I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4446 
To amend the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 to strengthen juvenile 
and family courts. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 13, 2010 
Mr. HELLER (for himself, Ms. TITUS, and Ms. BERKLEY) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 to 
strengthen juvenile and family courts. 
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 ‘‘Strengthening Out-
comes for America’s Juvenile and Family Courts Act of 
2010’’. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO STRENGTHEN JUVENILE AND 
FAMILY COURTS. 
Subtitle C of the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 
(42 U.S.C. 13021–13024) is amended to read as follows: 
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‘‘Subtitle C—Programs for Juvenile 
and Family Court Judges 
‘‘SEC. 221. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
‘‘Congress finds the following: 
‘‘(1) The prevention of child abuse and neglect 
can help stop the cycle of violence in communities. 
‘‘(2) Research indicates that child abuse and 
neglect is associated with the early onset of juvenile 
crime and that there is a significant relationship be-
tween child maltreatment and delinquency. 
‘‘(3) The co-occurrence of domestic violence and 
child abuse or neglect in a majority of studies 
ranged from 30 to 60 percent of families. 
‘‘(4) There are currently over 500,000 children 
in the Nation’s foster care system, and in 2005 
there were an estimated 1,700,000 delinquency cases 
handled in juvenile courts nationwide. 
‘‘(5) Children and youth in the Nation’s juve-
nile and family court systems require judicial over-
sight and effective services to ensure timely and 
meaningful resolution of their cases. 
‘‘(6) Juvenile and family court judges can hold 
systems accountable for ensuring that children and 
youth receive the services they need, and in cases of 
juvenile delinquency, that children and youth are 
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held accountable for their actions, while ensuring 
safety of communities. 
‘‘(7) Juvenile and family court judges require 
education, technical assistance and research which 
can provide the knowledge and information they 
need to improve decision-making on the bench and 
effective judicial leadership outside of the courtroom. 
‘‘SEC. 222. GRANTS FOR JUVENILE AND FAMILY COURT 
JUDGES AND PERSONNEL. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General, acting 
through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
Prevention and the Office of Justice Programs, shall make 
grants to improve training, education, technical assist-
ance, and research to assist the Nation’s courts, judges, 
judicial personnel, attorneys, child welfare personnel, and 
lay child advocates. 
‘‘(b) GRANTEE ORGANIZATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) An organization to which a grant is made 
pursuant to subsection (a) shall be a national non-
profit organization that has broad membership 
among juvenile and family court judges and has 
demonstrated experience in grant administration of 
activities described in subsection (a). 
‘‘(2) A national nonprofit organization de-
scribed in paragraph (1) shall have specialized ex-
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pertise addressing the overlap of and the judicial 
system’s handling of— 
‘‘(A) child abuse and neglect; 
‘‘(B) adoption and foster care; 
‘‘(C) elder abuse; 
‘‘(D) juvenile justice and delinquency; 
‘‘(E) violence against women; 
‘‘(F) family violence; 
‘‘(G) alcohol and drug abuse; 
‘‘(H) supervised visitations; 
‘‘(I) child custody; and 
‘‘(J) divorce. 
‘‘SEC. 223. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this subtitle $12,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2010 
through 2014.’’. 
Æ 
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