I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2730 
To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to better enable 
State child welfare agencies to prevent human trafficking of children 
and serve the needs of children who are victims of human trafficking, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 1, 2011 
Ms. BASS of California (for herself, Mr. MARINO, Mr. PAYNE, and Ms. JACK-
SON LEE of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act 
to better enable State child welfare agencies to prevent 
human trafficking of children and serve the needs of 
children who are victims of human trafficking, 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 ‘‘Strengthening the 
Child Welfare Response to Human Trafficking Act of 
2011’’. 
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SEC. 2. IMPROVING LOCAL EFFORTS TO COMBAT TRAF-
FICKING AND SEXUAL EXPLOITATION. 
(a) EMPLOYEE TRAINING GUIDELINES
AND RE-
SOURCES.—The Secretary of Health and Human Services 
shall develop and publish guidelines (including a list of 
recommended experts in the field) for use by State child 
welfare agencies in training appropriate child welfare em-
ployees and court employees in identifying, documenting, 
educating, and counseling children being provided services 
by the agencies who are at risk of becoming a victim of 
trafficking (as defined in section 103(14) of the Traf-
ficking Victims Protection Act of 2000) or who are human 
trafficking victims who may need to be in the care of the 
child welfare system. The guidelines should also include 
tips on how the child welfare employee can effectively en-
gage, educate, and support the parents of such a child vic-
tims, if appropriate. 
(b) BEST PRACTICES TOOLKIT.—The Secretary of 
Health and Human Services shall develop and publish 
guidelines that contain recommendations on how State 
child welfare agencies may prevent children from becoming 
a victim of trafficking (as defined in section 103(14) of 
the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000), which 
should include advice on how State and local law enforce-
ment agencies may collaborate proactively with non-profit 
organizations on how to manage cases involving a child 
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who is such a victim. In developing the best practices tool-
kit, the Secretary of Health and Human Services is en-
couraged to utilize multi-disciplinary research, peer-re-
viewed research, evidence-based treatments and programs, 
and input from child welfare agencies that have developed 
human trafficking specific programs, and to consult ap-
propriate agencies throughout the Federal Government 
such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Traf-
ficking in Persons Office of the Department of State. The 
Secretary of Health and Human Services should also con-
sider how the Department of Health and Human Services 
can best provide support to monitor and evaluate existing 
and related programs at State and county agencies and 
outline these support mechanisms in the best practices 
toolkit. 
(c) RESIDENTIAL SAFE HAVENS.—The Secretary of 
Health and Human Services shall draft recommendations 
for State child welfare agencies on how to best update li-
censing requirements for child-care institutions so that 
specialized, long-term residential facilities or safe havens 
serving children who are human trafficking victims can 
qualify as child-care institutions under part E of title IV 
of the Social Security Act, so that such children who are 
in the care of the State may receive the best care and 
services possible. 
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(d) STREAMLINE DATA COLLECTION AND REPORT-
ING.—Section 471(a) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 671(a)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 
(32); 
(2) by striking the period at the end of para-
graph (33) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(34) provides that— 
‘‘(A) the records of the agency classify 
each child to whom the agency is providing 
child welfare services and whom the agency has 
identified as being a victim of trafficking (as 
defined in section 103(14) of the Trafficking 
Victims Protection Act of 2000), as a child 
trafficking victim, and specify the reasons why 
the child is so classified; 
‘‘(B) each report submitted by the agency 
to the data collection system established under 
section 479 includes information on each child 
so classified; and 
‘‘(C) the agency shall report the identity of 
each child to whom the agency is providing 
child welfare services and who is missing or has 
been abducted, immediately to appropriate law 
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enforcement agencies for entry into the Na-
tional Crime Information Center database.’’. 
(e) DOCUMENTATION OF CHILD SAFETY AND RE-
LATED SPECIALIZED SERVICES.—Section 475(1) of such 
Act (42 U.S.C. 675(1)) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘(H) In the case of a child classified by 
the State agency as a victim of trafficking (as 
defined in section 103(14) of the Trafficking 
Victims Protection Act of 2000), a documenta-
tion of the measures taken to ensure the safety 
of the child in the placement and of the extent 
to which the child is receiving services designed 
specifically to meet the needs of trafficked chil-
dren, such as intensive case management, men-
tal health counseling, security services, lan-
guage, and cultural competency.’’. 
(f) EXTEND SERVICES FOR TRAFFICKED YOUTH TO 
AGE 21.—Section 477(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 677(a)) 
is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 
(6); 
(2) by striking the period at the end of para-
graph (7) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘(8) to ensure that each child in foster care and 
each former foster care recipient who is a victim of 
trafficking (as defined in section 103(14) of the 
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000) is able 
to access the services described in section 475(1)(H) 
of this Act until the child attains 21 years of age.’’. 
(g) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro-
vided in this section, this section and the amend-
ments made by this section shall take effect on Jan-
uary 1, 2012. 
(2) DELAY PERMITTED IF STATE LEGISLATION 
REQUIRED.—In the case of a State plan approved 
under part E of title IV of the Social Security Act 
which the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
determines requires State legislation (other than leg-
islation appropriating funds) in order for the plan to 
meet the additional requirements imposed by this 
section, the State plan shall not be regarded as fail-
ing to comply with the requirements of such part 
solely on the basis of the failure of the plan to meet 
such additional requirements before the 1st day of 
the 1st calendar quarter beginning after the close of 
the 1st regular session of the State legislature that 
ends after the 1-year period beginning with the date 
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of the enactment of this Act. For purposes of the 
preceding sentence, in the case of a State that has 
a 2-year legislative session, each year of the session 
is deemed to be a separate regular session of the 
State legislature. 
SEC. 3. PROVISION OF SERVICES BY CHILD WELFARE 
AGENCIES 
TO 
PREVENT 
HUMAN 
TRAF-
FICKING OF CHILDREN, AND TO SERVE THE 
NEEDS OF CHILDREN WHO ARE VICTIMS OF 
HUMAN TRAFFICKING. 
Section 471(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
671(a)), as amended by section 2(d) of this Act, is amend-
ed— 
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 
(33); 
(2) by striking the period at the end of para-
graph (34) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(35) not later than January 1, 2013, describes 
the practices and future plans of the State child wel-
fare agency regarding the human trafficking and 
commercial sexual exploitation of foreign, United 
States citizen, and legal resident children, includ-
ing— 
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‘‘(A) collaborations with local and State 
agencies and nonprofit organizations to identify 
and care for children believed or confirmed to 
be, or at-risk of becoming victims of a severe 
form of human trafficking; 
‘‘(B) training for the child welfare employ-
ees who are likely to come into contact with 
child victims of human trafficking; 
‘‘(C) jurisdictional limits and other issues 
that hinder State child welfare response to aid 
child victims of human trafficking; 
‘‘(D) data collection regarding children 
identified by child welfare services as victims of 
trafficking and, if known, the relationship be-
tween the child and the exploiter; and 
‘‘(E) prevention education to families and 
at-risk children, including runaway and home-
less youth, regarding human trafficking and 
commercial sexual exploitation.’’. 
Æ 
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