Pub.L. 108-037 To designate the regional headquarters building for the National Park Service under construction in Omaha, Nebraska, as the ``Carl T. Curtis National Park Service Midwest Regional Headquarters Building''. <>...

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             KEEPING CHILDREN AND FAMILIES SAFE ACT OF 2003

[[Page 117 STAT. 800]]

Public Law 108-36
108th Congress

                                 An Act


 
     To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to make 
 improvements to and reauthorize programs under that Act, and for other 
             purposes. <<NOTE: June 25, 2003 -  [S. 342]>> 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress <<NOTE: Keeping Children and 
Families Safe Act of 2003.>> assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) <<NOTE: 42 USC 5101 note.>> Short Title.--This Act may be cited 
as the ``Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003''.

    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents of this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

            TITLE I--CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT ACT

Sec. 101. Findings.

                       Subtitle A--General Program

Sec. 111. National clearinghouse for information relating to child 
           abuse.
Sec. 112. Research and assistance activities and demonstrations.
Sec. 113. Grants to States and public or private agencies and 
           organizations.
Sec. 114. Grants to States for child abuse and neglect prevention and 
           treatment programs.
Sec. 115. Grants to States for programs relating to the investigation 
           and prosecution of child abuse and neglect cases.
Sec. 116. Miscellaneous requirements relating to assistance.
Sec. 117. Authorization of appropriations.
Sec. 118. Reports.

  Subtitle B--Community-Based Grants for the Prevention of Child Abuse

Sec. 121. Purpose and authority.
Sec. 122. Eligibility.
Sec. 123. Amount of grant.
Sec. 124. Existing grants.
Sec. 125. Application.
Sec. 126. Local program requirements.
Sec. 127. Performance measures.
Sec. 128. National network for community-based family resource programs.
Sec. 129. Definitions.
Sec. 130. Authorization of appropriations.

                    Subtitle C--Conforming Amendments

Sec. 141. Conforming amendments.

                    TITLE II--ADOPTION OPPORTUNITIES

Sec. 201. Congressional findings and declaration of purpose.
Sec. 202. Information and services.
Sec. 203. Study of adoption placements.
Sec. 204. Studies on successful adoptions.
Sec. 205. Authorization of appropriations.

                 TITLE III--ABANDONED INFANTS ASSISTANCE

Sec. 301. Findings.

[[Page 117 STAT. 801]]

Sec. 302. Establishment of local projects.
Sec. 303. Evaluations, study, and reports by Secretary.
Sec. 304. Authorization of appropriations.
Sec. 305. Definitions.
Sec. 306. Conforming amendment.

          TITLE IV--FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION AND SERVICES ACT

Sec. 401. State demonstration grants.
Sec. 402. Secretarial responsibilities.
Sec. 403. Evaluation.
Sec. 404. Information and technical assistance centers.
Sec. 405. Related assistance.
Sec. 406. Authorization of appropriations.
Sec. 407. Grants for State domestic violence coalitions.
Sec. 408. Evaluation and monitoring.
Sec. 409. Family member abuse information and documentation project.
Sec. 410. Model State leadership grants.
Sec. 411. National domestic violence hotline and internet grant.
Sec. 412. Youth education and domestic violence.
Sec. 413. Demonstration grants for community initiatives.
Sec. 414. Transitional housing assistance.
Sec. 415. Technical and conforming amendments.
Sec. 416. Conforming amendment to another Act.

            TITLE I--CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT ACT

SEC. 101. FINDINGS.

    Section 2 of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 
5101 note) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``close to 1,000,000'' and 
        inserting ``approximately 900,000'';
            (2) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (11) as 
        paragraphs (4) through (13), respectively;
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
            ``(2)(A) more children suffer neglect than any other form of 
        maltreatment; and
            ``(B) investigations have determined that approximately 60 
        percent of children who were victims of maltreatment in 2001 
        suffered neglect, 19 percent suffered physical abuse, 10 percent 
        suffered sexual abuse, and 7 percent suffered emotional 
        maltreatment;
            ``(3)(A) child abuse can result in the death of a child;
            ``(B) in 2001, an estimated 1,300 children were counted by 
        child protection services to have died as a result of abuse or 
        neglect; and
            ``(C) children younger than 1 year old comprised 41 percent 
        of child abuse fatalities and 85 percent of child abuse 
        fatalities were younger than 6 years of age;'';
            (4) by striking paragraph (4) (as so redesignated), and 
        inserting the following:
            ``(4)(A) many of these children and their families fail to 
        receive adequate protection and treatment; and
            ``(B) slightly less than half of these children (42 percent 
        in 2001) and their families fail to receive adequate protection 
        or treatment;'';
            (5) in paragraph (5) (as so redesignated)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 
                ``organizations'' and inserting ``community-based 
                organizations'';

[[Page 117 STAT. 802]]

                    (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking ``ensures'' and 
                all that follows through ``knowledge,'' and inserting 
                ``recognizes the need for properly trained staff with 
                the qualifications needed''; and
                    (C) in subparagraph (E), by inserting before the 
                semicolon the following: ``, which may impact child 
                rearing patterns, while at the same time, not allowing 
                those differences to enable abuse'';
            (6) in paragraph (7) (as so redesignated), by striking 
        ``this national child and family emergency'' and inserting 
        ``child abuse and neglect''; and
            (7) in paragraph (9) (as so redesignated)--
                    (A) by striking ``intensive'' and inserting 
                ``needed''; and
                    (B) by striking ``if removal has taken place'' and 
                inserting ``where appropriate''.

                       Subtitle A--General Program

SEC. 111. NATIONAL CLEARINGHOUSE FOR INFORMATION RELATING TO CHILD 
                        ABUSE.

    (a) Functions.--Section 103(b) of the Child Abuse Prevention and 
Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5104(b)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``all programs,'' and all 
        that follows through ``neglect; and'' and inserting ``all 
        effective programs, including private and community-based 
        programs, that show promise of success with respect to the 
        prevention, assessment, identification, and treatment of child 
        abuse and neglect and hold the potential for broad scale 
        implementation and replication;'';
            (2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period and inserting a 
        semicolon;
            (3) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (3);
            (4) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
            ``(2) maintain information about the best practices used for 
        achieving improvements in child protective systems;''; and
            (5) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(4) provide technical assistance upon request that may 
        include an evaluation or identification of--
                    ``(A) various methods and procedures for the 
                investigation, assessment, and prosecution of child 
                physical and sexual abuse cases;
                    ``(B) ways to mitigate psychological trauma to the 
                child victim; and
                    ``(C) effective programs carried out by the States 
                under this Act; and
            ``(5) collect and disseminate information relating to 
        various training resources available at the State and local 
        level to--
                    ``(A) individuals who are engaged, or who intend to 
                engage, in the prevention, identification, and treatment 
                of child abuse and neglect; and
                    ``(B) appropriate State and local officials to 
                assist in training law enforcement, legal, judicial, 
                medical, mental health, education, and child welfare 
                personnel.''.

    (b) Coordination With Available Resources.--Section 103(c)(1) of the 
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5104(c)(1)) is 
amended--

[[Page 117 STAT. 803]]

            (1) in subparagraph (E), by striking ``105(a); and'' and 
        inserting ``104(a);'';
            (2) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as subparagraph (G); 
        and
            (3) by inserting after subparagraph (E) the following:
                    ``(F) collect and disseminate information that 
                describes best practices being used throughout the 
                Nation for making appropriate referrals related to, and 
                addressing, the physical, developmental, and mental 
                health needs of abused and neglected children; and''.
SEC. 112. RESEARCH AND ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES AND DEMONSTRATIONS.

    (a) Research.--Section 104(a) of the Child Abuse Prevention and 
Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5105(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), in the 
                first sentence, by inserting ``, including longitudinal 
                research,'' after ``interdisciplinary program of 
                research''; and
                    (B) in subparagraph (B), by inserting before the 
                semicolon the following: ``, including the effects of 
                abuse and neglect on a child's development and the 
                identification of successful early intervention services 
                or other services that are needed'';
                    (C) in subparagraph (C)--
                          (i) by striking ``judicial procedures'' and 
                      inserting ``judicial systems, including 
                      multidisciplinary, coordinated decisionmaking 
                      procedures''; and
                          (ii) by striking ``and'' at the end; and
                    (D) in subparagraph (D)--
                          (i) in clause (viii), by striking ``and'' at 
                      the end;
                          (ii) by redesignating clause (ix) as clause 
                      (x); and
                          (iii) by inserting after clause (viii), the 
                      following:
                          ``(ix) the incidence and prevalence of child 
                      maltreatment by a wide array of demographic 
                      characteristics such as age, sex, race, family 
                      structure, household relationship (including the 
                      living arrangement of the resident parent and 
                      family size), school enrollment and education 
                      attainment, disability, grandparents as 
                      caregivers, labor force status, work status in 
                      previous year, and income in previous year; and'';
                    (E) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as 
                subparagraph (I); and
                    (F) by inserting after subparagraph (C), the 
                following:
                    ``(D) the evaluation and dissemination of best 
                practices consistent with the goals of achieving 
                improvements in the child protective services systems of 
                the States in accordance with paragraphs (1) through 
                (12) of section 106(a);
                    ``(E) effective approaches to interagency 
                collaboration between the child protection system and 
                the juvenile justice system that improve the delivery of 
                services and treatment, including methods for continuity 
                of treatment plan and services as children transition 
                between systems;
                    ``(F) an evaluation of the redundancies and gaps in 
                the services in the field of child abuse and neglect 
                prevention in order to make better use of resources;

[[Page 117 STAT. 804]]

                    ``(G) the nature, scope, and practice of voluntary 
                relinquishment for foster care or State guardianship of 
                low income children who need health services, including 
                mental health services;
                    ``(H) the information on the national incidence of 
                child abuse and neglect specified in clauses (i) through 
                (xi) of subparagraph (H); and'';
            (2) in paragraph (2), by striking subparagraph (B) and 
        inserting the following:
                    ``(B) <<NOTE: Deadline. Records.>> Not later than 2 
                years after the date of enactment of the Keeping 
                Children and Families Safe Act of 2003, and every 2 
                years thereafter, the Secretary shall provide an 
                opportunity for public comment concerning the priorities 
                proposed under subparagraph (A) and maintain an official 
                record of such public comment.'';
            (3) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (4);
            (4) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
            ``(2) Research.--The Secretary shall conduct research on the 
        national incidence of child abuse and neglect, including the 
        information on the national incidence on child abuse and neglect 
        specified in subparagraphs (i) through (ix) of paragraph (1)(I).

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