 need to improve decision-making on the bench and 

7 effective judicial leadership outside of the courtroom. 

8 ‘‘SEC. 222. GRANTS FOR JUVENILE AND FAMILY COURT 

9 JUDGES AND PERSONNEL. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General, acting 

11 through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 

12 Prevention and the Office of Justice Programs, shall make 

13 grants to improve training, education, technical assist14 ance, and research to assist the Nation’s courts, judges, 

15 judicial personnel, attorneys, child welfare personnel, and 

16 lay child advocates. 

17 ‘‘(b) GRANTEE ORGANIZATIONS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) An organization to which a grant is made 

19 pursuant to subsection (a) shall be a national non20 profit organization that has broad membership 

21 among juvenile and family court judges and has 

22 demonstrated experience in grant administration of 

23 activities described in subsection (a). 

24 ‘‘(2) A national nonprofit organization de25 scribed in paragraph (1) shall have specialized exVerDate Nov 24 2008 03:39 Jan 14, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4446.IH H4446

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1 pertise addressing the overlap of and the judicial 

2 system’s handling of— 

3 ‘‘(A) child abuse and neglect; 

4 ‘‘(B) adoption and foster care; 

5 ‘‘(C) elder abuse; 

6 ‘‘(D) juvenile justice and delinquency; 

7 ‘‘(E) violence against women; 

8 ‘‘(F) family violence; 

9 ‘‘(G) alcohol and drug abuse; 

10 ‘‘(H) supervised visitations; 

11 ‘‘(I) child custody; and 

12 ‘‘(J) divorce. 

13 ‘‘SEC. 223. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

14 ‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

15 this subtitle $12,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2010 

16 through 2014.’’. 

Æ 


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