IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2480 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 21, 2019 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

AN ACT 

To reauthorize the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment 

Act, 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 ‘‘Stronger Child Abuse 

3 Prevention and Treatment Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

5 The table of contents of this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title. 

Sec. 2. Table of contents. 

TITLE I—GENERAL PROGRAM 

Sec. 101. Repeal of findings. 

Sec. 102. Repeal of Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect. 

Sec. 103. National clearinghouse for information relating to child abuse. 

Sec. 104. Research and assistance activities. 

Sec. 105. Grants to States, Indian Tribes or tribal organizations, and public or 

private agencies and organizations. 

Sec. 106. Grants to States for child abuse or neglect prevention and treatment 

programs. 

Sec. 107. Miscellaneous requirements. 

Sec. 108. Reports. 

Sec. 109. Authorization of appropriations. 

Sec. 110. Monitoring and oversight. 

Sec. 111. Electronic interstate data exchange system. 

Sec. 112. Technical and conforming amendments. 

TITLE II—COMMUNITY-BASED GRANTS FOR THE PREVENTION OF 

CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT 

Sec. 201. Purpose and authority. 

Sec. 202. Eligibility. 

Sec. 203. Amount of grant. 

Sec. 204. Application. 

Sec. 205. Local program requirements. 

Sec. 206. Performance measures. 

Sec. 207. National network for community-based family resource programs. 

Sec. 208. Definitions. 

Sec. 209. Rule of construction. 

Sec. 210. Authorization of appropriations. 

Sec. 211. Study and report. 

TITLE III—ADOPTION OPPORTUNITIES 

Sec. 301. Purpose. 

Sec. 302. Report and guidance on unregulated custody transfers. 

Sec. 303. Information and services. 

Sec. 304. Study and report on successful adoptions. 

Sec. 305. Authorization of appropriations. 

TITLE IV—AMENDMENTS TO OTHER LAWS 

Sec. 401. Technical and conforming amendments to other laws. 


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1 TITLE I—GENERAL PROGRAM 

2 SEC. 101. REPEAL OF FINDINGS. 

3 Section 2 of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treat4 ment Act (42 U.S.C. 5101 note) is repealed. 

5 SEC. 102. REPEAL OF ADVISORY BOARD ON CHILD ABUSE 

6 AND NEGLECT. 

7 Section 102 of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

8 Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5102) is repealed. 

9 SEC. 103. NATIONAL CLEARINGHOUSE FOR INFORMATION 

10 RELATING TO CHILD ABUSE. 

11 Section 103 of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

12 Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5104) is amended— 

13 (1) in subsection (b)(1), by inserting ‘‘early 

14 learning programs and’’ after ‘‘including’’; 

15 (2) in subsection (c)(1)(C)— 

16 (A) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

17 end; 

18 (B) in clause (iv), by adding ‘‘and’’ at the 

19 end; and 

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

21 ‘‘(v) the number of child fatalities and 

22 near fatalities due to maltreatment, as re23 ported by States in accordance with the 

24 uniform standards established pursuant to 


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1 subsection (d), and any other relevant in2 formation related to such fatalities;’’; and 

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

4 ‘‘(d) UNIFORM STANDARDS FOR TRACKING AND RE5 PORTING OF CHILD FATALITIES RESULTING FROM MAL6 TREATMENT.— 

7 ‘‘(1) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—Not later than 

8 24 months after the date of the enactment of the 

9 Stronger Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment 

10 Act, the Secretary shall develop and issue final regu11 lations establishing uniform standards for the track12 ing and reporting of child fatalities and near-fatali13 ties resulting from maltreatment. As a condition on 

14 eligibility for receipt of funds under section 106, the 

15 standards established under this paragraph shall be 

16 used by States for the tracking and reporting of 

17 such fatalities under subsection (d) of such section. 

18 ‘‘(2) MAINTENANCE OF STATE LAW.—Notwith19 standing the uniform standards developed under 

20 paragraph (1), a State that defines or describes such 

21 fatalities for any purpose other than tracking and 

22 reporting under this subsection may continue to use 

23 that definition or description for such purpose. 

24 ‘‘(3) NEGOTIATED RULEMAKING.—In devel25 oping regulations under paragraph (1), the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2480.RFS H2480

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1 retary shall submit such regulations to a negotiated 

2 rulemaking process, which shall include the partici3 pants described in paragraph (4). 

4 ‘‘(4) PARTICIPANTS DESCRIBED.—The partici5 pants described in this paragraph are— 

6 ‘‘(A) State and county officials responsible 

7 for administering the State plans under this 

8 Act and parts B and E of title IV of the Social 

9 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 621 et seq., 670 et 

10 seq.); 

11 ‘‘(B) child welfare professionals with field 

12 experience; 

13 ‘‘(C) child welfare researchers; 

14 ‘‘(D) domestic violence researchers; 

15 ‘‘(E) domestic violence professionals; 

16 ‘‘(F) child development professionals; 

17 ‘‘(G) mental health professionals; 

18 ‘‘(H) pediatric emergency medicine physi19 cians; 

20 ‘‘(I) child abuse pediatricians, as certified 

21 by the American Board of Pediatrics, who spe22 cialize in treating victims of child abuse; 

23 ‘‘(J) forensic pathologists; 

24 ‘‘(K) public health administrators; 

25 ‘‘(L) public health researchers; 


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1 ‘‘(M) law enforcement; 

2 ‘‘(N) family court judges; 

3 ‘‘(O) prosecutors; 

4 ‘‘(P) medical examiners and coroners; 

5 ‘‘(Q) a representative from the National 

6 Center for Fatality Review and Prevention; and 

7 ‘‘(R) such other individuals and entities as 

8 the Secretary determines to be appropriate.’’. 

9 SEC. 104. RESEARCH AND ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES. 

10 Section 104 of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

11 Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5105) is amended— 

12 (1) in subsection (a)— 

13 (A) by amending paragraph (1) to read as 

14 follows: 

15 ‘‘(1) TOPICS.—The Secretary shall, in consulta16 tion with other Federal agencies and recognized ex17 perts in the field, carry out a continuing inter18 disciplinary program of research, including longitu19 dinal research, that is designed to provide informa20 tion needed to improve primary prevention of child 

21 abuse and neglect, better protect children from child 

22 abuse or neglect, and improve the well-being of vic23 tims of child abuse or neglect, with at least a portion 

24 of such research being field initiated. Such research 

25 program may focus on— 


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1 ‘‘(A) disseminating evidence-based treat2 ment directed to individuals and families experi3 encing trauma due to child abuse and neglect, 

4 including efforts to improve the scalability of 

5 the treatments and programs being researched; 

6 ‘‘(B) developing a set of evidence-based ap7 proaches to support child and family well-being 

8 and developing ways to identify, relieve, and 

9 mitigate stressors affecting families in rural, 

10 urban, and suburban communities; 

11 ‘‘(C) establishing methods to promote ra12 cial equity in the child welfare system, including 

13 a focus on how neglect is defined, how services 

14 are provided, and the unique impact on Native 

15 American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian 

16 communities; 

17 ‘‘(D) improving service delivery or out18 comes for child welfare service agencies engaged 

19 with families experiencing domestic violence, 

20 substance use disorder, or other complex needs; 

21 ‘‘(E) the extent to which the number of 

22 unsubstantiated, unfounded, and false reported 

23 cases of child abuse or neglect have contributed 

24 to the inability of a State to respond effectively 

25 to serious cases of child abuse or neglect; 


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1 ‘‘(F) the extent to which the lack of ade2 quate resources and the lack of adequate pro3 fessional development of individuals required by 

4 law to report suspected cases of child abuse and 

5 neglect have contributed to the inability of a 

6 State to respond effectively to serious cases of 

7 child abuse and neglect; 

8 ‘‘(G) the extent to which unsubstantiated 

9 reports return as more serious cases of child 

10 abuse or neglect; 

11 ‘‘(H) the incidence and outcomes of child 

12 abuse and neglect allegations reported within 

13 the context of divorce, custody, or other family 

14 court proceedings, and the interaction between 

15 family courts and the child protective services 

16 system; 

17 ‘‘(I) the information on the national inci18 dence of child abuse and neglect specified in 

19 clauses (i) through (xi) of subparagraph (J); 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(J) the national incidence of child abuse 

22 and neglect, including— 

23 ‘‘(i) the extent to which incidents of 

24 child abuse and neglect are increasing or 

25 decreasing in number and severity; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the incidence of substantiated 

2 and unsubstantiated reported child abuse 

3 and neglect cases; 

4 ‘‘(iii) the number of substantiated 

5 cases that result in a judicial finding of 

6 child abuse or neglect or related criminal 

7 court convictions; 

8 ‘‘(iv) the extent to which the number 

9 of unsubstantiated, unfounded and false 

10 reported cases of child abuse or neglect 

11 have contributed to the inability of a State 

12 to respond effectively to serious cases of 

13 child abuse or neglect; 

14 ‘‘(v) the extent to which the lack of 

15 adequate resources and the lack of ade16 quate education of individuals required by 

17 law to report suspected cases of child 

18 abuse and neglect have contributed to the 

19 inability of a State to respond effectively to 

20 serious cases of child abuse and neglect; 

21 ‘‘(vi) the number of unsubstantiated, 

22 false, or unfounded reports that have re23 sulted in a child being placed in substitute 

24 care, and the duration of such placement; 


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1 ‘‘(vii) the extent to which unsubstan2 tiated reports return as more serious cases 

3 of child abuse or neglect; 

4 ‘‘(viii) the incidence and prevalence of 

5 physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and 

6 physical and emotional neglect in sub7 stitute care; 

8 ‘‘(ix) the incidence and prevalence of 

9 child maltreatment by a wide array of de10 mographic characteristics such as age, sex, 

11 race, family structure, household relation12 ship (including the living arrangement of 

13 the resident parent and family size), school 

14 enrollment and education attainment, dis15 ability, grandparents as caregivers, labor 

16 force status, work status in previous year, 

17 and income in previous year; 

18 ‘‘(x) the extent to which reports of 

19 suspected or known instances of child 

20 abuse or neglect involving a potential com21 bination of jurisdictions, such as intra22 state, interstate, Federal-State, and State23 Tribal, are being screened out solely on the 

24 basis of the cross-jurisdictional complica25 tions; and 


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1 ‘‘(xi) the incidence and outcomes of 

2 child abuse and neglect allegations re3 ported within the context of divorce, cus4 tody, or other family court proceedings, 

5 and the interaction between family courts 

6 and the child protective services system.’’; 

7 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘para8 graph (1)(O)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 

9 (1)(J)’’; 

10 (C) by amending paragraph (3) to read as 

11 follows: 

12 ‘‘(3) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 4 years 

14 after the date of the enactment of the Stronger 

15 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, the 

16 Secretary shall prepare and submit to the Com17 mittee on Education and Labor of the House of 

18 Representatives and the Committee on Health, 

19 Education, Labor and Pensions of the Senate a 

20 report that contains the results of the research 

21 conducted under paragraph (2). 

22 ‘‘(B) NATIONAL INCIDENCE.—The Sec23 retary shall ensure that research conducted, 

24 and data collected, under paragraph (1)(J) are 

25 reported in a way that will allow longitudinal 


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1 comparisons as well as comparisons to the na2 tional incidence studies conducted under this 

3 title.’’; and 

4 (D) by striking the second paragraph (4); 

5 (2) in subsection (b), by amending paragraph 

6 (2) to read as follows: 

7 ‘‘(2) AREAS OF EMPHASIS.—Such technical as8 sistance— 

9 ‘‘(A) shall focus on— 

10 ‘‘(i) implementing strategies that can 

11 leverage existing community-based and 

12 State funded resources to prevent child 

13 abuse and neglect and providing education 

14 for individuals involved in prevention ac15 tivities; 

16 ‘‘(ii) reducing racial bias in child wel17 fare systems, including how such systems 

18 interact with health, law enforcement, and 

19 education systems; 

20 ‘‘(iii) promoting best practices for 

21 families experiencing domestic violence, 

22 substance use disorder, or other complex 

23 needs; and 

24 ‘‘(iv) providing professional develop25 ment and other technical assistance to 


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1 child welfare agencies to improve the un2 derstanding of and to help address the ef3 fects of trauma and adverse childhood ex4 periences in parents and children in con5 tact with the child welfare system; and 

6 ‘‘(B) may include the identification of— 

7 ‘‘(i) various methods and procedures 

8 for the investigation, assessment, and pros9 ecution of child physical and sexual abuse 

10 cases; 

11 ‘‘(ii) ways to mitigate psychological 

12 trauma to the child victim; 

13 ‘‘(iii) effective programs carried out 

14 by the States under titles I and II; and 

15 ‘‘(iv) effective approaches being uti16 lized to link child protective service agen17 cies with health care, mental health care, 

18 and developmental services and early inter19 vention to improve forensic diagnosis and 

20 health evaluations, and barriers and short21 ages to such linkages.’’; 

22 (3) in subsection (c), by striking paragraph (3); 

23 and 

24 (4) by striking subsection (e). 


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1 SEC. 105. GRANTS TO STATES, INDIAN TRIBES OR TRIBAL 

2 ORGANIZATIONS, AND PUBLIC OR PRIVATE 

3 AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS. 

4 Section 105 of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

5 Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5106) is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (a)— 

7 (A) by redesignating paragraph (7) as 

8 paragraph (11); 

9 (B) by striking paragraphs (1) through (6) 

10 and inserting the following: 

11 ‘‘(1) PREVENTION SERVICES.—The Secretary 

12 may award grants under this subsection to entities 

13 to establish or expand prevention services that re14 duce incidences of child maltreatment and strength15 en families. 

16 ‘‘(2) TRAUMATIC STRESS.—The Secretary may 

17 award grants under this subsection to entities to ad18 dress instances of traumatic stress in families due to 

19 child abuse and neglect, especially for families with 

20 complex needs or families that exhibit high levels of 

21 adverse childhood experiences. 

22 ‘‘(3) PROMOTING A HIGH-QUALITY WORK23 FORCE.—The Secretary may award grants under 

24 this subsection to entities to carry out programs or 

25 strategies that promote a high-quality workforce in 

26 the child welfare system through–— 


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1 ‘‘(A) improvements to recruitment, sup2 port, or retention efforts; or 

3 ‘‘(B) education for professionals and para4 professionals in the prevention, identification, 

5 and treatment of child abuse and neglect. 

6 ‘‘(4) IMPROVING COORDINATION.—The Sec7 retary may award grants under this subsection to 

8 entities to carry out activities to improve intrastate 

9 coordination within the child welfare system. Such 

10 activities may include— 

11 ‘‘(A) aligning information technology sys12 tems; 

13 ‘‘(B) improving information sharing re14 garding child and family referrals; or 

15 ‘‘(C) creating collaborative voluntary part16 nerships among public and private agencies, the 

17 State’s child protective services, local social 

18 service agencies, community-based family sup19 port programs, State and local legal agencies, 

20 developmental disability agencies, substance use 

21 disorder treatment providers, health care pro22 viders and agencies, domestic violence preven23 tion programs, mental health services, schools 

24 and early learning providers, religious entities, 

25 and other community-based programs. 


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1 ‘‘(5) PRIMARY PREVENTION.—The Secretary 

2 may award grants under this subsection to entities 

3 to carry out or expand primary prevention programs 

4 or strategies that address family or community pro5 tective factors. 

6 ‘‘(6) NEGLECT DUE TO ECONOMIC INSECU7 RITY.—The Secretary may award grants under this 

8 subsection to entities to carry out programs or strat9 egies that reduce findings of child neglect due in full 

10 or in part to family economic insecurity. 

11 ‘‘(7) EDUCATION OF MANDATORY REPORT12 ERS.—The Secretary may award grants under this 

13 subsection to entities for projects that involve re14 search-based strategies for innovative education of 

15 mandated child abuse and neglect reporters, and for 

16 victims to understand mandatory reporting. 

17 ‘‘(8) SENTINEL INJURIES.—The Secretary may 

18 award grants under this subsection to entities to 

19 identify and test effective practices to improve early 

20 detection and management of injuries indicative of 

21 potential abuse in infants to prevent future cases of 

22 child abuse and related fatalities. 

23 ‘‘(9) INNOVATIVE PARTNERSHIPS.—The Sec24 retary may award grants under this subsection to 

25 entities to carry out innovative programs or strateVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2480.RFS H2480

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1 gies to coordinate the delivery of services to help re2 duce child abuse and neglect via partnerships among 

3 health, mental health, education (including early 

4 learning and care programs as appropriate), and 

5 child welfare agencies and providers. 

6 ‘‘(10) REDUCING CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT

7 DUE TO THE SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER OF A PAR8 ENT OR CAREGIVER.—The Secretary may award 

9 grants under this subsection to entities to carry out 

10 activities to reduce child abuse and neglect due to 

11 the substance use disorder of a parent or care12 giver.’’; and 

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

14 ‘‘(12) NATIONAL CHILD ABUSE HOTLINE.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 

16 award a grant under this subsection to a non17 profit entity to provide for the ongoing oper18 ation of a 24-hour, national, toll-free telephone 

19 hotline to provide information and assistance to 

20 youth victims of child abuse or neglect, parents, 

21 caregivers, mandated reporters, and other con22 cerned community members, including through 

23 alternative modalities for communications (such 

24 as texting or chat services) with such victims 

25 and other information seekers. 


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1 ‘‘(B) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants de2 scribed in this paragraph, the Secretary shall 

3 give priority to applicants with experience in 

4 operating a hotline that provides assistance to 

5 victims of child abuse, parents, caregivers, and 

6 mandated reporters. 

7 ‘‘(C) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to re8 ceive a grant described in this paragraph, a 

9 nonprofit entity shall submit an application to 

10 the Secretary that shall— 

11 ‘‘(i) contain such assurances and in12 formation, be in such form, and be sub13 mitted in such manner, as the Secretary 

14 shall prescribe; 

15 ‘‘(ii) include a complete description of 

16 the entity’s plan for the operation of a na17 tional child abuse hotline, including de18 scriptions of— 

19 ‘‘(I) the professional development 

20 program for hotline personnel, includ21 ing technology professional develop22 ment to ensure that all persons affili23 ated with the hotline are able to effec24 tively operate any technological sys25 tems used by the hotline; 


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1 ‘‘(II) the qualifications for hot2 line personnel; 

3 ‘‘(III) the methods for the cre4 ation, maintenance, and updating of a 

5 comprehensive list of prevention and 

6 treatment service providers; 

7 ‘‘(IV) a plan for publicizing the 

8 availability of the hotline throughout 

9 the United States; 

10 ‘‘(V) a plan for providing service 

11 to non-English speaking callers, in12 cluding service through hotline per13 sonnel who have non-English language 

14 capability; 

15 ‘‘(VI) a plan for facilitating ac16 cess to the hotline and alternative mo17 dality services by persons with hearing 

18 impairments and disabilities; 

19 ‘‘(VII) a plan for providing crisis 

20 counseling, general assistance, and re21 ferrals to youth victims of child abuse; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(VIII) a plan to offer alternative 

24 services to calling, such as texting or 

25 live chat; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) demonstrate that the entity has 

2 the capacity and the expertise to maintain 

3 a child abuse hotline and a comprehensive 

4 list of service providers; 

5 ‘‘(iv) demonstrate the ability to pro6 vide information and referrals for contacts, 

7 directly connect contacts to service pro8 viders, and employ crisis interventions; 

9 ‘‘(v) demonstrate that the entity has a 

10 commitment to providing services to indi11 viduals in need; and 

12 ‘‘(vi) demonstrate that the entity com13 plies with State privacy laws and has es14 tablished quality assurance practices.’’; and 

15 (2) by striking subsections (b) and (c) and in16 serting the following: 

17 ‘‘(b) GOALS AND PERFORMANCE.—The Secretary 

18 shall ensure that each entity receiving a grant under this 

19 section— 

20 ‘‘(1) establishes quantifiable goals for the out21 come of the project funded with the grant; and 

22 ‘‘(2) adequately measures the performance of 

23 the project relative to such goals. 

24 ‘‘(c) PERFORMANCE REPORT REQUIRED.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each entity that receives a 

2 grant under this section shall submit to the Sec3 retary a performance report that includes— 

4 ‘‘(A) an evaluation of the effectiveness of 

5 the project funded with the grant relative to the 

6 goals established for such project under sub7 section (b)(1); and 

8 ‘‘(B) data supporting such evaluation. 

9 ‘‘(2) SUBMISSION.—The report under para10 graph (1) shall be submitted to the Secretary at 

11 such time, in such manner, and containing such in12 formation as the Secretary may require. 

13 ‘‘(d) CONTINUING GRANTS.—The Secretary may only 

14 award a continuing grant to an entity under this section 

15 if such entity submits a performance report required 

16 under subsection (c) that demonstrates effectiveness of the 

17 project funded.’’. 

18 SEC. 106. GRANTS TO STATES FOR CHILD ABUSE OR NE19 GLECT PREVENTION AND TREATMENT PRO20 GRAMS. 

21 (a) DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATION GRANTS.—Sub22 section (a) of section 106 of the Child Abuse Prevention 

23 and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5106a) is amended to read 

24 as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(a) DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATION GRANTS.—The 

2 Secretary shall make grants to the States, from allotments 

3 under subsection (f) for each State that applies for a grant 

4 under this section, for purposes of assisting the States in 

5 improving and implementing a child protective services 

6 system that is family-centered, integrates community serv7 ices, and is capable of providing rapid response to high8 risk cases, by carrying out the following: 

9 ‘‘(1) Conducting the intake, assessment, screen10 ing, and investigation of reports of child abuse or 

11 neglect. 

12 ‘‘(2) Ensuring that reports concerning a child’s 

13 living arrangements or subsistence needs are ad14 dressed through services or benefits and that no 

15 child is separated from such child’s parent for rea16 sons of poverty. 

17 ‘‘(3) Creating and improving the use of multi18 disciplinary teams and interagency, intra-agency, 

19 interstate, and intrastate protocols to enhance fair 

20 investigations; and improving legal preparation and 

21 representation. 

22 ‘‘(4) Complying with the assurances in section 

23 106(b)(2). 


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1 ‘‘(5) Establishing State and local networks of 

2 child and family service providers that support child 

3 and family well-being, which shall— 

4 ‘‘(A) include child protective services, as 

5 well as agencies and service providers, that ad6 dress family-strengthening, parenting skills, 

7 child development, early childhood care and 

8 learning, child advocacy, public health, mental 

9 health, substance use disorder treatment, do10 mestic violence, developmental disabilities, hous11 ing, juvenile justice, elementary and secondary 

12 education, and child placement; and 

13 ‘‘(B) address instances of child abuse and 

14 neglect by incorporating evaluations that assess 

15 the development of a child, including language 

16 and communication, cognitive, physical, and so17 cial and emotional development, the need for 

18 mental health services, including trauma-related 

19 services, trauma-informed care, and parental 

20 needs. 

21 ‘‘(6) Ensuring child protective services is ad22 dressing the safety of children and responding to 

23 parent and family needs, which shall include— 

24 ‘‘(A) family-oriented efforts that emphasize 

25 case assessment and follow up casework focused 


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1 on child safety and child and parent well-being, 

2 which may include— 

3 ‘‘(i) ensuring parents and children un4 dergo physical and mental health assess5 ments, as appropriate, and ongoing devel6 opmental monitoring; 

7 ‘‘(ii) multidisciplinary approaches to 

8 assessing family needs and connecting the 

9 family with services, including prevention 

10 services under section 471 of the Social Se11 curity Act (42 U.S.C. 671); 

12 ‘‘(iii) organizing a treatment team 

13 with the goal of preventing child abuse and 

14 neglect, and improving parent and child 

15 well-being; 

16 ‘‘(iv) case monitoring that supports 

17 child well-being; and 

18 ‘‘(v) differential response efforts; and 

19 ‘‘(B) establishing and maintaining a rapid 

20 response system that responds promptly to all 

21 reports of child abuse or neglect, with special 

22 attention to cases involving children under 3 

23 years of age. 

24 ‘‘(7) Educating caseworkers, community service 

25 providers, attorneys, health care professionals, parVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2480.RFS H2480

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1 ents, and others engaged in the prevention, interven2 tion, and treatment of child abuse and neglect, 

3 which shall include education on— 

4 ‘‘(A) practices that help ensure child safety 

5 and well-being; 

6 ‘‘(B) approaches to family-oriented preven7 tion, intervention, and treatment of child abuse 

8 and neglect; 

9 ‘‘(C) early childhood, child, and adolescent 

10 development, and the impact of adverse child11 hood experiences on such development; 

12 ‘‘(D) the relationship between child abuse 

13 and domestic violence, and support for non14 abusing parents; 

15 ‘‘(E) strategies to work with families im16 pacted by substance use disorder and mental 

17 health issues (and, when appropriate, be coordi18 nated with prevention efforts funded under sec19 tion 471 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

20 671)); 

21 ‘‘(F) effective use of multiple services to 

22 address family and child needs, including needs 

23 resulting from trauma; 

24 ‘‘(G) efforts to improve family and child 

25 well-being; 


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1 ‘‘(H) support for child welfare workers af2 fected by secondary trauma; and 

3 ‘‘(I) supporting families and caregivers to 

4 combat and prevent unsubstantiated, un5 founded, or false reports, including through 

6 education on the rights of families and care7 givers. 

8 ‘‘(8) Creating or improving data systems that 

9 allow for— 

10 ‘‘(A) the identification of cases requiring 

11 prompt responses; 

12 ‘‘(B) real-time case monitoring that tracks 

13 assessments, service referrals, follow-up, case 

14 reviews, and progress toward parent and child 

15 goals; and 

16 ‘‘(C) sharing basic identifying data with 

17 law enforcement, as necessary. 

18 ‘‘(9) Improving the general child protective sys19 tem by developing, improving, and implementing 

20 safety assessment tools, providing that such tools, 

21 protocols, and systems shall not authorize the sepa22 ration of any child from the legal parent or guardian 

23 of such child solely on the basis of poverty, or with24 out a judicial order, except in the case of imminent 

25 harm.’’. 


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1 (b) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.— 

2 (1) STATE PLAN.—Paragraph (1) of section 

3 106(b) of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treat4 ment Act (42 U.S.C. 5106a(b)) is amended to read 

5 as follows: 

6 ‘‘(1) STATE PLAN.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to re8 ceive a grant under this section, a State shall 

9 submit to the Secretary a State plan that— 

10 ‘‘(i) specifies how the grant will be 

11 used, and the State’s strategic plan, to 

12 treat child abuse and neglect and enhance 

13 community-based, prevention-centered ap14 proaches that attempt to prevent child 

15 abuse and neglect while strengthening and 

16 supporting families whenever possible; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) meets the requirements of this 

18 subsection. 

19 ‘‘(B) COORDINATION AND CONSULTA20 TION.— 

21 ‘‘(i) COORDINATION.—Each State, to 

22 the maximum extent practicable, shall co23 ordinate its State plan under this sub24 section with its State plan under part B of 

25 title IV of the Social Security Act (42 


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1 U.S.C. 621 et seq.) relating to child and 

2 family services and, in States electing to 

3 provide services under part E of title IV of 

4 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 670 et 

5 seq.) relating to foster care prevention 

6 services, its State plan under such part E. 

7 ‘‘(ii) CONSULTATION.—In developing 

8 a State plan under this subsection, a State 

9 shall consult with community-based pre10 vention and service agencies, parents and 

11 families affected by child abuse or neglect 

12 in the State, law enforcement, family court 

13 judges, prosecutors who handle criminal 

14 child abuse cases, and medical profes15 sionals engaged in the treatment of child 

16 abuse and neglect. 

17 ‘‘(C) DURATION AND SUBMISSION OF

18 PLAN.—Each State plan shall— 

19 ‘‘(i) be submitted not less than every 

20 5 years; and 

21 ‘‘(ii) if necessary, revised by the State 

22 to inform the Secretary of any substantive 

23 changes, including— 

24 ‘‘(I) any changes to State law or 

25 regulations, relating to the prevention 


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1 of child abuse and neglect that may 

2 affect the eligibility of the State under 

3 this section; or 

4 ‘‘(II) any changes in the State’s 

5 activities, strategies, or programs 

6 under this section.’’. 

7 (2) CONTENTS.—Paragraph (2) of section 

8 106(b) of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treat9 ment Act (42 U.S.C. 5106a(b)) is amended to read 

10 as follows: 

11 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—A State plan submitted 

12 under paragraph (1) shall contain a description of 

13 the activities that the State will carry out using 

14 amounts received under the grant to achieve the ob15 jectives of this title, including— 

16 ‘‘(A) an assurance in the form of a certifi17 cation by the Governor of the State that the 

18 State has in effect and is enforcing a State law, 

19 or has in effect and is operating a statewide 

20 program, relating to child abuse and neglect 

21 that includes— 

22 ‘‘(i) provisions or procedures for an 

23 individual to report known and suspected 

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1 ing by individuals required to report such 

2 instances; 

3 ‘‘(ii) procedures for the immediate 

4 screening, risk and safety assessment, and 

5 prompt investigation of such reports of al6 leged abuse and neglect in order to ensure 

7 the well-being and safety of children; 

8 ‘‘(iii) procedures for immediate steps 

9 to be taken to ensure and protect the safe10 ty of a victim of child abuse or neglect and 

11 of any other child under the same care who 

12 may also be in danger of child abuse or ne13 glect and ensuring their placement in a 

14 safe environment; 

15 ‘‘(iv) methods to preserve the con16 fidentiality of all records in order to pro17 tect the rights of the child and of the 

18 child’s parents or guardians, including re19 quirements ensuring that reports and 

20 records made and maintained pursuant to 

21 the purposes of this Act shall only be made 

22 available to— 

23 ‘‘(I) individuals who are the sub24 ject of the report; 


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1 ‘‘(II) Federal, State, or local gov2 ernment entities, or any agent of such 

3 entities, as described in clause (xi) of 

4 this subparagraph; 

5 ‘‘(III) child abuse citizen review 

6 panels; 

7 ‘‘(IV) child fatality review panels; 

8 ‘‘(V) a grand jury or court, upon 

9 a finding that information in the 

10 record is necessary for the determina11 tion of an issue before the court or 

12 grand jury; and 

13 ‘‘(VI) other entities or classes of 

14 individuals statutorily authorized by 

15 the State to receive such information 

16 pursuant to a legitimate State pur17 pose; 

18 ‘‘(v) provisions and procedures requir19 ing that in every case involving a victim of 

20 child abuse or neglect which results in a 

21 judicial proceeding, a guardian ad litem, 

22 who has received education appropriate to 

23 the role, including education in early child24 hood, child, and adolescent development, 

25 and domestic violence, and who may be an 


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1 attorney or a court appointed special advo2 cate who has received education appro3 priate to that role (or both), shall be ap4 pointed to represent the child (who, for 

5 purposes of this section, shall have any age 

6 limit elected by the State pursuant to sec7 tion 475(8)(B)(iii) of the Social Security 

8 Act (42 U.S.C. 675(8)(B)(iii)) in such pro9 ceedings— 

10 ‘‘(I) to obtain first-hand, a clear 

11 understanding of the situation and 

12 needs of such child; and 

13 ‘‘(II) to make recommendations 

14 to the court concerning the best inter15 ests of such child; 

16 ‘‘(vi) the establishment of citizen re17 view panels in accordance with subsection 

18 (c); 

19 ‘‘(vii) provisions and procedures to re20 quire that a representative of the child pro21 tective services agency shall, at the initial 

22 time of contact with the individual subject 

23 to a child abuse or neglect investigation, 

24 advise the individual of the complaints or 

25 allegations made against the individual, in 


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1 a manner that is consistent with laws pro2 tecting the rights of the informant; 

3 ‘‘(viii) provisions, procedures, and 

4 mechanisms— 

5 ‘‘(I) for the expedited termi6 nation of parental rights in the case 

7 of any infant determined to be aban8 doned under State law; and 

9 ‘‘(II) by which individuals who 

10 disagree with an official finding of 

11 child abuse or neglect can appeal such 

12 finding; 

13 ‘‘(ix) provisions addressing the profes14 sional development of representatives of 

15 the child protective services system regard16 ing the legal duties of the representatives, 

17 which may consist of various methods of 

18 informing such representatives of such du19 ties (including providing such education in 

20 different languages if necessary), in order 

21 to protect the legal rights and safety of 

22 children and their parents and caregivers 

23 from the initial time of contact during in24 vestigation through treatment; 


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1 ‘‘(x) provisions for immunity from 

2 civil or criminal liability under State and 

3 local laws and regulations for individuals 

4 making good faith reports of suspected or 

5 known instances of child abuse or neglect, 

6 or who otherwise provide information or 

7 assistance, including medical evaluations or 

8 consultations, in connection with a report, 

9 investigation, or legal intervention pursu10 ant to a good faith report of child abuse or 

11 neglect; 

12 ‘‘(xi) provisions to require the State to 

13 disclose confidential information to any 

14 Federal, State, or local government entity, 

15 or any agent of such entity, that has a 

16 need for such information in order to carry 

17 out its responsibilities under law to protect 

18 children from child abuse and neglect; 

19 ‘‘(xii) provisions requiring, and proce20 dures in place that facilitate the prompt 

21 expungement of any records that are ac22 cessible to the general public or are used 

23 for purposes of employment or other back24 ground checks in cases determined to be 

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1 ing in this section shall prevent State child 

2 protective services agencies from keeping 

3 information on unsubstantiated reports in 

4 their casework files to assist in future risk 

5 and safety assessment; 

6 ‘‘(xiii) provisions and procedures for 

7 requiring criminal background record 

8 checks that meet the requirements of sec9 tion 471(a)(20) of the Social Security Act 

10 (42 U.S.C. 671(a)(20)) for prospective fos11 ter and adoptive parents and other adult 

12 relatives and non-relatives residing in the 

13 household; 

14 ‘‘(xiv) provisions for systems of tech15 nology that support the State child protec16 tive services system and track reports of 

17 child abuse and neglect from intake 

18 through final disposition; 

19 ‘‘(xv) provisions and procedures re20 quiring identification and assessment of all 

21 reports involving children known or sus22 pected to be victims of sex trafficking (as 

23 defined in section 103(12) of the Traf24 ficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 

25 U.S.C. 7102 (12)); 


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1 ‘‘(xvi) provisions, procedures, and 

2 mechanisms that assure that the State 

3 does not require reunification of a sur4 viving child with a parent who has been 

5 found by a court of competent jurisdic6 tion— 

7 ‘‘(I) to have committed murder 

8 (which would have been an offense 

9 under section 1111(a) of title 18, 

10 United States Code, if the offense had 

11 occurred in the special maritime or 

12 territorial jurisdiction of the United 

13 States) of another child of such par14 ent; 

15 ‘‘(II) to have committed vol16 untary manslaughter (which would 

17 have been an offense under section 

18 1112(a) of title 18, United States 

19 Code, if the offense had occurred in 

20 the special maritime or territorial ju21 risdiction of the United States) of an22 other child of such parent; 

23 ‘‘(III) to have aided or abetted, 

24 attempted, conspired, or solicited to 


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1 commit such murder or voluntary 

2 manslaughter; 

3 ‘‘(IV) to have committed a felony 

4 assault that results in the serious bod5 ily injury to the surviving child or an6 other child of such parent; 

7 ‘‘(V) to have committed sexual 

8 abuse against the surviving child or 

9 another child of such parent; or 

10 ‘‘(VI) to be required to register 

11 with a sex offender registry under sec12 tion 113(a) of the Adam Walsh Child 

13 Protection and Safety Act of 2006 

14 (42 U.S.C. 16913(a)); and 

15 ‘‘(xvii) an assurance that, upon the 

16 implementation by the State of the provi17 sions, procedures, and mechanisms under 

18 clause (xvi), conviction of any one of the 

19 felonies listed in clause (xvi) constitute 

20 grounds under State law for the termi21 nation of parental rights of the convicted 

22 parent as to the surviving children (al23 though case-by-case determinations of 

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1 rental rights shall be within the sole discre2 tion of the State); 

3 ‘‘(B) an assurance that the State has in 

4 place procedures for responding to the reporting 

5 of medical neglect (including instances of with6 holding of medically indicated treatment from 

7 infants with disabilities who have life-threat8 ening conditions), procedures or programs, or 

9 both (within the State child protective services 

10 system), to provide for— 

11 ‘‘(i) coordination and consultation 

12 with individuals designated by and within 

13 appropriate health-care facilities; 

14 ‘‘(ii) prompt notification by individ15 uals designated by and within appropriate 

16 health-care facilities of cases of suspected 

17 medical neglect (including instances of 

18 withholding of medically indicated treat19 ment from infants with disabilities who 

20 have life-threatening conditions); and 

21 ‘‘(iii) authority, under State law, for 

22 the State child protective services system 

23 to pursue any legal remedies, including the 

24 authority to initiate legal proceedings in a 

25 court of competent jurisdiction, as may be 


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1 necessary to prevent the withholding of 

2 medically indicated treatment from infants 

3 with disabilities who have life-threatening 

4 conditions; 

5 ‘‘(C) an assurance or certification that pro6 grams and education conducted under this title 

7 address the unique needs of unaccompanied 

8 homeless youth, including access to enrollment 

9 and support services and that such youth are 

10 eligible for under parts B and E of title IV of 

11 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 621 et seq., 

12 670 et seq.) and meet the requirements of the 

13 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 

14 U.S.C. 11301 et seq.); 

15 ‘‘(D) a description of— 

16 ‘‘(i) policies and procedures (including 

17 appropriate referrals to child welfare serv18 ice systems and for other appropriate serv19 ices (including home visiting services and 

20 mutual support and parent partner pro21 grams) determined by a family assessment) 

22 to address the needs of infants born with 

23 and identified as being affected by sub24 stance use or withdrawal symptoms result25 ing from prenatal drug exposure, or a 


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1 Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, includ2 ing a requirement that health care pro3 viders involved in the delivery or care of 

4 such infants notify the child protective wel5 fare service system of the occurrence of 

6 such condition in such infants, except 

7 that— 

8 ‘‘(I) child protective services shall 

9 undertake an investigation only when 

10 the findings of a family assessment 

11 warrant such investigation; and 

12 ‘‘(II) such notification shall not 

13 be construed to— 

14 ‘‘(aa) establish a definition 

15 under Federal law of what con16 stitutes child abuse or neglect; or 

17 ‘‘(bb) require prosecution for 

18 any illegal action; 

19 ‘‘(ii) the development of a multi-dis20 ciplinary plan of safe care for the infant 

21 born and identified as being affected by 

22 substance use or withdrawal symptoms or 

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1 fant following release from the care of 

2 health care providers, including through— 

3 ‘‘(I) using a risk-based approach 

4 to develop each plan of safe care; 

5 ‘‘(II) addressing, through coordi6 nated service delivery, the health and 

7 substance use disorder treatment 

8 needs of the infant and affected fam9 ily or caregiver as determined by a 

10 family assessment; and 

11 ‘‘(III) the development and im12 plementation by the State of moni13 toring systems regarding the imple14 mentation of such plans of safe care 

15 to determine whether and in what 

16 manner local entities are providing, in 

17 accordance with State requirements, 

18 referrals to and delivery of appro19 priate services for the infant and af20 fected family or caregiver; 

21 ‘‘(iii) policies and procedures to make 

22 available to the public on the State website 

23 the data, findings, and information about 

24 all cases of child abuse or neglect resulting 


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1 in a child fatality or near fatality, includ2 ing a description of— 

3 ‘‘(I) how the State will not create 

4 an exception to such public disclosure, 

5 except in a case in which— 

6 ‘‘(aa) the State would like to 

7 delay public release of case-spe8 cific findings or information (in9 cluding any previous reports of 

10 domestic violence and subsequent 

11 actions taken to assess and ad12 dress such reports) while a crimi13 nal investigation or prosecution 

14 of such a fatality or near fatality 

15 is pending; 

16 ‘‘(bb) the State is protecting 

17 the identity of a reporter of child 

18 abuse or neglect; or 

19 ‘‘(cc) the State is with20 holding identifying information of 

21 members of the victim’s family 

22 who are not perpetrators of the 

23 fatality or near fatality; and 

24 ‘‘(II) how the State will ensure 

25 that in providing the public disclosure 


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1 required under this clause, the State 

2 will include— 

3 ‘‘(aa) the cause and cir4 cumstances of the fatality or near 

5 fatality; 

6 ‘‘(bb) the age and gender of 

7 the child; and 

8 ‘‘(cc) any previous reports of 

9 child abuse or neglect investiga10 tions that are relevant to the 

11 child abuse or neglect that led to 

12 the fatality or near fatality; 

13 ‘‘(iv) how the State will use data col14 lected on child abuse or neglect to prevent 

15 child fatalities and near fatalities; 

16 ‘‘(v) how the State will implement ef17 forts to prevent child fatalities and near 

18 fatalities; 

19 ‘‘(vi) the cooperation of State law en20 forcement officials, court of competent ju21 risdiction, and appropriate State agencies 

22 providing human services in the investiga23 tion, assessment, prosecution, and treat24 ment of child abuse and neglect; 


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1 ‘‘(vii) the steps the State will take to 

2 improve the professional development, re3 tention, and supervision of caseworkers 

4 and how the State will measure the effec5 tiveness of such efforts; 

6 ‘‘(viii) the State’s plan to ensure each 

7 child under the age of 3 who is involved in 

8 a substantiated case of child abuse or ne9 glect will be referred to the State’s child 

10 find system under section 635(a)(5) of the 

11 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 

12 (20 U.S.C. 1435(a)(5)) in order to deter13 mine if the child is an infant or toddler 

14 with a disability (as defined in section 

15 632(5) of such Act (20 U.S.C. 1432(5))); 

16 ‘‘(ix) the State’s plan to improve, as 

17 part of a comprehensive State strategy led 

18 by law enforcement, professional develop19 ment for child protective services workers 

20 and their appropriate role in identifying, 

21 assessing, and providing comprehensive 

22 services for children who are sex traf23 ficking victims, in coordination with law 

24 enforcement, juvenile justice agencies, run25 away and homeless youth shelters, and 


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1 health, mental health, and other social 

2 service agencies and providers; 

3 ‘‘(x) the services to be provided under 

4 the grant to individuals, families, or com5 munities, either directly or through refer6 rals, aimed at preventing the occurrence of 

7 child abuse and neglect; 

8 ‘‘(xi) the State’s efforts to ensure pro9 fessionals who are required to report sus10 pected cases of child abuse and neglect are 

11 aware of their responsibilities under sub12 paragraph (A)(i) and receive professional 

13 development relating to performing such 

14 responsibilities that is specific to their pro15 fession and workplace; 

16 ‘‘(xii) policies and procedures encour17 aging the appropriate involvement of fami18 lies in decisionmaking pertaining to chil19 dren who experienced child abuse or ne20 glect; 

21 ‘‘(xiii) the State’s efforts to improve 

22 appropriate collaboration among child pro23 tective services agencies, domestic violence 

24 services agencies, substance use disorder 

25 treatment agencies, and other agencies in 


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1 investigations, interventions, and the deliv2 ery of services and treatment provided to 

3 children and families affected by child 

4 abuse or neglect, including children ex5 posed to domestic violence, where appro6 priate; 

7 ‘‘(xiv) policies and procedures regard8 ing the use of differential response, as ap9 plicable, to improve outcomes for children; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(xv) the State’s efforts to reduce ra12 cial bias in its child protective services sys13 tem.’’. 

14 (3) LIMITATIONS.—Paragraph (3) of section 

15 106(b) of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treat16 ment Act (42 U.S.C. 5106a(b)) is amended— 

17 (A) in the paragraph heading, by striking 

18 ‘‘LIMITATION’’ and inserting ‘‘LIMITATIONS’’; 

19 (B) by striking ‘‘With regard to clauses 

20 (vi) and (vii) of paragraph (2)(B),’’ and insert21 ing the following: 

22 ‘‘(A) DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN IDENTI23 FYING INFORMATION.—With regard to subpara24 graphs (A)(iv) and (D)(iii) of paragraph (2),’’; 


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1 (C) by striking the period at the end and 

2 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

4 ‘‘(B) PUBLIC ACCESS TO COURT PRO5 CEEDINGS.—Nothing in paragraph (2) shall be 

6 construed to limit the State’s flexibility to de7 termine State policies relating to public access 

8 to court proceedings to determine child abuse 

9 and neglect, except that such policies shall, at 

10 a minimum, ensure the safety and well-being of 

11 the child, parents, and families.’’. 

12 (4) DEFINITIONS.—Paragraph (4) of section 

13 106(b) of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treat14 ment Act (42 U.S.C. 5106a(b)) is amended— 

15 (A) in the paragraph heading, by striking 

16 ‘‘DEFINITIONS’’ and inserting ‘‘DEFINITION’’; 

17 (B) by striking ‘‘this subsection’’ and all 

18 that follows through ‘‘means an act’’ and in19 serting the following: ‘‘this subsection, the term 

20 ‘near fatality’ means an act’’; 

21 (C) by striking ‘‘; and’’ and inserting a pe22 riod; and 

23 (D) by striking subparagraph (B). 


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1 (c) CITIZEN REVIEW PANELS.—Section 106(c) of the 

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

3 5106a(c)) is amended— 

4 (1) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ‘‘EXCEP5 TIONS.’’ and all that follows through ‘‘A State may’’ 

6 and inserting ‘‘EXCEPTION.—A State may’’; 

7 (2) in paragraph (4)(A)— 

8 (A) in the matter preceding clause (i), by 

9 striking ‘‘and where appropriate, specific 

10 cases,’’; and 

11 (B) in clause (iii)(I), by striking ‘‘foster 

12 care and adoption programs’’ and inserting 

13 ‘‘foster care, prevention, and permanency pro14 grams’’; and 

15 (3) by amending the first sentence of paragraph 

16 (6) to read as follows: ‘‘Each panel established 

17 under paragraph (1) shall prepare and make avail18 able to the State and the public, on an annual basis, 

19 a report containing a summary of the activities of 

20 the panel, the criteria used for determining which 

21 activities the panel engaged in, and recommenda22 tions or observations to improve the child protective 

23 services system at the State and local levels, and the 

24 data upon which these recommendations or observa25 tions are based.’’. 


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1 (d) ANNUAL STATE DATA REPORTS.—Section 

2 106(d) of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act 

3 (42 U.S.C. 5106a(d)) is amended— 

4 (1) by amending paragraph (13) to read as fol5 lows: 

6 ‘‘(13) The annual report containing the sum7 mary of the activities and recommendations of the 

8 citizen review panels of the State required by sub9 section (c)(6), and the actions taken by the State as 

10 a result of such recommendations.’’; 

11 (2) in paragraph (15), by striking ‘‘subsection 

12 (b)(2)(B)(ii)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection 

13 (b)(2)(D)(i)’’; 

14 (3) in paragraph (16), by striking ‘‘subsection 

15 (b)(2)(B)(xxi)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection 

16 (b)(2)(D)(viii)’’; 

17 (4) in paragraph (17), by striking ‘‘subsection 

18 (b)(2)(B)(xxiv)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection 

19 (b)(2)(A)(xv)’’; and 

20 (5) in paragraph (18)— 

21 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘sub22 section (b)(2)(B)(ii)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection 

23 (b)(2)(D)(i)’’; 


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1 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘sub2 section (b)(2)(B)(iii)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection 

3 (b)(2)(D)(ii)’’; and 

4 (C) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘sub5 section (b)(2)(B)(iii)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection 

6 (b)(2)(D)(ii)’’; and 

7 (6) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(19) The number of child fatalities and near 

9 fatalities from maltreatment and related information 

10 in accordance with the uniform standards estab11 lished under section 103(d).’’. 

12 (e) ALLOTMENTS.—Section 106(f) of the Child Abuse 

13 Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5106a(f)) is 

14 amended by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(6) LIMITATION.—For any fiscal year for 

16 which the amount allotted to a State or territory 

17 under this subsection exceeds the amount allotted to 

18 the State or territory under such subsection for fis19 cal year 2019, the State or territory may use not 

20 more than 2 percent of such excess amount for ad21 ministrative expenses.’’. 

22 SEC. 107. MISCELLANEOUS REQUIREMENTS. 

23 Section 108 of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

24 Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5106d) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘Indian 

2 tribes, and tribal organizations,’’ after ‘‘States,’’; 

3 (2) by redesignating subsections (c) through (e) 

4 as subsections (d) through (f), respectively; and 

5 (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(c) PROTECTING AGAINST SYSTEMIC CHILD SEX8 UAL ABUSE.— 

9 ‘‘(1) REPORTING AND TASK FORCE.—Not later 

10 than 24 months after the date of the enactment of 

11 the Stronger Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment 

12 Act, each State task force established under section 

13 107(c) and expanded as described in paragraph (2) 

14 shall study and make recommendations on the fol15 lowing, with a focus on preventing systemic child 

16 sexual abuse: 

17 ‘‘(A) How to detect systemic child sexual 

18 abuse that occurs in an organization. 

19 ‘‘(B) How to prevent child sexual abuse 

20 and systemic child sexual abuse from occurring 

21 in organizations, which shall include rec22 ommendations to improve— 

23 ‘‘(i) practices and policies for the edu24 cation of parents, caregivers, and victims, 

25 and age appropriate education of children, 


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1 about risk factors or signs of potential 

2 child sexual abuse; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) the efficacy of applicable State 

4 laws and the role such laws play in deter5 ring or preventing incidences of child sex6 ual abuse. 

7 ‘‘(C) The feasibility of making available 

8 the disposition of a perpetrator within an orga9 nization to— 

10 ‘‘(i) the child alleging sexual abuse or 

11 the child’s family; or 

12 ‘‘(ii) an adult who was a child at the 

13 time of the sexual abuse claim in question 

14 or the adult’s family. 

15 ‘‘(2) TASK FORCE COMPOSITION.—For purposes 

16 of this subsection, a State task force shall include— 

17 ‘‘(A) the members of the State task force 

18 described in section 107(c) for the State; and 

19 ‘‘(B) the following: 

20 ‘‘(i) Family court judges. 

21 ‘‘(ii) Individuals from religious organi22 zations. 

23 ‘‘(iii) Individuals from youth-serving 

24 organizations, including youth athletics or25 ganizations. 


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1 ‘‘(3) REPORTING ON RECOMMENDATIONS.—Not 

2 later than 6 months after a State task force makes 

3 recommendations under paragraph (1), the State 

4 maintaining such State task force shall— 

5 ‘‘(A) make public the recommendations of 

6 such report; 

7 ‘‘(B) report to the Secretary on the status 

8 of adopting such recommendations; and 

9 ‘‘(C) in a case in which the State declines 

10 to adopt a particular recommendation, make 

11 public the explanation for such declination. 

12 ‘‘(4) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub13 section— 

14 ‘‘(A) the terms ‘child sexual abuse’ and 

15 ‘sexual abuse’ shall not be limited to an act or 

16 a failure to act on the part of a parent or care17 taker; 

18 ‘‘(B) the term ‘organization’ means any 

19 entity that serves children; and 

20 ‘‘(C) the term ‘systemic child sexual abuse’ 

21 means— 

22 ‘‘(i) a pattern of informal or formal 

23 policy or de facto policy to not follow State 

24 and local requirements to report instances 

25 of child sexual abuse in violation of State 


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1 and local mandatory reporting laws or pol2 icy; or 

3 ‘‘(ii) a pattern of assisting individual 

4 perpetrators in maintaining their careers 

5 despite substantiated evidence of child sex6 ual abuse.’’. 

7 SEC. 108. REPORTS. 

8 (a) SCALING EVIDENCE-BASED TREATMENT OF

9 CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT.—Section 110 of the Child 

10 Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5106f) 

11 is amended to read as follows: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 110. STUDY AND REPORT RELATING TO SCALING EVI13 DENCE-BASED TREATMENT OF CHILD ABUSE 

14 AND NEGLECT; STUDY AND REPORT ON MAR15 ITAL AGE OF CONSENT; STUDY AND REPORT 

16 ON STATE MANDATORY REPORTING LAWS. 

17 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall conduct a 

18 study that examines challenges to, and best practices for, 

19 the scalability of treatments that reduce the trauma re20 sulting from child abuse and neglect and reduce the risk 

21 of revictimization, such as those allowable under sections 

22 105 and 106. 

23 ‘‘(b) CONTENT OF STUDY.—The study described in 

24 subsection (a) shall be completed in a manner that con25 siders the variability among treatment programs and 


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1 among populations vulnerable to child abuse and neglect. 

2 The study shall include, at minimum: 

3 ‘‘(1) A detailed synthesis of the existing re4 search literature examining barriers and challenges 

5 to, and best practices for the scalability of child wel6 fare programs and services as well as programs and 

7 services for vulnerable children and families in re8 lated fields, including healthcare and education. 

9 ‘‘(2) Data describing state and local providers’ 

10 experiences with scaling treatments that reduce the 

11 trauma resulting from child abuse and neglect and 

12 reduce the risk of revictimization. 

13 ‘‘(3) Consultation with experts in child welfare, 

14 healthcare, and education. 

15 ‘‘(c) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the date 

16 of the enactment of the Stronger Child Abuse Prevention 

17 and Treatment Act, the Secretary shall submit to the 

18 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of 

19 the Senate and the Committee on Education and Labor 

20 of the House of Representatives a report that contains the 

21 results of the study conducted under subsection (a), in22 cluding recommendations for best practices for scaling 

23 treatments that reduce the trauma resulting from child 

24 abuse and neglect and reduce the risk of revictimization. 


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1 ‘‘(d) STUDY AND REPORT ON MARITAL AGE OF CON2 SENT.— 

3 ‘‘(1) STUDY.—The Secretary shall study, with 

4 respect to each State— 

5 ‘‘(A) the State law regarding the minimum 

6 marriage age; and 

7 ‘‘(B) the prevalence of marriage involving 

8 a child who is under the age of such minimum 

9 marriage age. 

10 ‘‘(2) FACTORS.—The study required under 

11 paragraph (1) shall include an examination of— 

12 ‘‘(A) the extent to which any statutory ex13 ceptions to the minimum marriage age in such 

14 laws contribute to the prevalence of marriage 

15 involving a child described in paragraph (1)(B); 

16 ‘‘(B) whether such exceptions allow such a 

17 child to be married without the consent of such 

18 child; and 

19 ‘‘(C) the impact of such exceptions on the 

20 safety of such children. 

21 ‘‘(3) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 

22 date of enactment of the Stronger Child Abuse Pre23 vention and Treatment Act, the Secretary shall sub24 mit to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 

25 and Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on 


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1 Education and Labor of the House of Representa2 tives a report containing the findings of the study 

3 required by this subsection, including any best prac4 tices. 

5 ‘‘(e) STUDY AND REPORT ON STATE MANDATORY

6 REPORTING LAWS.— 

7 ‘‘(1) STUDY.—The Secretary shall collect infor8 mation on and otherwise study State laws for man9 datory reporting of incidents of child abuse or ne10 glect. Such study shall examine trends in referrals 

11 and investigations of child abuse and neglect due to 

12 differences in such State laws with respect to the in13 clusion, as mandatory reporters, of the following in14 dividuals: 

15 ‘‘(A) Individuals licensed or certified to 

16 practice in any health-related field licensed by 

17 the State, employees of health care facilities or 

18 providers licensed by the State, who are en19 gaged in the admission, examination, care or 

20 treatment of individuals, including mental 

21 health and emergency medical service providers. 

22 ‘‘(B) Individuals employed by a school who 

23 have direct contact with children, including 

24 teachers, administrators, and independent con25 tractors. 


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1 ‘‘(C) Peace officers and law enforcement 

2 personnel. 

3 ‘‘(D) Clergy, including Christian Science 

4 practitioners, except where prohibited on ac5 count of clergy-penitent privilege. 

6 ‘‘(E) Day care and child care operators 

7 and employees. 

8 ‘‘(F) Employees of social services agencies 

9 who have direct contact with children in the 

10 course of employment. 

11 ‘‘(G) Foster parents. 

12 ‘‘(H) Court appointed special advocates 

13 (employees and volunteers). 

14 ‘‘(I) Camp and after-school employees. 

15 ‘‘(J) An individual, paid or unpaid, who, 

16 on the basis of the individual’s role as an inte17 gral part of a regularly scheduled program, ac18 tivity, or service, accepts responsibility for a 

19 child. 

20 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—Not later than 4 years after the 

21 date of enactment of the Stronger Child Abuse Pre22 vention and Treatment Act, the Secretary shall sub23 mit to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 

24 and Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on 

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1 tives a report containing the findings of the study 

2 required by this subsection, including any best prac3 tices related to the inclusion, as mandatory report4 ers, of individuals described in paragraph (1).’’. 

5 (b) REPORT ON CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT IN IN6 DIAN TRIBAL COMMUNITIES.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 

8 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comp9 troller General, in consultation with the Indian 

10 tribes from each of the 12 regions of the Bureau of 

11 Indian Affairs, shall study child abuse and neglect in 

12 Indian Tribal communities for the purpose of identi13 fying vital information and making recommendations 

14 concerning issues relating to child abuse and neglect 

15 in such communities, and submit to the Committee 

16 on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the 

17 Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate and the 

18 Committee on Education and Labor and the Com19 mittee on Natural Resources of the House of Rep20 resentatives a report on such study, which shall in21 clude— 

22 (A) the number of Indian tribes providing 

23 primary child abuse and neglect prevention ac24 tivities; 


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1 (B) the number of Indian tribes providing 

2 secondary child abuse and neglect prevention 

3 activities; 

4 (C) promising practices of Indian tribes 

5 with respect to child abuse and neglect preven6 tion that are culturally-based or culturally7 adapted; 

8 (D) information and recommendations on 

9 how such culturally-based or culturally-adapted 

10 child abuse and neglect prevention activities 

11 could become evidence-based; 

12 (E) the number of Indian tribes that have 

13 accessed Federal child abuse and neglect pre14 vention programs; 

15 (F) child abuse and neglect prevention ac16 tivities that Indian tribes provide using State 

17 funds; 

18 (G) child abuse and neglect prevention ac19 tivities that Indian tribes provide using Tribal 

20 funds; 

21 (H) Tribal access to State children’s trust 

22 fund resources, as described in section 202 of 

23 the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act 

24 (42 U.S.C. 5116a); 


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1 (I) how a children’s trust fund model could 

2 be used to support prevention efforts regarding 

3 child abuse and neglect of American Indian and 

4 Alaska Native children; 

5 (J) Federal agency technical assistance ef6 forts to address child abuse and neglect preven7 tion and treatment of American Indian and 

8 Alaska Native children; 

9 (K) Federal agency cross-system collabora10 tion to address child abuse and neglect preven11 tion and treatment of American Indian and 

12 Alaska Native children; 

13 (L) Tribal access to child abuse and ne14 glect prevention research and demonstration 

15 grants under the Child Abuse Prevention and 

16 Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.); and 

17 (M) an examination of child abuse and ne18 glect data systems to identify what Tribal data 

19 is being submitted, barriers to submitting data, 

20 and recommendations on improving the collec21 tion of data from Indian Tribes. 

22 (2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

23 (A) the term ‘‘Alaska Native’’ has the 

24 meaning given the term in section 111 of the 


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1 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 

2 U.S.C. 5106g); and 

3 (B) the terms ‘‘child abuse and neglect’’ 

4 and ‘‘Indian tribe’’ have the meaning given the 

5 terms in section 3 of the Child Abuse Preven6 tion and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5101 note). 

7 SEC. 109. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

8 Section 112(a) of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

9 Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5106h(a)) is amended— 

10 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

11 (A) by striking ‘‘to carry out’’ through 

12 ‘‘fiscal year 2010’’ and inserting ‘‘to carry out 

13 this title $270,000,000 for fiscal year 2020’’; 

14 and 

15 (B) by striking ‘‘2011 through 2015’’ and 

16 inserting ‘‘2021 through 2025’’; and 

17 (2) by striking paragraph (2)(A) and inserting 

18 the following: 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Of the amounts ap20 propriated for a fiscal year under paragraph 

21 (1), the Secretary shall make available 30 per22 cent of such amounts, or $100,000,000, which23 ever is less, to fund discretionary activities 

24 under this title.’’. 


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1 SEC. 110. MONITORING AND OVERSIGHT. 

2 Section 114(1) of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

3 Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5108(1)) is amended— 

4 (1) in each of subparagraphs (A) and (B), by 

5 striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; and 

6 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(C) include written guidance and tech8 nical assistance to support States, which shall 

9 include guidance on the requirements of this 

10 Act with respect to infants born with and iden11 tified as being affected by substance use or 

12 withdrawal symptoms, Neonatal Abstinence 

13 Syndrome, or Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, 

14 as described in clauses (i) and (ii) of section 

15 106(b)(2)(D), including by— 

16 ‘‘(i) enhancing States’ understanding 

17 of requirements and flexibilities under the 

18 law, including by clarifying key terms; 

19 ‘‘(ii) addressing State-identified chal20 lenges with developing, implementing, and 

21 monitoring plans of safe care; and 

22 ‘‘(iii) disseminating best practices on 

23 implementation of plans of safe care, on 

24 such topics as differential response, col25 laboration and coordination, and identifica26 tion and delivery of services for different 


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1 populations, while recognizing needs of dif2 ferent populations and varying community 

3 approaches across States; and 

4 ‘‘(D) include the submission of a report to 

5 the Committee on Education and Labor of the 

6 House of Representatives and the Committee 

7 on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of 

8 the Senate not later than 1 year after the date 

9 of the enactment of this Act that contains a de10 scription of the activities taken by the Secretary 

11 to comply with the requirements of subpara12 graph (C); and’’. 

13 SEC. 111. ELECTRONIC INTERSTATE DATA EXCHANGE SYS14 TEM. 

15 Title I of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment 

16 Act (42 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.) is amended by adding at 

17 the end the following: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 115. ELECTRONIC INTERSTATE DATA EXCHANGE SYS19 TEM. 

20 ‘‘(a) INTERSTATE DATA EXCHANGE SYSTEM.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health 

22 and Human Services shall consider the recommenda23 tions included in the reports required under para24 graph (8)(A) and subsection (b)(2) in developing an 

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1 lows State entities responsible under State law for 

2 maintaining child abuse and neglect registries to 

3 communicate information across State lines. 

4 ‘‘(2) STANDARDS.—In developing the electronic 

5 interstate data exchange system under paragraph 

6 (1), the Secretary shall— 

7 ‘‘(A) use interoperable standards developed 

8 and maintained by intergovernmental partner9 ships, such as the National Information Ex10 change Model; 

11 ‘‘(B) develop policies and governance 

12 standards that— 

13 ‘‘(i) ensure consistency in types of in14 formation shared and not shared; and 

15 ‘‘(ii) specify circumstances under 

16 which data should be shared through the 

17 interstate data exchange system; and 

18 ‘‘(C) ensure that all standards and policies 

19 adhere to the privacy, security, and civil rights 

20 laws of each State and Federal law. 

21 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION ON USE OF ELECTRONIC

22 INTERSTATE DATA EXCHANGE SYSTEM.—The elec23 tronic interstate data exchange system may only be 

24 used for purposes relating to child safety. 

25 ‘‘(4) PILOT PROGRAM.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 6 

2 months after the date of the enactment of this 

3 section, the Secretary of Health and Human 

4 Services shall begin implementation of a pilot 

5 program to generate recommendations for the 

6 full integration of the electronic interstate data 

7 exchange system. Such pilot program shall in8 clude not less than 10 States and not more 

9 than 15 States. 

10 ‘‘(B) COMPLETION.—Not later than 30 

11 months after the date of the enactment of this 

12 section, the Secretary of Health and Human 

13 Services shall complete the pilot program de14 scribed in subparagraph (A). 

15 ‘‘(5) INTEGRATION.—The Secretary of Health 

16 and Human Services may assist States in the inte17 gration of this system into the infrastructure of each 

18 State using funds appropriated under this sub19 section. 

20 ‘‘(6) PARTICIPATION.—As a condition on eligi21 bility for receipt of funds under section 106, each 

22 State shall— 

23 ‘‘(A) participate in the electronic interstate 

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1 mined by the Secretary of Health and Human 

2 Services) not later than December 31, 2027; 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(B) prior to the participation described in 

5 subparagraph (A), provide to the Secretary of 

6 Health and Human Services an assurance that 

7 the child abuse and neglect registry of such 

8 State provides procedural due process protec9 tions with respect to including individuals on 

10 such registry. 

11 ‘‘(7) PROHIBITION.—The Secretary of Health 

12 and Human Services may not access or store data 

13 from the electronic interstate data exchange system, 

14 unless the State to which such data pertains volun15 tarily shares such data with the Secretary of Health 

16 and Human Services. 

17 ‘‘(8) REPORTS.—The Secretary of Health and 

18 Human Services shall prepare and submit to Con19 gress— 

20 ‘‘(A) not later than 3 years after the date 

21 of the enactment of this section, a report on the 

22 recommendations from the pilot program de23 scribed in paragraph (4); and 


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1 ‘‘(B) not later than January 31, 2025, a 

2 report on the progress made in implementing 

3 this subsection. 

4 ‘‘(9) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Of 

5 the funds appropriated under section 112 for a fiscal 

6 year— 

7 ‘‘(A) for each of fiscal years 2020 and 

8 2021, $2,000,000 shall be reserved to carry out 

9 this section; and 

10 ‘‘(B) for each of fiscal years 2022 through 

11 2025, $1,000,000 shall be reserved to carry out 

12 this section. 

13 ‘‘(b) WORKING GROUP.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days 

15 after the date of the enactment of this section, the 

16 Secretary of Health and Human Services shall con17 vene a working group to study and make rec18 ommendations on the following: 

19 ‘‘(A) The feasibility of making publicly 

20 available on the website of each State defini21 tions and standards of substantiated child 

22 abuse and neglect for the State. 

23 ‘‘(B) Whether background check require24 ments under this Act, the Child Care and De25 velopment Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 


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1 9858 et seq.), and part E of title IV of the So2 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 670 et seq.) are 

3 complementary or if there are discrepancies 

4 that need to be addressed. 

5 ‘‘(C) How to improve communication be6 tween and across States, including through the 

7 use of technology and the use of the electronic 

8 interstate data exchange system established 

9 under subsection (a), to allow for more accurate 

10 and efficient exchange of child abuse and ne11 glect records. 

12 ‘‘(D) How to reduce barriers and establish 

13 best practices for the State to provide timely re14 sponses to requests from other States for infor15 mation contained in the State’s child abuse and 

16 neglect registry through the electronic inter17 state data exchange system established under 

18 subsection (a). 

19 ‘‘(E) How to ensure due process for any 

20 individual included in a State’s child abuse and 

21 neglect registry, including the following: 

22 ‘‘(i) The level of evidence necessary 

23 for inclusion in the State’s child abuse and 

24 neglect registry. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) The process for notifying such 

2 individual of inclusion in the State’s child 

3 abuse and neglect registry and the implica4 tions of such inclusion. 

5 ‘‘(iii) The process for providing such 

6 individual the opportunity to challenge 

7 such inclusion, and the procedures for re8 solving such challenge. 

9 ‘‘(iv) The length of time an individ10 ual’s record is to remain in the State’s 

11 child abuse and neglect registry, and the 

12 process for removing such individual’s 

13 record. 

14 ‘‘(v) The criteria for when such indi15 vidual’s child abuse and neglect registry 

16 record may be— 

17 ‘‘(I) made accessible to the gen18 eral public; 

19 ‘‘(II) made available for purposes 

20 of an employment check; and 

21 ‘‘(III) be shared for the purposes 

22 of participation in the electronic inter23 state data exchange system described 

24 in subsection (a). 


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1 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after 

2 the date of the enactment of this section, the work3 ing group convened under paragraph (1) shall sub4 mit a report containing its recommendations to the 

5 Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Com6 mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

7 of the Senate, and the Committee on Education and 

8 Labor of the House of Representatives. 

9 ‘‘(3) CONSTRUCTION.—There shall be no re10 quirement for any State to adopt the recommenda11 tions of the working group, nor shall the Secretary 

12 of Health and Human Services incentivize or coerce 

13 any State to adopt any such recommendation.’’. 

14 SEC. 112. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

15 (a) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.—The Child Abuse 

16 Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.), 

17 as amended by the preceding provisions of this Act, is fur18 ther amended— 

19 (1) by striking ‘‘Committee on Education and 

20 the Workforce’’ each place it appears and inserting 

21 ‘‘Committee on Education and Labor’’; 

22 (2) in section 103(c)(1)(F), by striking ‘‘abused 

23 and neglected children’’ and inserting ‘‘victims of 

24 child abuse or neglect’’; and 


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1 (3) in section 107(f), by striking ‘‘(42 U.S.C. 

2 10603a)’’ and inserting ‘‘(34 U.S.C. 20104)’’. 

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

4 (1) SECTION 103.—Section 103(b)(5) (42 

5 U.S.C. 5104(b)(5)) is amended by striking ‘‘section 

6 106(b)(2)(B)(iii)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

7 106(b)(2)(D)(ii)’’. 

8 (2) SECTION 105.—Section 105(a)(11) (42 

9 U.S.C. 5106(a)(11) (as redesignated by section 

10 105(1)(A) of this Act) is amended— 

11 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘sec12 tion 106(b)(2)(B)(iii)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

13 106(b)(2)(D)(ii)’’; 

14 (B) in subparagraph (C)— 

15 (i) in clause (i)(II), by striking ‘‘sec16 tion 106(b)(2)(B)(iii)’’ and inserting ‘‘sec17 tion 106(b)(2)(D)(ii)’’; 

18 (ii) in clause (i)(IV), by striking ‘‘sec19 tion 106(b)(2)(B)(iii)(II)’’ and inserting 

20 ‘‘section 106(b)(2)(D)(ii)(II)’’; and 

21 (iii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘clauses 

22 (ii) and (iii) of section 106(b)(2)(B)’’ and 

23 inserting ‘‘clauses (i) and (ii) of section 

24 106(b)(2)(D)’’; 

25 (C) in subparagraph (D)— 


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1 (i) in clause (i)(I), by striking ‘‘sec2 tion 106(b)(2)(B)(iii)(I)’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘section 106(b)(2)(D)(ii)(I)’’; 

4 (ii) in clause (ii)(I), by striking ‘‘sec5 tion 106(b)(2)(B)(ii)’’ and inserting ‘‘sec6 tion 106(b)(2)(D)(i)’’; 

7 (iii) in clause (ii)(II), by striking ‘‘sec8 tion 106(b)(2)(B)(iii)’’ and inserting ‘‘sec9 tion 106(b)(2)(D)(ii)(I)’’; 

10 (iv) in clause (iii)(I), by striking ‘‘sec11 tion 106(b)(2)(B)(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘sec12 tion 106(b)(2)(A)(i)’’; 

13 (v) in clause (iii)(IV), by striking 

14 ‘‘section 106(b)(2)(B)(iii)’’ and inserting 

15 ‘‘section 106(b)(2)(D)(ii)’’; and 

16 (vi) in clause (v), by striking ‘‘section 

17 106(b)(2)(B)(iii)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

18 106(b)(2)(D)(ii)’’; 

19 (D) in subparagraph (E), by striking ‘‘sec20 tion 106(b)(2)(B)(ii)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

21 106(b)(2)(D)(i)’’; and 

22 (E) in subparagraph (G)(ii), by striking 

23 ‘‘clauses (ii) and (iii) of section 106(b)(2)(B)’’ 

24 and inserting ‘‘clauses (i) and (ii) of section 

25 106(b)(2)(D)’’. 


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1 (3) SECTION 114.—Section 114(1)(B) (42 

2 U.S.C. 5108(1)(B)) is amended by striking ‘‘clauses 

3 (ii) and (iii) of section 106(b)(2)(B)’’ and inserting 

4 ‘‘clauses (i) and (ii) of section 106(b)(2)(D)’’. 

5 (4) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of con6 tents in section 1(b) of the Child Abuse Prevention 

7 and Treatment Act is amended— 

8 (A) by striking the items relating to sec9 tions 2 and 102; 

10 (B) by inserting after the item relating to 

11 section 114 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 115. Electronic interstate data exchange system.’’; and 

12 (C) by striking the item relating to section 

13 110, and inserting the following: 

‘‘Sec. 110. Study and report relating to scaling evidence-based treatment of 

child abuse and neglect; study and report on marital age of 

consent; study and report on State mandatory reporting laws.’’. 

14 TITLE II—COMMUNITY-BASED 

15 GRANTS FOR THE PREVEN16 TION OF CHILD ABUSE AND 

17 NEGLECT 

18 SEC. 201. PURPOSE AND AUTHORITY. 

19 Subsections (a) and (b) of section 201 of the Child 

20 Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5116) 

21 are amended to read as follows: 

22 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purposes of this title are— 


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1 ‘‘(1) to establish and maintain support for com2 munity-based family strengthening services and 

3 statewide systems-building approaches to the extent 

4 practicable, to ensure the development, operation, 

5 expansion, coordination, and evaluation of quality 

6 services, initiatives, programs, and activities to pre7 vent child abuse and neglect; and 

8 ‘‘(2) to promote improved access for diverse 

9 populations with demonstrated need, including low10 income families, racial and ethnic minorities, fami11 lies with children or caregivers with disabilities, un12 derserved communities, and rural communities, to 

13 family strengthening services in order to more effec14 tively prevent child abuse and neglect. 

15 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary shall make grants 

16 under this title on a formula basis to the entity designated 

17 by the State as the lead entity (referred to in this title 

18 as the ‘lead entity’) under section 202(1) for the following 

19 purposes: 

20 ‘‘(1) Providing programs, activities, and initia21 tives to help families build protective factors linked 

22 to the prevention of child abuse and neglect, such as 

23 knowledge of parenting and child development, pa24 rental resilience, social connections, time-limited and 


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1 need-based concrete support, and social and emo2 tional development of children, that— 

3 ‘‘(A) are accessible to diverse populations, 

4 effective, and culturally appropriate; 

5 ‘‘(B) build upon existing strengths; 

6 ‘‘(C) offer assistance to families; 

7 ‘‘(D) provide early, comprehensive support 

8 for parents; 

9 ‘‘(E) promote the development of healthy 

10 familial relationships and parenting skills, espe11 cially in young parents and parents with very 

12 young children; 

13 ‘‘(F) increase family stability; 

14 ‘‘(G) improve family access to formal and 

15 informal community-based resources, including 

16 health and mental health services, time-limited 

17 and need-based concrete supports, and services 

18 and supports to meet the needs of families with 

19 children or caregivers with disabilities; and 

20 ‘‘(H) support the additional needs of fami21 lies with children with disabilities, including 

22 through respite care. 

23 ‘‘(2) Fostering the development of a continuum 

24 of preventive services to strengthen families through 


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1 State- and community-based collaborations and both 

2 public and private partnerships. 

3 ‘‘(3) Financing the start-up, maintenance, ex4 pansion, or redesign of core services described in 

5 section 205, where communities have identified gaps 

6 and decided to prioritize the establishment of such 

7 services, to the extent practicable given funding lev8 els and community priorities. 

9 ‘‘(4) Maximizing funding through leveraging 

10 Federal, State, local, public, and private funds to 

11 carry out the purposes of this title. 

12 ‘‘(5) Developing or enhancing statewide and 

13 local networks to operate, expand, or enhance com14 munity-based family strengthening services, initia15 tives, and activities that promote child, parent, fam16 ily, and community health and well-being and pre17 vent child abuse and neglect. 

18 ‘‘(6) Promoting the development of, and coordi19 nation with, existing community coalitions of net20 works of family strengthening services that utilize 

21 culturally responsive providers in order to enhance 

22 child, family, and community well-being and prevent 

23 child abuse and neglect in all families. 


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1 ‘‘(7) Financing public information activities 

2 that focus on parent and child development and 

3 child abuse and neglect prevention. 

4 ‘‘(8) To the extent practicable— 

5 ‘‘(A) promoting the development and im6 plementation of a statewide systems-building 

7 strategy to address the unmet needs identified 

8 in the inventory described in section 204(3), in9 cluding the participation of public and private 

10 stakeholders, community-based organizations, 

11 legislators, parents and other relevant stake12 holders, and State agencies, including the child 

13 welfare agency, the public health agency, hous14 ing agency, and the State education agency, to 

15 scale evidence-based, evidence-informed, and 

16 promising programs that expand access to fam17 ily strengthening services and reduce the num18 bers of children entering the foster care system; 

19 ‘‘(B) developing comprehensive outreach 

20 strategies to engage families with various risk 

21 factors, including families who have experienced 

22 trauma or domestic violence, parents with sub23 stance use disorder, and families with children 

24 or caregivers with disabilities; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) providing capacity-building supports 

2 to local programs to improve desired outcomes 

3 for children and families, such as— 

4 ‘‘(i) technical assistance, including 

5 support for local programs to collect out6 come data that helps improve service deliv7 ery; 

8 ‘‘(ii) professional development; and 

9 ‘‘(iii) peer support networks, including 

10 through developing a problem-solving 

11 forum.’’. 

12 SEC. 202. ELIGIBILITY. 

13 Section 202 of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

14 Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5116a) is amended— 

15 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

16 (A) by striking subparagraph (A) and in17 serting the following: 

18 ‘‘(A) the Governor of the State has designated 

19 a lead entity to administer funds under this title for 

20 the purposes identified under the authority of this 

21 title, including to develop, implement, operate, en22 hance, or expand community-based family strength23 ening services designed to prevent child abuse and 

24 neglect;’’; and 


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1 (B) by striking subparagraph (D) and in2 serting the following: 

3 ‘‘(D) the Governor of the State has given con4 sideration to the capacity and expertise of all entities 

5 requesting to be designated under subparagraph 

6 (A);’’; and 

7 (2) in paragraph (3)— 

8 (A) by striking subparagraph (A) and in9 serting the following: 

10 ‘‘(A) has demonstrated ongoing meaningful 

11 partnerships with parents in the development, 

12 operation, and oversight of State- and commu13 nity-based family strengthening services de14 signed to prevent child abuse and neglect;’’; 

15 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

16 ‘‘community-based and prevention-focused pro17 grams and activities designed to strengthen and 

18 support families’’ and inserting ‘‘community19 based family strengthening services designed’’; 

20 (C) by striking subparagraph (C) and in21 serting the following: 

22 ‘‘(C) has the capacity to provide oper23 ational support (both financial and pro24 grammatic), professional development, technical 


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1 assistance, and evaluation assistance, to com2 munity-based organizations;’’; and 

3 (D) by striking subparagraph (D) and in4 serting the following: 

5 ‘‘(D) will integrate efforts with individuals 

6 and organizations experienced in working in 

7 partnership with low-income families, racial and 

8 ethnic minorities, families with children or care9 givers with disabilities, sexual and gender mi10 nority youth, victims of domestic violence, and 

11 with the child abuse and neglect prevention ac12 tivities in the State, and demonstrate a finan13 cial commitment to those activities; and 

14 ‘‘(E) will take into consideration access for 

15 diverse populations and unmet need when dis16 tributing funds to local programs under section 

17 205.’’. 

18 SEC. 203. AMOUNT OF GRANT. 

19 Section 203 of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

20 Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5116b) is amended— 

21 (1) by striking subsection (a) and inserting the 

22 following: 

23 ‘‘(a) RESERVATION.—For the purpose of making al24 lotments to Indian tribes and tribal organizations and mi25 grant programs, the Secretary shall reserve 5 percent of 


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1 the amount appropriated under section 210(a) for each 

2 fiscal year, except that, if making such reservation would 

3 cause the total amount allotted to States under this sec4 tion for a fiscal year to be less than such total for fiscal 

5 year 2019, the Secretary shall reserve 1 percent of the 

6 amount appropriated under section 210(a) for the year for 

7 such purpose.’’; and 

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

9 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION.—For any fiscal year for which the 

10 amount allotted to a State under subsection (b) exceeds 

11 the amount allotted to the State under such subsection 

12 for fiscal year 2019, the State’s lead entity may use not 

13 more than 10 percent of such excess amount for adminis14 trative expenses.’’. 

15 SEC. 204. APPLICATION. 

16 Section 204 of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

17 Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5116d) is amended— 

18 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 

19 striking ‘‘specified by the Secretary as essential to 

20 carrying out the provisions of section 202, includ21 ing’’ and inserting ‘‘and assurances required in 

22 paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 202 and types of 

23 information specified by the Secretary as essential in 

24 carrying out the provisions of section 201(b), includ25 ing’’; 


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1 (2) in paragraphs (1), (2), and (4), by striking 

2 ‘‘community-based and prevention-focused programs 

3 and activities designed to strengthen and support 

4 families’’ and inserting ‘‘community-based family 

5 strengthening services designed’’; 

6 (3) in paragraph (3) by striking ‘‘community7 based and prevention-focused programs and activi8 ties’’ and inserting ‘‘community-based family 

9 strengthening services designed’’; 

10 (4) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and preven11 tion-focused programs and activities designed to 

12 strengthen and support families to prevent child 

13 abuse and neglect;’’ and inserting ‘‘services and 

14 statewide strategies designed to strengthen and sup15 port families to promote child, family, and commu16 nity well-being and prevent child abuse and ne17 glect;’’; 

18 (5) by striking paragraph (6) and inserting the 

19 following: 

20 ‘‘(6) a description of the State’s capacity and 

21 commitment to ensure the meaningful involvement 

22 of parents who are or have been consumers of pre23 ventative supports, including the involvement of par24 ents of diverse populations, such as low-income fami25 lies, families with children or caregivers with disabilVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00083 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2480.RFS H2480

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1 ities, racial and ethnic minorities, and members of 

2 other underrepresented or underserved groups, fam3 ily advocates, and adult victims of child abuse or ne4 glect who can provide leadership in the planning, im5 plementation, and evaluation of the programs and 

6 policy decisions of the applicant agency in accom7 plishing the desired outcomes for such efforts;’’; 

8 (6) by redesignating paragraph (12) as para9 graph (15); 

10 (7) by redesignating paragraphs (7) through 

11 (11) as paragraphs (8) through (12), respectively; 

12 (8) by inserting after paragraph (6) the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(7) a description of the process and criteria 

15 the lead entity will use to identify and select commu16 nities in which to build a continuum of family 

17 strengthening services, including an assurance that 

18 the process will ensure access for all families, includ19 ing families in communities with high rates of child 

20 abuse and neglect relative to other communities in 

21 the State;’’; 

22 (9) by striking paragraph (9), as so redesig23 nated, and inserting the following: 

24 ‘‘(9) a description of outreach activities that the 

25 lead entity and local grantees will undertake to 


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1 maximize the participation of low-income families, 

2 racial and ethnic minorities, families with children or 

3 caregivers with disabilities, sexual and gender minor4 ity youth, victims of domestic violence, homeless 

5 families and those at risk of homelessness, and 

6 members of other underserved or underrepresented 

7 groups;’’. 

8 (10) by striking paragraph (10), as so redesig9 nated, and inserting the following: 

10 ‘‘(10) a plan for providing operational support, 

11 professional development, and technical assistance to 

12 grantees, other State and local programs and pro13 viders, families, and other entities involved in 

14 strengthening families and preventing child abuse 

15 and neglect;’’; 

16 (11) in paragraph (11), as so redesignated, by 

17 striking ‘‘and its members (where appropriate)’’ and 

18 inserting ‘‘of community-based family strengthening 

19 services and statewide initiatives’’; and 

20 (12) by striking paragraph (12), as so redesig21 nated, and inserting the following: 

22 ‘‘(12) a description of the actions that the ap23 plicant entity will take to inform systemic changes in 

24 State policies, practices, procedures, and regulations 

25 to improve the delivery of community-based family 


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1 strengthening services designed to promote child, 

2 family, and community well-being, and to prevent 

3 child abuse and neglect; 

4 ‘‘(13) a description of how the lead entity will 

5 incorporate research evidence in its process for se6 lecting community-based family strengthening serv7 ices; 

8 ‘‘(14) an assurance that, in issuing regulations 

9 to improve the delivery of community-based family 

10 strengthening services designed to promote child, 

11 family, and community well-being, and to prevent 

12 child abuse and neglect, the State will— 

13 ‘‘(A) take into account how such regula14 tions will impact activities funded under this 

15 Act; and 

16 ‘‘(B) where appropriate, attempt to avoid 

17 duplication of efforts, minimize costs of compli18 ance with such regulations, and maximize local 

19 flexibility with respect to such regulations; 

20 and’’. 

21 SEC. 205. LOCAL PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS. 

22 Section 205 of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

23 Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5116e) is amended to read as 

24 follows: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 205. LOCAL PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Grants from the lead entity 

3 made under this title shall be used to develop, implement, 

4 operate, expand, and enhance community-based family 

5 strengthening services designed to prevent child abuse and 

6 neglect that— 

7 ‘‘(1) assess community assets and needs and 

8 develop a strategy to create a comprehensive con9 tinuum of effective services that strengthen and sup10 port families to prevent child abuse and neglect, 

11 through a planning process involving parents, local 

12 and public agencies, local nonprofit organizations 

13 and service providers, and private sector representa14 tives in meaningful ways; 

15 ‘‘(2) develop or enhance existing place-based 

16 family strengthening services, other parenting sup17 port services, and connections and coordination 

18 among key family services in the community by 

19 reaching spaces familiar to such families; and 

20 ‘‘(3) help families build protective factors that 

21 support child and family well-being and help prevent 

22 child abuse and neglect, including knowledge of par23 enting and child development, parental resilience, so24 cial connections, time-limited and need-based con25 crete support, and social and emotional development 

26 of children. 


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1 ‘‘(b) LOCAL CONSIDERATION.—In awarding grants, 

2 the lead entity shall consider, consistent with the needs 

3 of the State and community, how the grantee— 

4 ‘‘(1) demonstrates the ability to form collabora5 tions across a range of services or initiatives and the 

6 commitment to engage in long-term planning and 

7 strategic development for community-based family 

8 strengthening services as well as provide on-going 

9 problem solving support; 

10 ‘‘(2) involves parents, including parents of chil11 dren with disabilities, diverse racial and ethnic 

12 groups, and members of other underrepresented or 

13 underserved populations, in the development, imple14 mentation, oversight, and evaluation of services; 

15 ‘‘(3) addresses the need for place-based services 

16 and the need to reach families in hard-to-reach areas 

17 through approaches that provide core family 

18 strengthening services; 

19 ‘‘(4) promotes improved access to family 

20 strengthening services for diverse populations and 

21 ensures that the services address identified needs of 

22 all families; and 

23 ‘‘(5) demonstrates an understanding of the 

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1 gies that mitigate the impact of and prevent adverse 

2 childhood experiences. 

3 ‘‘(c) LOCAL USES OF FUNDS.—Grant funds from the 

4 lead entity shall be used for community-based family 

5 strengthening services designed to prevent child abuse and 

6 neglect, which may include the following: 

7 ‘‘(1) Developing a strategy based on supporting 

8 a comprehensive continuum of preventive, family9 centered services that strengthen and support fami10 lies to prevent child abuse and neglect, especially to 

11 young parents, to parents with young children, and 

12 to parents who are adult victims of domestic violence 

13 or child abuse or neglect, through public-private 

14 partnerships. 

15 ‘‘(2) Addressing the needs of families in hard16 to-reach areas by creating access to place-based fam17 ily strengthening services. 

18 ‘‘(3) Performing an assessment of community 

19 needs, including by partnering, at the option of the 

20 grantee, with an organization that already has per21 formed a needs assessment (such as a Maternal, In22 fant and Early Childhood Home Visiting program 

23 under section 511 of the Social Security Act (42 

24 U.S.C. 711) or a Head Start program under the 

25 Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 et seq.). 


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1 ‘‘(4) Supporting outreach for services, including 

2 by coordinating with existing family strengthening 

3 services such as home visiting and other early inter4 vention programs. 

5 ‘‘(5) Providing, promoting the development or 

6 enhancement of, or connecting families to, core serv7 ices that include— 

8 ‘‘(A) parenting support and parent edu9 cation programs, including services that help 

10 parents and other caregivers support children’s 

11 development; 

12 ‘‘(B) parent leadership skills development 

13 programs that support parents’ personal growth 

14 as leaders in their families and communities; 

15 ‘‘(C) mutual support groups for parents, 

16 children, and parent partners; 

17 ‘‘(D) respite and crisis care; and 

18 ‘‘(E) referrals to optional community and 

19 social services, including— 

20 ‘‘(i) domestic violence services; 

21 ‘‘(ii) screening and referrals to early 

22 intervention; 

23 ‘‘(iii) voluntary home visiting pro24 grams; 


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1 ‘‘(iv) health and mental health serv2 ices, including referrals for information on 

3 the State Medicaid plan under title XIX of 

4 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et 

5 seq.); 

6 ‘‘(v) early care and learning programs 

7 including child care and Head Start pro8 grams and Early Head Start programs 

9 under the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 

10 et seq.); 

11 ‘‘(vi) nutrition programs, including 

12 the special supplemental nutrition program 

13 for women, infants, and children estab14 lished under section 17 of the Child Nutri15 tion Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786) and the 

16 supplemental nutrition assistance program 

17 established under the Food and Nutrition 

18 Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.); 

19 ‘‘(vii) education and workforce devel20 opment programs, including adult literacy, 

21 child development, wellness, and family so22 cioeconomic mobility programs; and 

23 ‘‘(viii) services and supports to meet 

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1 vention services for infants and toddlers 

2 with disabilities and their families, as early 

3 intervention services are defined in section 

4 632 of the Individuals with Disabilities 

5 Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1432). 

6 ‘‘(6) Providing leadership in mobilizing local 

7 public and private resources to support the provision 

8 of community-based family strengthening services 

9 designed to prevent child abuse and neglect. 

10 ‘‘(7) Developing and maintaining meaningful 

11 partnerships with parents relating to the develop12 ment, operation, evaluation, and oversight of the 

13 programs and services. 

14 ‘‘(8) Coordinating with other community-based 

15 family strengthening services designed to prevent 

16 child abuse and neglect in the development, oper17 ation, and expansion of networks where appropriate. 

18 ‘‘(d) PRIORITY.—When awarding grants, a lead enti19 ty shall give priority to effective community-based efforts 

20 that serve low-income communities and are focused on 

21 comprehensive approaches to serving young parents or 

22 parents with young children.’’. 

23 SEC. 206. PERFORMANCE MEASURES. 

24 Section 206 of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

25 Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5116f) is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraphs (1), (5), (6), and (8), by 

2 striking ‘‘community-based and prevention-focused 

3 programs and activities designed to strengthen and 

4 support families’’ and inserting ‘‘community-based 

5 family strengthening services designed’’; 

6 (2) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘meets’’ and 

7 inserting ‘‘meet’’; 

8 (3) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘including 

9 core and optional services as described in section 

10 202’’; 

11 (4) by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the 

12 following: 

13 ‘‘(3) shall demonstrate how they have addressed 

14 unmet needs identified by the inventory required 

15 under section 204;’’. 

16 (5) by striking paragraph (4) and inserting the 

17 following: 

18 ‘‘(4) shall describe the number of families 

19 served, including families with children or caregivers 

20 with disabilities, and the involvement of a diverse 

21 representation of families in the design, operation, 

22 and evaluation of both community-based family 

23 strengthening services and networks of such serv24 ices;’’; 


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1 (6) by striking paragraph (7) and inserting the 

2 following: 

3 ‘‘(7) shall describe— 

4 ‘‘(A) the number of programs funded 

5 disaggregated by urban, suburban, and rural 

6 community type; 

7 ‘‘(B) the number of children and families 

8 served under each such program disaggregated 

9 by urban, suburban, and rural community type; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(C) the number of programs that partner 

12 with outside entities and the services such out13 side entities provide;’’; 

14 (7) in paragraph (8)— 

15 (A) by striking ‘‘leadership of’’ and insert 

16 ‘‘partnership with’’; and 

17 (B) by striking the period at the end and 

18 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

20 ‘‘(9) shall describe the extent to which there is 

21 evidence to support the effectiveness of activities 

22 conducted under this title for the program’s in23 tended purpose, or, in instances where such evidence 

24 is not available, shall describe barriers and chal25 lenges to developing evidence of effectiveness.’’. 


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1 SEC. 207. NATIONAL NETWORK FOR COMMUNITY-BASED 

2 FAMILY RESOURCE PROGRAMS. 

3 Section 207 of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

4 Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5116g) is amended— 

5 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 

6 striking ‘‘such sums as may be necessary’’ and in7 serting ‘‘not more than 5 percent’’; and 

8 (2) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘community9 based and prevention-focused programs and activi10 ties designed to strengthen and support families’’ 

11 and inserting ‘‘community-based family strength12 ening services designed’’. 

13 SEC. 208. DEFINITIONS. 

14 Section 208 of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

15 Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5116h) is amended— 

16 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 

17 paragraphs (2) and (1), respectively, and transfer18 ring paragraph (1) as redesignated to appear before 

19 paragraph (2) as redesignated; and 

20 (2) by striking paragraph (1) (as so redesig21 nated) and inserting the following: 

22 ‘‘(1) COMMUNITY-BASED FAMILY STRENGTH23 ENING SERVICES.—The term ‘community-based fam24 ily strengthening services’ includes organizations 

25 such as family resource programs, family support 

26 programs, voluntary home visiting programs, respite 


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1 care services, parenting education, mutual support 

2 groups for parents, children, parent partner pro3 grams, and other community programs or networks 

4 of such programs that provide activities that are de5 signed to prevent child abuse and neglect.’’. 

6 SEC. 209. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Child Abuse Pre8 vention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5116 et seq.) is 

9 amended— 

10 (1) by redesignating section 209 as section 210; 

11 and 

12 (2) by inserting after section 208 the following: 

13 ‘‘SEC. 209. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

14 ‘‘Nothing in this title shall be construed to prohibit 

15 grandparents, kinship care providers, foster parents, adop16 tive parents, or any other individual in a parenting role 

17 from receiving or participating in services and programs 

18 under this title.’’. 

19 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con20 tents in section 1(b) of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

21 Treatment Act is amended by striking the item relating 

22 to section 209 and inserting the following: 

‘‘Sec. 209. Rule of construction. 

‘‘Sec. 210. Authorization of appropriations.’’. 


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1 SEC. 210. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 Section 210 of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

3 Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5116 et seq.), as redesignated 

4 by section 209 of this Act, is amended— 

5 (1) by striking ‘‘There are’’ and inserting the 

6 following: 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There are’’; 

8 (2) by striking ‘‘to carry out’’ through ‘‘fiscal 

9 year 2010’’ and inserting ‘‘to carry out this title 

10 $270,000,000 for fiscal year 2020’’; 

11 (3) by striking ‘‘2011 through 2015’’ and in12 serting ‘‘2021 through 2025’’; and 

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

14 ‘‘(b) TREATMENT OF NON-FEDERAL FUNDS IN CER15 TAIN FISCAL YEARS.—For any fiscal year for which the 

16 amount appropriated under subsection (a) exceeds the 

17 amount appropriated under such subsection for fiscal year 

18 2019, the Secretary shall consider non-Federal funds and 

19 in-kind contributions as part of the State contribution for 

20 the activities specified in section 204(4).’’. 

21 SEC. 211. STUDY AND REPORT. 

22 (a) STUDY RELATING TO NEW PREVENTION PRO23 GRAMS.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of 

25 the United States shall complete a study, using data 

26 reported by States to the Secretary of Health and 


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1 Human Services under section 206 of the Child 

2 Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 

3 5116f), as amended by this Act— 

4 (A) to determine how many families and 

5 children in the first 3 years after the date of 

6 the enactment of this Act are served annually 

7 through programs funded under title II of the 

8 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 

9 U.S.C. 5116 et seq.); and 

10 (B) to compare the number of such fami11 lies and children served annually in the first 3 

12 years after the date of the enactment of this 

13 Act to the number of such families and children 

14 served in fiscal year 2019. 

15 (2) CONTENTS.—The study required under 

16 paragraph (1) shall include the following for each of 

17 the first 3 years after the date of the enactment of 

18 this Act: 

19 (A) An examination of how many families 

20 received evidence-based programming under 

21 title II of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

22 Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5116 et seq.). 

23 (B) An examination of the extent to which 

24 local programs conduct evaluations using funds 


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1 provided under such title and the findings of 

2 such evaluations. 

3 (C) An examination of whether findings of 

4 effectiveness in evaluation studies vary by 

5 urban, suburban, or rural community type. 

6 (D) An examination of whether programs 

7 partnering with other entities are more effective 

8 than those that do not partner with other enti9 ties. 

10 (E) An examination of barriers to imple11 ment evidence-based programming or to con12 duct evaluations in instances where such activi13 ties do not occur. 

14 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 4 years after the date 

15 of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of 

16 the United States shall submit to the Committee on 

17 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and 

18 the Committee on Education and Labor of the House of 

19 Representatives a report that contains the results of the 

20 study conducted under paragraph (1). 


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1 TITLE III—ADOPTION 

2 OPPORTUNITIES 

3 SEC. 301. PURPOSE. 

4 Section 201 of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

5 Treatment and Adoption Reform Act of 1978 (42 U.S.C. 

6 5111) is amended— 

7 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘CON8 GRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF

9 PURPOSE’’ and inserting ‘‘PURPOSE’’; 

10 (2) by striking subsection (a); and 

11 (3) in subsection (b)— 

12 (A) by striking ‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—’’; 

13 (B) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

14 by inserting ‘‘sexual and gender minority 

15 youth’’ after ‘‘particularly older children, minor16 ity children,’’; and 

17 (C) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘serv18 ices and,’’ after ‘‘post-legal adoption’’. 

19 SEC. 302. REPORT AND GUIDANCE ON UNREGULATED CUS20 TODY TRANSFERS. 

21 The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment and 

22 Adoption Reform Act of 1978 (42 U.S.C. 5111 et seq.) 

23 is amended by inserting after section 201 the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 202. REPORT AND GUIDANCE ON UNREGULATED CUS2 TODY TRANSFERS. 

3 ‘‘(a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con4 gress that: 

5 ‘‘(1) Some adopted children may be at risk of 

6 experiencing an unregulated custody transfer be7 cause the challenges associated with adoptions (in8 cluding the child’s mental health needs and the dif9 ficulties many families face in acquiring support 

10 services) may lead families to seek out unregulated 

11 custody transfers. 

12 ‘‘(2) Some adopted children experience trauma, 

13 and the disruption and placement in another home 

14 by unregulated custody transfer creates additional 

15 trauma and instability for children. 

16 ‘‘(3) Children who experience an unregulated 

17 custody transfer may be placed with families who 

18 have not completed required child welfare or crimi19 nal background checks or clearances. 

20 ‘‘(4) Social services agencies and courts are 

21 often unaware of the placement of children through 

22 unregulated custody transfer and therefore do not 

23 conduct assessments on the child’s safety and well24 being in such placements. 


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1 ‘‘(5) Such lack of placement oversight places a 

2 child at risk for future abuse and increases the 

3 chance that the child may experience— 

4 ‘‘(A) abuse or neglect; 

5 ‘‘(B) contact with unsafe adults or youth; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(C) exposure to unsafe or isolated envi8 ronments. 

9 ‘‘(6) The caregivers with whom a child is placed 

10 through unregulated custody transfer often have no 

11 legal responsibility with respect to such child, plac12 ing the child at risk for additional unregulated cus13 tody transfers. 

14 ‘‘(7) Such caregivers also may not have com15 plete records with respect to such child, including 

16 the child’s birth, medical, or immigration records. 

17 ‘‘(8) A child adopted through intercountry 

18 adoption may be at risk of not acquiring United 

19 States citizenship if an unregulated custody transfer 

20 occurs before the adoptive parents complete all nec21 essary steps to finalize the adoption of such child. 

22 ‘‘(9) Engaging in, or offering to engage in, un23 regulated custody transfer places children at risk of 

24 harm. 

25 ‘‘(b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

2 the date of the enactment of this section, the Sec3 retary of Health and Human Services shall provide 

4 to the Committee on Education and Labor of the 

5 House of Representatives, the Committee on Ways 

6 and Means of the House of Representatives, the 

7 Committee on Finance of the Senate, and the Com8 mittee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions of 

9 the Senate a report on unregulated custody transfers 

10 of children, including of adopted children. 

11 ‘‘(2) ELEMENTS.—The report required under 

12 paragraph (1) shall include— 

13 ‘‘(A) the causes, methods, and characteris14 tics of unregulated custody transfers, including 

15 the use of social media and the internet; 

16 ‘‘(B) the effects of unregulated custody 

17 transfers on children, including the lack of as18 sessment of a child’s safety and well-being by 

19 social services agencies and courts due to such 

20 unregulated custody transfer; 

21 ‘‘(C) the prevalence of unregulated custody 

22 transfers within each State and across all 

23 States; and 

24 ‘‘(D) recommended policies for preventing, 

25 identifying, and responding to unregulated cusVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00103 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2480.RFS H2480

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1 tody transfers, including of adopted children, 

2 that include— 

3 ‘‘(i) amendments to Federal and State 

4 law to address unregulated custody trans5 fers; 

6 ‘‘(ii) amendments to child protection 

7 practices to address unregulated custody 

8 transfers; and 

9 ‘‘(iii) methods of providing the public 

10 information regarding adoption and child 

11 protection. 

12 ‘‘(c) GUIDANCE TO STATES.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

14 after the date specified in subsection (b)(1), the Sec15 retary shall issue guidance and technical assistance 

16 to States related to preventing, identifying, and re17 sponding to unregulated custody transfers, including 

18 of adopted children. 

19 ‘‘(2) ELEMENTS.—The guidance required under 

20 paragraph (1) shall include— 

21 ‘‘(A) education materials related to pre22 venting, identifying, and responding to unregu23 lated custody transfers for employees of State, 

24 local, and Tribal agencies that provide child 

25 welfare services; 


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1 ‘‘(B) guidance on appropriate pre-adoption 

2 education and post-adoption services for domes3 tic and international adoptive families to pro4 mote child permanency; and 

5 ‘‘(C) the assistance available through the 

6 National Resource Center for Special Needs 

7 Adoption under section 203(b)(9). 

8 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 ‘‘(1) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each of 

10 the several States, the District of Columbia, and any 

11 commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United 

12 States. 

13 ‘‘(2) UNREGULATED CUSTODY TRANSFER.— 

14 The term ‘unregulated custody transfer’ means the 

15 abandonment of a child, by the child’s parent, legal 

16 guardian, or a person or entity acting on behalf, and 

17 with the consent, of such parent or guardian— 

18 ‘‘(A) by placing a child with a person who 

19 is not— 

20 ‘‘(i) the child’s parent, step–parent, 

21 grandparent, adult sibling, legal guardian, 

22 or other adult relative; 

23 ‘‘(ii) a friend of the family who is an 

24 adult and with whom the child is familiar; 

25 or 


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1 ‘‘(iii) a member of the Federally rec2 ognized Indian tribe of which the child is 

3 also a member; 

4 ‘‘(B) with the intent of severing the rela5 tionship between the child and the parent or 

6 guardian of such child; and 

7 ‘‘(C) without— 

8 ‘‘(i) reasonably ensuring the safety of 

9 the child and permanency of the placement 

10 of the child, including by conducting an of11 ficial home study, background check, and 

12 supervision; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) transferring the legal rights and 

14 responsibilities of parenthood or guardian15 ship under applicable Federal and State 

16 law to a person described in subparagraph 

17 (A).’’. 

18 SEC. 303. INFORMATION AND SERVICES. 

19 (a) NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTER FOR SPECIAL

20 NEEDS ADOPTION.—Section 203(b)(9) of the Child Abuse 

21 Prevention and Treatment and Adoption Reform Act of 

22 1978 (42 U.S.C. 5113(b)(9)) is amended by inserting ‘‘not 

23 later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of the 

24 Stronger Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, es25 tablish and’’ before ‘‘maintain’’. 


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1 (b) PLACEMENT WITH ADOPTIVE FAMILIES.—Sec2 tion 203(b)(11)(C) of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

3 Treatment and Adoption Reform Act of 1978 (42 U.S.C. 

4 5113(b)(11)(C)) is amended by striking ‘‘such children’’ 

5 and inserting ‘‘the children and youth described in the 

6 matter preceding paragraph (1) of section 201’’. 

7 (c) PRE-ADOPTION SERVICES.—Section 203(c)(1) of 

8 the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment and Adoption 

9 Reform Act of 1978 (42 U.S.C. 5113(c)(1)) is amended 

10 by striking ‘‘post’’ and inserting ‘‘pre- and post-’’. 

11 (d) SERVICES.—Section 203(c)(2) of the Child Abuse 

12 Prevention and Treatment and Adoption Reform Act of 

13 1978 (42 U.S.C. 5113(c)(2)) is amended by inserting 

14 ‘‘and the development of such services,’’ after ‘‘not sup15 plant, services’’. 

16 (e) ELIMINATION OF BARRIERS TO ADOPTION

17 ACROSS JURISDICTIONAL BOUNDARIES.—Section 

18 203(e)(1) of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment 

19 and Adoption Reform Act of 1978 (42 U.S.C. 5113(e)(1)) 

20 is amended— 

21 (1) by striking ‘‘with, States,’’ and inserting 

22 ‘‘with States, Indian Tribes,’’; and 

23 (2) by inserting ‘‘, including through the use of 

24 web-based tools such as the electronic interstate 

25 case-processing system referred to in section 437(g) 


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1 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 629g(g))’’ be2 fore the period at the end. 

3 SEC. 304. STUDY AND REPORT ON SUCCESSFUL ADOP4 TIONS. 

5 Section 204 of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

6 Treatment and Adoption Reform Act of 1978 (42 U.S.C. 

7 5114) is amended to read as follows: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 204. STUDY AND REPORT ON SUCCESSFUL ADOP9 TIONS. 

10 ‘‘(a) STUDY.—The Secretary shall conduct a study 

11 (directly or by grant to, or contract with, public or private 

12 nonprofit research agencies or organizations) on adoption 

13 outcomes and the factors (including parental substance 

14 use disorder) affecting those outcomes. 

15 ‘‘(b) REPORT.—Not later than the date that is 36 

16 months after the date of the enactment of the Stronger 

17 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act the Secretary 

18 shall submit a report to Congress that includes the results 

19 of the study required under subsection (a).’’. 

20 SEC. 305. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

21 Section 205(a) of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

22 Treatment and Adoption Reform Act of 1978 (42 U.S.C. 

23 5115(a)) is amended— 

24 (1) by striking ‘‘fiscal year 2010’’ and inserting 

25 ‘‘fiscal year 2020’’; and 


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1 (2) by striking ‘‘fiscal years 2011 through 

2 2015’’ and inserting ‘‘fiscal years 2021 through 

3 2025’’. 

4 TITLE IV—AMENDMENTS TO 

5 OTHER LAWS 

6 SEC. 401. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO 

7 OTHER LAWS. 

8 (a) HEAD START ACT.—Section 658E(c)(2)(L) of 

9 the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9858c(c)(2)(L)) is amend10 ed by striking ‘‘will comply with the child abuse reporting 

11 requirements of section 106(b)(2)(B)(i) of the Child 

12 Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 

13 5106a(b)(2)(B)(i))’’ and inserting ‘‘will comply with the 

14 child abuse reporting requirements of section 

15 106(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treat16 ment Act (42 U.S.C. 5106a(b)(2)(A)(i))’’. 

17 (b) VICTIMS OF CRIME ACT OF 1984.—Section 

18 1404A of the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (34 U.S.C. 

19 20104) is amended by striking ‘‘section 109’’ and insert20 ing ‘‘section 107’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives May 20, 2019. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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