II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1129

To provide grants to States for supervised visitation centers.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 31, 1997

Mr. WELLSTONE (for himself and Mr. DURBIN) introduced the following bill;

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

Human Resources

A BILL

To provide grants to States for supervised visitation centers.

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 ‘‘Safe Havens for Chil5 dren Act of 1997’’.

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

7 The purposes of this Act are—

8 (1) to protect children from the trauma of wit9 nessing or experiencing violence, sexual abuse, ne10 glect, abduction, rape, or death during parent-child

11 visitation and visitation exchanges;
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1 (2) to protect victims of domestic violence from

2 experiencing further violence during child visitation

3 and visitation exchanges; and

4 (3) to provide safe havens for parents and chil5 dren during visitation and visitation exchanges, to

6 promote continuity and stability.

7 SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

8 Congress makes the following findings:

9 (1) Family violence does not necessarily cease

10 when family victims are legally separated by divorce

11 or otherwise not sharing a household.

12 (2) According to a 1996 report by the American

13 Psychological Association, custody and visitation dis14 putes are more frequent when there is a history of

15 domestic violence.

16 (3) Family violence often escalates following

17 separation and divorce, and child custody and visita18 tion arrangements become the new forum for the

19 continuation of abuse.

20 (4) According to a 1996 report by the American

21 Psychological Association, fathers who batter moth22 ers are twice as likely to seek sole custody of their

23 children. In these circumstances, if the abusive

24 father loses custody he is more likely to continue the

25 threats to the mother through other legal actions.
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1 (5) Some perpetrators of violence use the chil2 dren as pawns to control the abused party and to

3 commit more violence during separation or divorce.

4 In one study, 34 percent of women in shelters and

5 callers to hotlines reported threats of kidnapping, 11

6 percent reported that the batterer had kidnapped

7 the child for some period, and 21 percent reported

8 that threats of kidnapping forced the victim to re9 turn to the batterer.

10 (6) Approximately 90 percent of children in

11 homes in which their mothers are abused witness the

12 abuse. Children who witness domestic violence may

13 themselves become victims and exhibit more aggres14 sive, antisocial, fearful, and inhibited behaviors.

15 Such children display more anxiety, aggression and

16 temperamental problems.

17 (7) Women and children are at an elevated risk

18 of violence during the process of separation or

19 divorce.

20 (8) Fifty to 70 percent of men who abuse their

21 spouses or partners also abuse their children.

22 (9) Up to 75 percent of all domestic assaults

23 reported to law enforcement agencies were inflicted

24 after the separation of the couple.
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(10) In one study of spousal homicide, over 1 1 ⁄2

2 of the male defendants were separated from their

3 victims.

4 (11) Seventy-three percent of battered women

5 seeking emergency medical services do so after sepa6 ration.

7 (12) The National Council of Juvenile and

8 Family Court Judges includes the option of visita9 tion centers in their Model Code on Domestic and

10 Family Violence.

11 SEC. 4. GRANTS TO STATES TO PROVIDE FOR SUPERVISED

12 VISITATION CENTERS

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

14 Human Services (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec15 retary’’) is authorized to award grants to States to enable

16 States to enter into contracts and cooperative agreements

17 with public or private nonprofit entities to assist such enti18 ties in establishing and operating supervised visitation

19 centers for the purposes of facilitating supervised visita20 tion and visitation exchange.

21 (b) CONSIDERATIONS.—In awarding such grants,

22 contracts, and cooperative agreements under subsection

23 (a), the Secretary shall take into account—
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1 (1) the number of families to be served by the

2 proposed visitation center to be established under

3 the grant, contract, or agreement;

4 (2) the extent to which the proposed supervised

5 visitation centers serve underserved populations; and

6 (3) the extent to which the applicant dem7 onstrates cooperation and collaboration with advo8 cates in the local community served, including the

9 State domestic violence coalition, State sexual as10 sault coalition, local shelters, and programs for do11 mestic violence and sexual assault victims.

12 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Amounts provided under a

14 grant, contract, or cooperative agreement awarded

15 under this section shall be used to establish super16 vised visitation centers and for the purposes de17 scribed in section 2. Individuals shall be permitted

18 to use the services provided by the center on a slid19 ing fee basis.

20 (2) APPLICANT REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec21 retary shall award grants, contracts, and cooperative

22 agreements under this Act in accordance with such

23 regulations as the Secretary may promulgate. The

24 Secretary shall give priority in awarding grants, con25 tracts, and cooperative agreements under this Act to
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1 States that consider domestic violence in making a

2 custody decision. An applicant awarded such a

3 grant, contract, or cooperative agreement shall—

4 (A) demonstrate recognized expertise in

5 the area of family violence and a record of high

6 quality service to victims of domestic violence

7 and sexual assault;

8 (B) demonstrate collaboration with and

9 support of the State domestic violence coalition,

10 sexual assault coalition and local domestic vio11 lence and sexual assault shelter or program in

12 the locality in which the supervised visitation

13 center will be operated; and

14 (C) provide long-term supervised visitation

15 and visitation exchange services to promote con16 tinuity and stability.

17 (d) REPORTING AND EVALUATION.—

18 (1) REPORTING.—Not later than 60 days after

19 the end of each fiscal year, the Secretary shall sub20 mit to Congress a report that includes information

21 concerning—

22 (A) the number of individuals served and

23 the number of individuals turned away from

24 services categorized by State and the type of

25 presenting problems that underlie the need for
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1 supervised visitation or visitation exchange,

2 such as domestic violence, child abuse, sexual

3 assault, emotional or other physical abuse, or a

4 combination of such factors;

5 (B) the numbers of supervised visitations

6 or visitation exchanges ordered during custody

7 determinations under a separation or divorce

8 decree or protection order, through child protec9 tion services, or through other social services

10 agencies;

11 (C) the process by which children or

12 abused partners are protected during visita13 tions, temporary custody transfers and other

14 activities for which the supervised visitation

15 centers are created;

16 (D) safety and security problems occurring

17 during the reporting period during supervised

18 visitations or at visitation centers including the

19 number of parental abduction cases;

20 (E) the number of parental abduction

21 cases in a judicial district using supervised visi22 tation services, both as identified in criminal

23 prosecution and custody violations; and
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1 (F) any other appropriate information des2 ignated in regulations promulgated by the Sec3 retary.

4 (2) EVALUATION.—In addition to submitting

5 the reports required under paragraph (1), an entity

6 receiving a grant, contract or cooperative agreement

7 under this Act shall have a collateral agreement with

8 the court, the child protection social services division

9 of the State, and local domestic violence agencies or

10 State and local domestic violence coalitions to evalu11 ate the supervised visitation center operated under

12 the grant, contract or agreement. The entities con13 ducting such evaluations shall submit a narrative

14 evaluation of the center to both the center and the

15 grantee.

16 (e) FUNDING.—

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—There shall be made avail18 able from amounts contained in the Violent Crime

19 Reduction Trust Fund established under title XXXI

20 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement

21 Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14211 et seq.), $65,000,000

22 for each of the fiscal years 1998 through 2000 for

23 the purpose of awarding grants, contracts, and coop24 erative agreements under this Act.
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1 (2) DISTRIBUTION.—Of the amounts made

2 available to carry out this Act for each fiscal year,

3 not less than 90 percent of such amount shall be

4 used to award grants, contracts, or cooperative

5 agreements.

6 (3) DISBURSEMENT.—Amounts made available

7 under this Act shall be disbursed as categorical

8 grants through the 10 regional offices of the Depart9 ment of Health and Human Services.

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