230
‘‘(A) set aside not less than 5 percent for 
grants to Indian tribal governments or tribal 
organizations; 
‘‘(B) use not more than 3 percent for eval-
uation, monitoring, site visits, grantee con-
ferences, and other administrative costs associ-
ated with conducting activities under this sec-
tion; and 
‘‘(C) set aside not more than 8 percent for 
training, technical assistance, and data collec-
tion to be provided by organizations having na-
tionally recognized expertise in the design of 
safe and secure supervised visitation programs 
and visitation exchange of children in situations 
involving domestic violence, dating violence, sex-
ual assault, or stalking.’’. 
SEC. 704. GRANTS TO COMBAT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, DAT-
ING 
VIOLENCE, 
SEXUAL 
ASSAULT, 
AND 
STALKING IN MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOLS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 
‘‘Supporting Teens through Education and Protection Act 
of 2005’’ or the ‘‘STEP Act’’. 
(b) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Attorney General, 
through the Director of the Office on Violence Against 
Women, is authorized to award grants to middle schools
231
and high schools that work with domestic violence and sex-
ual assault experts to enable the schools—
(1) to provide training to school administrators, 
faculty, counselors, coaches, healthcare providers, se-
curity personnel, and other staff on the needs and 
concerns of students who experience domestic vio-
lence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, 
and the impact of such violence on students; 
(2) to develop and implement policies in middle 
and high schools regarding appropriate, safe re-
sponses to, and identification and referral proce-
dures for, students who are experiencing or perpe-
trating domestic violence, dating violence, sexual as-
sault, or stalking, including procedures for handling 
the requirements of court protective orders issued to 
or against students or school personnel, in a manner 
that ensures the safety of the victim and holds the 
perpetrator accountable; 
(3) to provide support services for students and 
school personnel, such as a resource person who is 
either on-site or on-call, and who is an expert de-
scribed in subsections (i)(2) and (i)(3), for the pur-
pose of developing and strengthening effective pre-
vention and intervention strategies for students and
232
school personnel experiencing domestic violence, dat-
ing violence, sexual assault or stalking; 
(4) to provide developmentally appropriate edu-
cational programming to students regarding domes-
tic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and 
stalking, and the impact of experiencing domestic vi-
olence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking 
on children and youth by adapting existing curricula 
activities to the relevant student population; 
(5) to work with existing mentoring programs 
and develop strong mentoring programs for stu-
dents, including student athletes, to help them un-
derstand and recognize violence and violent behavior, 
how to prevent it and how to appropriately address 
their feelings; and 
(6) to conduct evaluations to assess the impact 
of programs and policies assisted under this section 
in order to enhance the development of the pro-
grams. 
(c) AWARD BASIS.—The Director shall award grants 
and contracts under this section on a competitive basis. 
(d) POLICY DISSEMINATION.—The Director shall dis-
seminate to middle and high schools any existing Depart-
ment of Justice, Department of Health and Human Serv-
ices, and Department of Education policy guidance and
233
curricula regarding the prevention of domestic violence, 
dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, and the im-
pact of the violence on children and youth. 
(e) NONDISCLOSURE OF CONFIDENTIAL OR PRIVATE 
INFORMATION.—In order to ensure the safety of adult, 
youth, and minor victims of domestic violence, dating vio-
lence, sexual assault, or stalking and their families, grant-
ees and subgrantees shall protect the confidentiality and 
privacy of persons receiving services. Grantees and sub-
grantees pursuant to this section shall not disclose any 
personally identifying information or individual informa-
tion collected in connection with services requested, uti-
lized, or denied through grantees’ and subgrantees’ pro-
grams. Grantees and subgrantees shall not reveal indi-
vidual client information without the informed, written, 
reasonably time-limited consent of the person (or in the 
case of unemancipated minor, the minor and the parent 
or guardian, except that consent for release may not be 
given by the abuser of the minor or of the other parent 
of the minor) about whom information is sought, whether 
for this program or any other Tribal, Federal, State or 
Territorial grant program. If release of such information 
is compelled by statutory or court mandate, grantees and 
subgrantees shall make reasonable attempts to provide no-
tice to victims affected by the disclosure of information.
234
If such personally identifying information is or will be re-
vealed, grantees and subgrantees shall take steps nec-
essary to protect the privacy and safety of the persons af-
fected by the release of the information. Grantees may 
share non-personally identifying data in the aggregate re-
garding services to their clients and non-personally identi-
fying demographic information in order to comply with 
Tribal, Federal, State or Territorial reporting, evaluation, 
or data collection requirements. Grantees and subgrantees 
may share court-generated information contained in se-
cure, governmental registries for protection order enforce-
ment purposes. 
(f) GRANT TERM AND ALLOCATION.—
(1) TERM.—The Director shall make the grants 
under this section for a period of 3 fiscal years. 
(2) ALLOCATION.—Not more than 15 percent 
of the funds available to a grantee in a given year 
shall be used for the purposes described in sub-
section (b)(4)(D), (b),(5), and (b)(6). 
(g) DISTRIBUTION.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not less than 5 percent of 
funds appropriated under subsection (l) in any year 
shall be available for grants to tribal schools, schools 
on tribal lands or schools whose student population 
is more than 25 percent Native American.
235
(2) ADMINISTRATION.—The Director shall not 
use more than 5 percent of funds appropriated 
under subsection (l) in any year for administration, 
monitoring and evaluation of grants made available 
under this section. 
(3) TRAINING, TECHNICAL
ASSISTANCE, AND 
DATA
COLLECTION.—Not less than 5 percent of 
funds appropriated under subsection (l) in any year 
shall be available to provide training, technical as-
sistance, and data collection for programs funded 
under this section. 
(h) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to be awarded a 
grant or contract under this section for any fiscal year, 
a middle or secondary school, in consultation with an ex-
pert as described in subsections (i)(2) and (i)(3), shall 
submit an application to the Director at such time and 
in such manner as the Director shall prescribe. 
(i) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive a 
grant under this section, an entity shall be a partnership 
that—
(1) shall include a public, charter, tribal, or na-
tionally accredited private middle or high school, a 
school administered by the Department of Defense 
under 10 U.S.C. 2164 or 20 U.S.C. 921, a group of 
schools, or a school district;
236
(2) shall include a domestic violence victim 
service provider that has a history of working on do-
mestic violence and the impact that domestic vio-
lence and dating violence have on children and 
youth; 
(3) shall include a sexual assault victim service 
provider, such as a rape crisis center, program serv-
ing tribal victims of sexual assault, or coalition or 
other nonprofit nongovernmental organization car-
rying out a community-based sexual assault pro-
gram, that has a history of effective work concerning 
sexual assault and the impact that sexual assault 
has on children and youth; and 
(4) may include a law enforcement agency, the 
State, Tribal, Territorial or local court, nonprofit 
nongovernmental organizations and service providers 
addressing sexual harassment, bullying or gang-re-
lated violence in schools, and any other such agen-
cies or nonprofit nongovernmental organizations 
with the capacity to provide effective assistance to 
the adult, youth, and minor victims served by the 
partnership. 
(j) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec-
tion, the Director shall give priority to entities that have
237
submitted applications in partnership with relevant courts 
or law enforcement agencies. 
(k) REPORTING AND DISSEMINATION OF INFORMA-
TION.—
(1) REPORTING.—Each of the entities that are 
members of the applicant partnership described in 
subsection (i), that receive a grant under this section 
shall jointly prepare and submit to the Director 
every 18 months a report detailing the activities that 
the entities have undertaken under the grant and 
such additional information as the Director shall re-
quire. 
(2) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.—Within 
9 months of the completion of the first full grant 
cycle, the Director shall publicly disseminate, includ-
ing through electronic means, model policies and 
procedures developed and implemented in middle 
and high schools by the grantees, including informa-
tion on the impact the policies have had on their re-
spective schools and communities. 
(l) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section, $5,000,000 
for each of fiscal years 2006 through 2010.
238
(2) AVAILABILITY.—Funds appropriated under 
paragraph (1) shall remain available until expended. 
TITLE 
VIII—STRENGTHENING 
AMERICA’S FAMILIES BY PRE-
VENTING VIOLENCE IN THE 
HOME 
SEC. 801. PREVENTING VIOLENCE IN THE HOME. 
The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 is amended 
by adding after subtitle L (as added by section 701) the 
following: 
‘‘Subtitle M—Strengthening Amer-
ica’s Families by Preventing Vi-
olence in the Home 
‘‘SEC. 41301. PURPOSE. 
‘‘The purpose of this subtitle is to—
‘‘(1) prevent crimes involving domestic violence, 
dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, includ-
ing when committed against children and youth; 
‘‘(2) increase the resources and services avail-
able to prevent domestic violence, dating violence, 
sexual assault, and stalking, including when com-
mitted against children and youth; 
‘‘(3) reduce the impact of exposure to violence 
in the lives of children and youth so that the 
intergenerational cycle of violence is interrupted;
239
‘‘(4) develop and implement education and serv-
ices programs to prevent children in vulnerable fami-
lies from becoming victims or perpetrators of domes-
tic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalk-
ing; 
‘‘(5) promote programs to ensure that children 
and youth receive the assistance they need to end 
the cycle of violence and develop mutually respectful, 
nonviolent relationships; and 
‘‘(6) encourage collaboration among community-
based organizations and governmental agencies serv-
ing children and youth, providers of health and men-
tal health services and providers of domestic vio-
lence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking 
victim services to prevent violence. 
‘‘SEC. 41302. GRANTS TO ASSIST CHILDREN AND YOUTH EX-
POSED TO VIOLENCE. 
‘‘(a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General, act-
ing through the Director of the Office on Violence 
Against Women, and in consultation with the Sec-
retary of Health and Human Services, is authorized 
to award grants on a competitive basis to eligible en-
tities for the purpose of mitigating the effects of do-
mestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and
240
stalking on children exposed to such violence, and 
reducing the risk of future victimization or perpetra-
tion of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual as-
sault, and stalking. 
‘‘(2) TERM.—The Director shall make grants 
under this section for a period of 3 fiscal years. 
‘‘(3) AWARD BASIS.—The Director shall award 
grants—
‘‘(A) considering the needs of populations 
underserved because of geographic location, un-
derserved racial and ethnic populations, popu-
lations underserved because of special needs 
(such as language barriers, disabilities, alienage 
status, or age), and any other population deter-
mined to be underserved by the Attorney Gen-
eral; 
‘‘(B) awarding not less than 10 percent of 
such amounts for the funding of tribal projects 
from the amounts made available under this 
section for a fiscal year; 
‘‘(C) awarding up to 8 percent for the 
funding of training, technical assistance, and 
data collection programs from the amounts 
made available under this section for a fiscal 
year; and
241
‘‘(D) awarding not less than 66 percent to 
programs described in subsection (c)(1) from 
the amounts made available under this section 
for a fiscal year. 
‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
$15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 through 2010. 
‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—The funds appropriated under 
this section shall be used for—
‘‘(1) programs that provide services for children 
exposed to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual 
assault, or stalking, which may include direct coun-
seling, advocacy, or mentoring, and must include 
support for the nonabusing parent or the child’s 
caretaker; 
‘‘(2) training and coordination for programs 
that serve children and youth (such as Head Start, 
child care, and after-school programs) on how to 
safely and confidentially identify children and fami-
lies experiencing domestic violence and properly refer 
them to programs that can provide direct services to 
the family and children, and coordination with other 
domestic violence or other programs serving children 
exposed to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual
242
assault, or stalking that can provide the training 
and direct services referenced in this subsection; or 
‘‘(3) advocacy within the systems that serve 
children to improve the system’s understanding of 
and response to children who have been exposed to 
domestic violence and the needs of the nonabusing 
parent. 
‘‘(d) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive 
a grant under this section, an entity shall be—
‘‘(1) a victim service provider, tribal nonprofit 
organization or community-based organization that 
has a documented history of effective work con-
cerning children or youth exposed to domestic vio-
lence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, in-
cluding programs that provide culturally specific 
services, Head Start, child care, after school pro-
grams, and health and mental health providers; or 
‘‘(2) a State, territorial, tribal, or local unit of 
government agency that is partnered with an organi-
zation described in paragraph (1). 
‘‘(e) GRANTEE REQUIREMENTS.—Under this section, 
an entity shall—
‘‘(1) prepare and submit to the Director an ap-
plication at such time, in such manner, and con-