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‘‘SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
‘‘The Congress finds the following:
‘‘(1) Each year, close to 1,000,000 American
children are victims of abuse and neglect.
‘‘(2) Many of these children and their families
fail to receive adequate protection or treatment.
‘‘(3) The problem of child abuse and neglect re-
quires a comprehensive approach that—
‘‘(A) integrates the work of social service,
legal, health, mental health, education, and sub-
stance abuse agencies and organizations;
‘‘(B) strengthens coordination among all
levels of government, and with private agencies,
civic, religious, and professional organizations,
and individual volunteers;
‘‘(C) emphasizes the need for abuse and
neglect prevention, assessment, investigation,
and treatment at the neighborhood level;
‘‘(D) ensures properly trained and support
staff with specialized knowledge, to carry out
their child protection duties; and
‘‘(E) is sensitive to ethnic and cultural di-
versity.
‘‘(4) The child protection system should be
comprehensive, child-centered, family-focused, and
community-based, should incorporate all appropriate
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measures to prevent the occurrence or recurrence of
child abuse and neglect, and should promote physical
and psychological recovery and social reintegration
in an environment that fosters the health, safety,
self-respect, and dignity of the child.
‘‘(5) The Federal Government should provide
leadership and assist communities in their child and
family protection efforts by—
‘‘(A) generating and sharing knowledge
relevant to child and family protection, includ-
ing the development of models for service deliv-
ery;
‘‘(B) strengthening the capacity of States
to assist communities;
‘‘(C) helping communities to carry out
their child and family protection plans by pro-
moting the competence of professional, para-
professional, and volunteer resources; and
‘‘(D) providing leadership to end the abuse
and neglect of the Nation’s children and youth.
‘‘SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
‘‘The purposes of this Act are the following:
‘‘(1) To assist each State in improving the child
protective service systems of such State by—
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‘‘(A) improving risk and safety assessment
tools and protocols;
‘‘(B) developing, strengthening, and facili-
tating training opportunities for individuals who
are mandated to report child abuse or neglect
or otherwise overseeing, investigating, prosecut-
ing, or providing services to children and fami-
lies who are at risk of abusing or neglecting
their children; and
‘‘(C) developing, implementing, or operat-
ing information, education, training, or other
programs designed to assist and provide serv-
ices for families of disabled infants with life-
threatening conditions.
‘‘(2) To support State efforts to develop, oper-
ate, expand and enhance a network of community-
based, prevention-focused, family resource and sup-
port programs that are culturally competent and
that coordinate resources among existing education,
vocational rehabilitation, disability, respite, health,
mental health, job readiness, self-sufficiency, child
and family development, community action, Head
Start, child care, child abuse and neglect prevention,
juvenile justice, domestic violence prevention and
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intervention, housing, and other human service orga-
nizations within the State.
‘‘(3) To facilitate the elimination of barriers to
adoption and to provide permanent and loving home
environments for children who would benefit from
adoption, particularly children with special needs, in-
cluding disabled infants with life-threatening condi-
tions, by—
‘‘(A) promoting model adoption legislation
and procedures in the States and territories of
the United States in order to eliminate jurisdic-
tional and legal obstacles to adoption;
‘‘(B) providing a mechanism for the De-
partment of Health and Human Services to—
‘‘(i) promote quality standards for
adoption 
services, 
preplacement, 
post-
placement, and post-legal adoption counsel-
ing, and standards to protect the rights of
children in need of adoption;
‘‘(ii) maintain a national adoption in-
formation exchange system to bring to-
gether children who would benefit from
adoption and qualified prospective adoptive
parents who are seeking such children, and
conduct national recruitment efforts in
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order to reach prospective parents for chil-
dren awaiting adoption; and
‘‘(iii) demonstrate expeditious ways to
free children for adoption for whom it has
been determined that adoption is the ap-
propriate plan; and
‘‘(C) facilitating the identification and re-
cruitment of foster and adoptive families that
can meet children’s needs.
‘‘(4) To respond to the needs of children, in
particular those who are drug exposed or afflicted
with 
Acquired 
Immune 
Deficiency 
Syndrome
(AIDS), by supporting activities aimed at preventing
the abandonment of children, providing support to
children and their families, and facilitating the re-
cruitment and training of health and social service
personnel.
‘‘(5) To carry out any other activities as the
Secretary determines are consistent with this Act.
‘‘SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
‘‘As used in this Act:
‘‘(1) CHILD.—The term ‘child’ means a person
who has not attained the lesser of—
‘‘(A) the age of 18; or
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‘‘(B) except in the case of sexual abuse,
the age specified by the child protection law of
the State in which the child resides.
‘‘(2) CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT.—The term
‘child abuse and neglect’ means, at a minimum, any
recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent
or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical
or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation, or
an act or failure to act which presents an imminent
risk of serious harm.
‘‘(3) FAMILY
RESOURCE
AND
SUPPORT
PRO-
GRAMS.—The term ‘family resource and support
program’ means a community-based, prevention-fo-
cused entity that—
‘‘(A) provides, through direct service, the
core services required under this Act, includ-
ing—
‘‘(i) parent education, support and
leadership services, together with services
characterized by relationships between par-
ents and professionals that are based on
equality and respect, and designed to assist
parents in acquiring parenting skills, learn-
ing about child development, and respond-