I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 485 
To reauthorize the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 25, 2021 
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia (for himself, Mr. COMER, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. FOXX, 
Ms. STEVENS, Ms. STEFANIK, Ms. SCHRIER, and Mr. JOHNSON of South 
Dakota) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Education and Labor 
A BILL 
To reauthorize the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment 
Act, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stronger Child Abuse 
Prevention and Treatment Act’’. 
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
The table of contents of this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title. 
Sec. 2. Table of contents. 
TITLE I—GENERAL PROGRAM 
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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. 
TITLE I—GENERAL PROGRAM 
SEC. 101. REPEAL OF FINDINGS. 
Section 2 of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treat-
ment Act (42 U.S.C. 5101 note) is repealed. 
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SEC. 102. REPEAL OF ADVISORY BOARD ON CHILD ABUSE 
AND NEGLECT. 
Section 102 of the Child Abuse Prevention and 
Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5102) is repealed. 
SEC. 103. NATIONAL CLEARINGHOUSE FOR INFORMATION 
RELATING TO CHILD ABUSE. 
Section 103 of the Child Abuse Prevention and 
Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5104) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (b)(1), by inserting ‘‘early 
learning programs and’’ after ‘‘including’’; 
(2) in subsection (c)(1)(C)— 
(A) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 
end; 
(B) in clause (iv), by adding ‘‘and’’ at the 
end; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(v) the number of child fatalities and 
near fatalities due to maltreatment, as re-
ported by States in accordance with the 
uniform standards established pursuant to 
subsection (d), and any other relevant in-
formation related to such fatalities;’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(d) UNIFORM STANDARDS FOR TRACKING AND RE-
PORTING OF CHILD FATALITIES RESULTING FROM MAL-
TREATMENT.— 
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including efforts to improve the scalability of 
the treatments and programs being researched; 
‘‘(B) developing a set of evidence-based ap-
proaches to support child and family well-being 
and developing ways to identify, relieve, and 
mitigate stressors affecting families in rural, 
urban, and suburban communities; 
‘‘(C) establishing methods to promote ra-
cial equity in the child welfare system, including 
a focus on how neglect is defined, how services 
are provided, and the unique impact on Native 
American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian 
communities; 
‘‘(D) improving service delivery or out-
comes for child welfare service agencies engaged 
with families experiencing domestic violence, 
substance use disorder, or other complex needs; 
‘‘(E) the extent to which the number of 
unsubstantiated, unfounded, and false reported 
cases of child abuse or neglect have contributed 
to the inability of a State to respond effectively 
to serious cases of child abuse or neglect; 
‘‘(F) the extent to which the lack of ade-
quate resources and the lack of adequate pro-
fessional development of individuals required by 
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law to report suspected cases of child abuse and 
neglect have contributed to the inability of a 
State to respond effectively to serious cases of 
child abuse and neglect; 
‘‘(G) the extent to which unsubstantiated 
reports return as more serious cases of child 
abuse or neglect; 
‘‘(H) the incidence and outcomes of child 
abuse and neglect allegations reported within 
the context of divorce, custody, or other family 
court proceedings, and the interaction between 
family courts and the child protective services 
system; 
‘‘(I) the information on the national inci-
dence of child abuse and neglect specified in 
clauses (i) through (xi) of subparagraph (J); 
and 
‘‘(J) the national incidence of child abuse 
and neglect, including— 
‘‘(i) the extent to which incidents of 
child abuse and neglect are increasing or 
decreasing in number and severity; 
‘‘(ii) the incidence of substantiated 
and unsubstantiated reported child abuse 
and neglect cases; 
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‘‘(iii) the number of substantiated 
cases that result in a judicial finding of 
child abuse or neglect or related criminal 
court convictions; 
‘‘(iv) the extent to which the number 
of unsubstantiated, unfounded and false 
reported cases of child abuse or neglect 
have contributed to the inability of a State 
to respond effectively to serious cases of 
child abuse or neglect; 
‘‘(v) the extent to which the lack of 
adequate resources and the lack of ade-
quate education of individuals required by 
law to report suspected cases of child 
abuse and neglect have contributed to the 
inability of a State to respond effectively to 
serious cases of child abuse and neglect; 
‘‘(vi) the number of unsubstantiated, 
false, or unfounded reports that have re-
sulted in a child being placed in substitute 
care, and the duration of such placement; 
‘‘(vii) the extent to which unsubstan-
tiated reports return as more serious cases 
of child abuse or neglect; 
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‘‘(viii) the incidence and prevalence of 
physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and 
physical and emotional neglect in sub-
stitute care; 
‘‘(ix) the incidence and prevalence of 
child maltreatment by a wide array of de-
mographic characteristics such as age, sex, 
race, family structure, household relation-
ship (including the living arrangement of 
the resident parent and family size), school 
enrollment and education attainment, dis-
ability, grandparents as caregivers, labor 
force status, work status in previous year, 
and income in previous year; 
‘‘(x) the extent to which reports of 
suspected or known instances of child 
abuse or neglect involving a potential com-
bination of jurisdictions, such as intra-
state, interstate, Federal-State, and State- 
Tribal, are being screened out solely on the 
basis of the cross-jurisdictional complica-
tions; and 
‘‘(xi) the incidence and outcomes of 
child abuse and neglect allegations re-
ported within the context of divorce, cus-
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tody, or other family court proceedings, 
and the interaction between family courts 
and the child protective services system.’’; 
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘para-
graph 
(1)(O)’’ 
and 
inserting 
‘‘paragraph 
(1)(J)’’; 
(C) by amending paragraph (3) to read as 
follows: 
‘‘(3) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 4 years 
after the date of the enactment of the Stronger 
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, the 
Secretary shall prepare and submit to the Com-
mittee on Education and Labor of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate 
a report that contains the results of the re-
search conducted under paragraph (2). 
‘‘(B) NATIONAL
INCIDENCE.—The Sec-
retary shall ensure that research conducted, 
and data collected, under paragraph (1)(J) are 
reported in a way that will allow longitudinal 
comparisons as well as comparisons to the na-
tional incidence studies conducted under this 
title.’’; and 
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(D) by striking the second paragraph (4); 
(2) in subsection (b), by amending paragraph 
(2) to read as follows: 
‘‘(2) AREAS OF EMPHASIS.—Such technical as-
sistance— 
‘‘(A) shall focus on— 
‘‘(i) implementing strategies that can 
leverage existing community-based and 
State funded resources to prevent child 
abuse and neglect and providing education 
for individuals involved in prevention ac-
tivities; 
‘‘(ii) reducing racial bias in child wel-
fare systems, including how such systems 
interact with health, law enforcement, and 
education systems; 
‘‘(iii) promoting best practices for 
families experiencing domestic violence, 
substance use disorder, or other complex 
needs; and 
‘‘(iv) providing professional develop-
ment and other technical assistance to 
child welfare agencies to improve the un-
derstanding of and to help address the ef-
fects of trauma and adverse childhood ex-
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