I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2503 

To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to increase support 

for mental health. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 2, 2019 

Mr. PHILLIPS 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 increase support for mental health. 

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 ‘‘Supporting Family 

5 Mental Health in CAPTA Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION 

7 AND TREATMENT ACT. 

8 (a) FINDINGS.—Section 2 of the Child Abuse Preven9 tion and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5101 note) is amend10 ed— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (6)(A), by inserting ‘‘physical, 

2 behavioral, and’’ after ‘‘legal,’’; and 

3 (2) in paragraph (11), by inserting ‘‘trauma-in4 formed,’’ after ‘‘comprehensive,’’. 

5 (b) NATIONAL CLEARINGHOUSE.—Section 103(b) of 

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

7 5104(b)) is amended— 

8 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘effective pro9 grams,’’ and inserting ‘‘evidence-based, evidence-in10 formed, or promising programs,’’; 

11 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (5) through 

12 (9) as paragraphs (6) through (10), respectively; 

13 and 

14 (3) by inserting after paragraph (4), the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(5) maintain and disseminate information that 

17 describes best practices for making appropriate re18 ferrals related to, and addressing, the physical, be19 havioral, mental health, and developmental needs of 

20 victims of child abuse or neglect;’’. 

21 (c) RESEARCH AND ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES.—Sec22 tion 104 of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment 

23 Act (42 U.S.C. 5105) is amended— 

24 (1) in subsection (a)— 

25 (A) in paragraph (1)— 


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1 (i) by striking subparagraph (F) and 

2 inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘(F) effective approaches to interagency 

4 collaboration between child welfare agencies, the 

5 juvenile justice authorities, and public health 

6 and mental health agencies that improve the de7 livery of services and treatment (including serv8 ices and treatment related to domestic violence 

9 or mental health), which may include ap10 proaches relating to methods for continuity of 

11 treatment plan and services as children transi12 tion between systems;’’; 

13 (ii) by redesignating subparagraphs 

14 (G) through (M), and subparagraphs (N) 

15 and (O), as subparagraphs (H) through 

16 (N), and subparagraphs (Q) and (R), re17 spectively; 

18 (iii) by inserting after subparagraph 

19 (F) the following: 

20 ‘‘(G) effective practices to leverage commu21 nity-based resources to prevent child abuse and 

22 neglect, including resources regarding physical, 

23 behavioral, and mental health, substance use 

24 disorder, housing, parent support, financial as25 sistance, early childhood development and learnVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:55 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2503.IH H2503

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1 ing, education, and other services to assist fam2 ilies;’’; 

3 (iv) by inserting after subparagraph 

4 (N), as redesignated by subparagraph (B), 

5 the following: 

6 ‘‘(O) methods to address geographic, ra7 cial, and cultural equity and disparities in the 

8 child welfare system, including a focus on ac9 cess to culturally appropriate family strength10 ening programs and activities that prevent child 

11 abuse and neglect; 

12 ‘‘(P) evidence-based, evidence-informed, or 

13 promising practices or programs to prevent 

14 child abuse and neglect in families that have 

15 not had contact with the child welfare system;’’; 

16 and 

17 (v) in subparagraph (Q), as redesig18 nated by subparagraph (B), by striking 

19 ‘‘subparagraph (O)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub20 paragraph (R)’’; and 

21 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘para22 graph (1)(O)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 

23 (1)(R)’’; and 

24 (2) in subsection (b)(2)— 


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1 (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

2 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 

3 (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking the 

4 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

6 ‘‘(E) various methods and procedures to 

7 reduce geographic, racial, and cultural dispari8 ties in the child welfare system, which may in9 clude engaging law enforcement, education, 

10 health, and other relevant systems in such ef11 forts.’’. 

12 (d) GRANTS FOR INDIAN TRIBES.—Section 105(a)(1) 

13 of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 

14 U.S.C. 5106(a)(1)) is amended— 

15 (1) in subparagraph (D)— 

16 (A) by striking ‘‘entities providing physical 

17 and mental health services’’ and inserting ‘‘enti18 ties providing physical, behavioral, and mental 

19 health services’’; 

20 (B) by striking ‘‘and health care agencies 

21 that support’’ and inserting ‘‘and physical, be22 havioral, and mental health care agencies that 

23 support’’; and 


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1 (C) by striking ‘‘the health evaluation 

2 needs’’ and inserting ‘‘the physical, behavioral, 

3 and mental health evaluation needs’’; 

4 (2) in subparagraph (L)(ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

5 after the semicolon; 

6 (3) in subparagraph (M), by striking the period 

7 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

8 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(N) for enabling Indian Tribes or Tribal 

10 organizations to provide services and programs 

11 that are adapted to the culture and context of 

12 the Tribal communities served.’’. 

13 (e) GRANTS TO STATES.—Section 106 of the Child 

14 Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5106a) 

15 is amended— 

16 (1) in subsection (a)— 

17 (A) in paragraph (6)— 

18 (i) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

19 and after the semicolon; and 

20 (ii) by striking subparagraph (D) and 

21 inserting the following: 

22 ‘‘(D) training in early childhood, child, and 

23 adolescent development and the impact of child 

24 abuse and neglect, and the long-term impacts of 

25 adverse childhood experiences; 


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1 ‘‘(E) training regarding trauma-informed 

2 practices to mitigate the effects of trauma for 

3 infants, children, youth, and parents; 

4 ‘‘(F) training to enhance linkages among 

5 child protective service agencies and entities 

6 providing physical, behavioral, and mental 

7 health services, and community resources, for 

8 purposes of conducting evaluations and pro9 viding services related to substantiated cases of 

10 child abuse or neglect; and 

11 ‘‘(G) training regarding the links between 

12 child abuse and neglect and domestic violence, 

13 and comprehensive, trauma-informed ap14 proaches to working with families with sub15 stance use disorder or mental health issues;’’; 

16 (B) in paragraph (13)(A), by inserting 

17 ‘‘early care and learning and’’ after ‘‘linkages 

18 with’’; and 

19 (C) in paragraph (13)(B), by inserting 

20 ‘‘trauma-informed,’’ after ‘‘supporting 

21 prompt,’’; and 

22 (2) in subsection (b)(2)(B)(xxi), by striking 

23 ‘‘(20 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.)’’ and inserting ‘‘(20 

24 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.), including a description of how 

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1 suring that such a referral is made and how the 

2 State will ensure compliance with those provisions 

3 and procedures, which may include— 

4 ‘‘(I) a memorandum of agree5 ment between the State child welfare 

6 agency and the State agency respon7 sible for administering such part, re8 garding the coordination of referral 

9 procedures, communication of the re10 quirement for such referral to child 

11 welfare and early intervention staff at 

12 the local level, and guidance on local 

13 coordination between the those 2 

14 agencies, both systemically and 

15 around individual cases; 

16 ‘‘(II) training for local child wel17 fare staff on the nature of develop18 mental delays and disabilities, the 

19 prevalence of such delays and disabil20 ities in infants and toddlers in the 

21 child welfare system, and the impor22 tance of early intervention services; 

23 and 

24 ‘‘(III) a description of how data 

25 will be collected and reported on the 


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1 percentage of infants and toddlers 

2 screened for developmental issues, re3 ferred for full evaluation (if screening 

4 is not performed by the agency pro5 viding early intervention services), de6 termined to need early intervention 

7 services, and receiving such services.’’. 

8 (f) REFERRALS FOR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES.— 

9 Section 201(b)(1) of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

10 Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5116(b)(1)) is amended in sub11 paragraph (H) by inserting ‘‘, mental health,’’ after ‘‘early 

12 health’’. 

13 (g) APPLICATION.—Section 204 of the Child Abuse 

14 Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5116d) is 

15 amended— 

16 (1) in paragraph (11), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 

17 the semicolon; 

18 (2) by redesignating paragraph (12) as para19 graph (13); and 

20 (3) by inserting after paragraph (11) the fol21 lowing: 

22 ‘‘(12) a description of the actions that the ap23 plicant entity will take to improve the mental health 

24 of children and families in order to strengthen and 


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1 support families to prevent child abuse and neglect, 

2 including through activities such as— 

3 ‘‘(A) maternal depression screening and 

4 treatment, social-emotional screening for young 

5 children, evidence-based treatment for families 

6 with complex needs, trauma-focused and pro-at7 tachment mental health models; 

8 ‘‘(B) programs and services that address 

9 social determinants of health; and 

10 ‘‘(C) programs and services that address 

11 intimate partner violence in child-serving set12 tings; and’’. 

13 (h) LOCAL PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—Section 

14 205(a)(3) of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment 

15 Act (42 U.S.C. 5116e(a)(3)) is amended— 

16 (1) in subparagraph (A), by adding at the end 

17 the following: 

18 ‘‘(v) referral to mental health services, 

19 which may include using infant and early 

20 childhood mental health evaluation and 

21 treatment services; and’’; and 

22 (2) in subparagraph (B)(ix), by striking the pe23 riod at the end and inserting a semicolon. 


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1 SEC. 3. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS. 

2 The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 

3 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.) is amended— 

4 (1) by striking ‘‘tribes’’ and inserting ‘‘Tribes’’ 

5 each place the term appears; 

6 (2) by striking ‘‘tribal’’ and inserting ‘‘Tribal’’ 

7 each place the term appears; and 

8 (3) in paragraph (5) of section 3 (42 U.S.C. 

9 5101 note)— 

10 (A) by striking ‘‘tribe’’ and inserting 

11 ‘‘Tribe’’; and 

12 (B) by inserting ‘‘(without respect to cap13 italization)’’ after ‘‘given the terms’’. 

Æ 


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