I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5847 

To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to establish grant 

programs for the development and implementation of model undergraduate and graduate curricula on child abuse and neglect at institutions of higher education throughout the United States and to assist 

States in developing forensic interview training programs, to establish 

regional training centers and other resources for State and local child 

protection professionals, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 22, 2010 

Mr. WALZ (for himself and Mr. BOOZMAN) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act 

to establish grant programs for the development and 

implementation of model undergraduate and graduate 

curricula on child abuse and neglect at institutions of 

higher education throughout the United States and to 

assist States in developing forensic interview training 

programs, to establish regional training centers and other 

resources for State and local child protection professionals, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Child Protec3 tion Training Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) Studies indicate that the majority of child 

7 protection professionals, including child protection 

8 workers, child protection attorneys, medical and 

9 mental health professionals, law enforcement offi10 cers, forensic interviewers, and other professionals 

11 who work directly with maltreated children, are in12 adequately prepared through undergraduate and 

13 graduate programs to recognize and respond to 

14 cases of child maltreatment. 

15 (2) Studies indicate that individuals mandated 

16 to report child maltreatment often fail to recognize 

17 instances of maltreatment, and that such failure to 

18 recognize maltreatment is attributable, in part, to 

19 inadequate training in undergraduate and graduate 

20 programs. 

21 (3) Child protection professionals often find it 

22 difficult to access quality training on investigating, 

23 or otherwise responding to, cases of child maltreat24 ment, and many programs, such as forensic inter25 view training programs, that require intensive train26 ing and small class sizes could reach more profesVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:07 Jul 26, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5847.IH H5847

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1 sionals if such programs were developed at the 

2 State, rather than the national, level. 

3 (4) Child protection professionals should be 

4 trained not only to respond to cases of child mal5 treatment after such maltreatment has occurred, but 

6 also to take a leadership role in implementing evi7 dence-based community prevention programs. 

8 (5) The National Child Protection Training 

9 Center has taken a leadership role in implementing 

10 model undergraduate and graduate curricula on 

11 child abuse and neglect, in assisting States in devel12 oping forensic interview training programs, and in 

13 providing ongoing training, technical assistance, and 

14 publications to child protection professionals. Spe15 cifically, the National Child Protection Training 

16 Center has— 

17 (A) assisted the States of Arkansas, Con18 necticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, 

19 Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, New 

20 Jersey, Oklahoma, Ohio, South Carolina, Vir21 ginia, and West Virginia in developing and sus22 taining forensic interview training programs; 

23 (B) developed and implemented model un24 dergraduate and graduate curricula on child 

25 maltreatment in 13 universities and colleges in 


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1 8 States and the District of Columbia, and has 

2 worked with dozens of additional universities to 

3 implement model curricula; and 

4 (C) provided training, technical assistance, 

5 and other services to more than 40,000 child 

6 protection professionals throughout the United 

7 States. 

8 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF REGIONAL TRAINING CENTERS 

9 AND GRANT PROGRAMS. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Child Abuse Prevention and 

11 Treatment Act is amended by inserting after section 109 

12 (42 U.S.C. 5106e) the following: 

13 ‘‘SEC. 109A. REGIONAL TRAINING CENTERS AND GRANT 

14 PROGRAMS. 

15 ‘‘(a) REGIONAL TRAINING CENTERS.—The Secretary 

16 of Health and Human Services (referred to in this section 

17 as the ‘Secretary’) shall enter into an agreement with the 

18 National Child Protection Training Center to establish 

19 and sustain within the Center regional training centers in 

20 the midwestern, northeastern, southern, and western re21 gions of the United States, which shall be called ‘Regional 

22 Training Centers’ (referred to in this section as the ‘Cen23 ters’). The Centers shall— 

24 ‘‘(1) provide child protection professionals (in25 cluding child protection workers, child protection atVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:07 Jul 26, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5847.IH H5847

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1 torneys, medical and mental health professionals, 

2 law enforcement officers, forensic interviewers, and 

3 other professionals who work directly with mal4 treated children) in the field with low-cost, high5 quality training, technical assistance, and publica6 tions; 

7 ‘‘(2) provide child protection professionals ongo8 ing training and assistance in developing evidence9 based community prevention programs; 

10 ‘‘(3) develop model undergraduate and graduate 

11 curricula on child maltreatment and, after approval 

12 by the Secretary, disseminate the curricula to com13 munity colleges, colleges, universities, law schools, 

14 medical schools, and other institutions of higher edu15 cation; and 

16 ‘‘(4) assist States in developing and maintain17 ing forensic interview training programs. 

18 ‘‘(b) GRANT PROGRAMS.—The Secretary, in accord19 ance with agreements entered into with the National Child 

20 Protection Training Center, shall establish the following 

21 grant programs: 

22 ‘‘(1) FORENSIC INTERVIEW TRAINING PRO23 GRAMS.—The National Child Protection Training 

24 Center, in accordance with an agreement between 

25 such center and the Secretary under this paragraph, 


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1 shall award grants to State and local governments 

2 and other nonprofit entities to— 

3 ‘‘(A) assist State and local child protection 

4 professionals described in subsection (a) in de5 veloping statewide forensic interview training 

6 programs; or 

7 ‘‘(B) expand forensic interview training 

8 programs to provide for additional, advanced fo9 rensic interview training courses. 

10 ‘‘(2) MODEL CURRICULA.—The National Child 

11 Protection Training Center, in accordance with an 

12 agreement between such center and the Secretary 

13 under this paragraph, shall award grants to State 

14 and local governments and other nonprofit entities 

15 to— 

16 ‘‘(A) defray the expenses of institutions of 

17 higher education in implementing model under18 graduate or graduate curricula on child abuse 

19 and neglect; or 

20 ‘‘(B) assist institutions of higher education 

21 in expanding model undergraduate or graduate 

22 curricula on child abuse and neglect. 

23 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

24 ‘‘(1) REGIONAL CENTERS.—To carry out sub25 section (a), there is authorized to be appropriated 


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1 $3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 through 

2 2014. 

3 ‘‘(2) GRANT PROGRAMS.—To carry out sub4 section (b), there is authorized to be appropriated 

5 $2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 through 

6 2014, of which— 

7 ‘‘(A) $1,000,000 per fiscal year shall be al8 located to the program under paragraph (1) of 

9 such subsection; and 

10 ‘‘(B) $1,000,000 per fiscal year shall be al11 located to the program under paragraph (2) of 

12 such subsection.’’. 

13 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—The Child Abuse Pre14 vention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.) is 

15 amended— 

16 (1) in section 1(b), by inserting after the item 

17 relating to section 109 the following new item: 

‘‘109A. Regional training centers and grant programs.’’; and 

18 (2) in section 112— 

19 (A) in subsection (a)— 

20 (i) in paragraph (1), by inserting 

21 ‘‘(except section 109A)’’ after ‘‘this title’’; 

22 and 

23 (ii) in paragraph (2)(A), by inserting 

24 ‘‘(except for activities under section 

25 109A)’’ after ‘‘this title’’; and 


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1 (B) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘(except 

2 for funds appropriated under section 109A)’’ 

3 after ‘‘this title’’. 

Æ 


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