II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 656 

To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to enable State 

child protective services systems to improve the identification and assessment of child victims of sex trafficking, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 4, 2015 

Mr. PORTMAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act 

to enable State child protective services systems to improve the identification and assessment of child victims 

of sex trafficking, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensuring a Better Re5 sponse for Victims of Child Sex Trafficking’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CAPTA AMENDMENTS. 

2 (a) STATE PLANS.—Section 106 of the Child Abuse 

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

4 amended— 

5 (1) in subsection (b)(2)(B)— 

6 (A) in clause (xxii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

7 the end; and 

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

9 ‘‘(xxiv) provisions and procedures re10 quiring identification and assessment of all 

11 reports involving children known or sus12 pected to be victims of sex trafficking (as 

13 defined in section 103(9)(B) of the Traf14 ficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 

15 U.S.C. 7102 (9)(B))); and 

16 ‘‘(xxv) provisions and procedures for 

17 training child protective services workers 

18 about identifying, assessing, and providing 

19 comprehensive services for children who 

20 are sex trafficking victims, including ef21 forts to coordinate with State law enforce22 ment, juvenile justice, and social service 

23 agencies such as runaway and homeless 

24 youth shelters to serve this population;’’; 

25 and 


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1 (2) in subsection (d), by adding at the end the 

2 following: 

3 ‘‘(17) The number of children determined to be 

4 victims described in subsection (b)(2)(B)(xxiv).’’. 

5 (b) SPECIAL RULE.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 111 of the Child 

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

8 5106g) is amended— 

9 (A) by striking ‘‘For purposes’’ and insert10 ing the following: 

11 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes’’; and 

12 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(b) SPECIAL RULE.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 

15 3(2) and subsection (a)(4), a child shall be consid16 ered a victim of ‘child abuse and neglect’ and of 

17 ‘sexual abuse’ if the child is identified, by a State or 

18 local agency employee of the State or locality in19 volved, as being a victim of sex trafficking (as de20 fined in paragraph (10) of section 103 of the Traf21 ficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 

22 7102)) or a victim of severe forms of trafficking in 

23 persons described in paragraph (9)(A) of that sec24 tion. 


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1 ‘‘(2) STATE OPTION.—Notwithstanding the def2 inition of ‘child’ in section 3(1), a State may elect 

3 to define that term for purposes of the application 

4 of paragraph (1) to section 3(2) and subsection 

5 (a)(4) as a person who has not attained the age of 

6 24.’’. 

7 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 3(2) 

8 of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act 

9 (42 U.S.C. 5101 note) is amended by inserting (‘‘in10 cluding sexual abuse as determined under section 

11 111)’’ after ‘‘sexual abuse or exploitation’’. 

12 (3) TECHNICAL CORRECTION.—Paragraph 

13 (5)(C) of subsection (a), as so designated, of section 

14 111 of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment 

15 Act (42 U.S.C. 5106g) is amended by striking ‘‘in16 humane;’’ and inserting ‘‘inhumane.’’. 

Æ 


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