116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1160 

AN ACT 

To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act 

to increase support for mental health. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
2 

†S 1160 ES

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Supporting Family 

3 Mental Health in CAPTA Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION 

5 AND TREATMENT ACT. 

6 (a) NATIONAL CLEARINGHOUSE.—Section 103(b) of 

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

8 5104(b)) is amended— 

9 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘effective pro10 grams,’’ and inserting ‘‘evidence-based and evidence11 informed programs,’’; 

12 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (5) through 

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

14 and 

15 (3) by inserting after paragraph (4), the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(5) maintain and disseminate, as appropriate, 

18 information that describes best practices for making 

19 appropriate referrals related to, and addressing, the 

20 health, mental health, and developmental needs of 

21 victims of child abuse or neglect;’’. 

22 (b) RESEARCH AND ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES.—Sec23 tion 104 of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment 

24 Act (42 U.S.C. 5105) is amended— 

25 (1) in subsection (a)— 

26 (A) in paragraph (1)— 
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†S 1160 ES

1 (i) by striking subparagraph (F) and 

2 inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘(F) effective approaches to interagency 

4 collaboration between the child welfare protec5 tion system, the juvenile justice system, and 

6 other relevant agencies engaged with children 

7 and families that improve the delivery of serv8 ices and treatment (including related to domes9 tic violence, mental health, or substance use dis10 orders) for continuity of treatment plan and 

11 services as children transition between sys12 tems;’’; 

13 (ii) by redesignating subparagraphs 

14 (N) and (O) as subparagraphs (P) and 

15 (Q), respectively; 

16 (iii) by inserting after subparagraph 

17 (M) the following: 

18 ‘‘(N) methods to address geographic, ra19 cial, and cultural disparities in the child welfare 

20 system, including a focus on access to services; 

21 ‘‘(O) evidence-based and evidence-informed 

22 programs to prevent child abuse and neglect in 

23 families that have not had contact with the 

24 child welfare system;’’; and 
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1 (iv) in subparagraph (P), as redesig2 nated by clause (ii), by striking ‘‘subpara3 graph (O)’’ and inserting ‘‘subparagraph 

4 (Q)’’; and 

5 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘para6 graph (1)(O)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 

7 (1)(Q)’’; and 

8 (2) in subsection (b)— 

9 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and 

10 (3) as paragraphs (3) and (4), respectively; 

11 (B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 

12 following: 

13 ‘‘(2) CONTENT.—The technical assistance 

14 under paragraph (1) shall be designed to, as applica15 ble, promote best practices for addressing child 

16 abuse and neglect in families with complex needs, 

17 such as families who have experienced domestic vio18 lence, substance use disorders, and adverse child19 hood experiences.’’; and 

20 (C) in paragraph (3), as so redesignated— 

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

22 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 

23 (ii) in subparagraph (D), by striking 

24 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

25 and’’; and 
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1 (iii) by adding at the end the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(E) ways to reduce geographic, racial, 

4 and cultural disparities in the child protection 

5 system, which may include engaging law en6 forcement, education, health, and other relevant 

7 systems in such efforts.’’. 

8 (c) GRANTS TO STATES.—Section 106 of the Child 

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

10 is amended— 

11 (1) in subsection (a)— 

12 (A) in paragraph (6)— 

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

14 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; and 

15 (ii) by striking subparagraph (D) and 

16 inserting the following: 

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

18 adolescent development and the impact of child 

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

20 adverse childhood experiences; and 

21 ‘‘(E) training to improve coordination 

22 among child protective service agencies, entities 

23 providing health care services (including mental 

24 health and substance use disorder services), and 

25 community resources, for purposes of con-
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1 ducting evaluations related to substantiated 

2 cases of child abuse or neglect; and 

3 ‘‘(F) training regarding the links between 

4 child abuse and neglect and domestic violence, 

5 and approaches to working with families with 

6 mental health needs or substance use dis7 order;’’. 

8 (d) APPLICATION.—Section 204(7) of the Child 

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

10 5116d(7)) is amended to read as follows: 

11 ‘‘(7) a description of the criteria that the entity 

12 will use to— 

13 ‘‘(A) select and fund local programs, and 

14 how the lead entity will take into consideration 

15 the local program’s ability to— 

16 ‘‘(i) collaborate with other community17 based organizations and service providers 

18 and engage in long-term and strategic 

19 planning with respect to community-based 

20 and prevention-focused programs and ac21 tivities designed to strengthen and support 

22 families to prevent child abuse and neglect; 

23 ‘‘(ii) meaningfully partner with par24 ents in the development, implementation, 

25 oversight, and evaluation of services; 
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1 ‘‘(iii) reduce barriers to access to com2 munity-based and prevention-focused pro3 grams and activities designed to strength4 en and support families to prevent child 

5 abuse and neglect, including for diverse, 

6 underserved, and at-risk populations; or 

7 ‘‘(B) develop or provide community-based 

8 and prevention-focused programs and activities 

9 designed to strengthen and support families to 

10 prevent child abuse and neglect, and provide a 

11 description of how such activities are evidence12 based or evidence-informed;’’. 

13 SEC. 3. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS. 

14 The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 

15 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.) is amended— 

16 (1) in section 3, by amending paragraph (5) to 

17 read as follows: 

18 ‘‘(5) the terms ‘Indian’, ‘Indian Tribe’, and 

19 ‘Tribal organization’ have the meanings given the 

20 terms ‘Indian’, ‘Indian tribe’, and ‘tribal organiza21 tion’, respectively, in section 4 of the Indian Self-De22 termination and Education Assistance Act (25 

23 U.S.C. 450b);’’; 
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1 (2) by striking ‘‘tribe’’ each place such term ap2 pears (other than in section 3(5)) and inserting 

3 ‘‘Tribe’’; and 

4 (3) by striking ‘‘tribal’’ each place such term 

5 appears (other than in section 3(5)) and inserting 

6 ‘‘Tribal’’. 

Passed the Senate September 17, 2020. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1160 

AN ACT 

To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to increase support for mental health.