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Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act
as Amended by the
Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003
SECTION I: CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT ACT
Sec. 105. GRANTS TO STATES AND PUBLIC OR PRIVATE AGENCIES
AND ORGANIZATIONS. [42 U.S.C. 5106]
[This section was amended by sec. 113 of P.L. 108-36.]
- GRANTS FOR PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS.—The Secretary may
make grants to, and enter into contracts with States, public agencies or private
agencies or organizations (or combinations of such agencies or organizations)
for programs and projects for the following purposes:
- TRAINING PROGRAMS.—The Secretary may award grants to
public or private organizations under this section—
- for the training of professional and paraprofessional personnel
in the fields of medicine, law enforcement, judiciary, social work and
child protection, education and other relevant fields, or individuals such
as court appointed special advocates (CASAs) and guardian ad litem,
who are engaged in, or intend to work in, the field of prevention,
identification, and treatment of child abuse and neglect, including the
links between domestic violence and child abuse;
- to improve the recruitment, selection, and training of
volunteers serving in public and private children, youth and family
service organizations in order to prevent child abuse and neglect;
- for the establishment of resource centers for the purpose of
providing information and training to professionals working in the field
of child abuse and neglect;
- for training to support the enhancement of linkages between
child protective service agencies and health care agencies, including
physical and mental health services, to improve forensic diagnosis and
health evaluations and for innovative partnerships between child
protective service agencies and health care agencies that offer creative
approaches to using existing Federal, State, local and private funding to
meet the health evaluation needs of children who have been subjects of
substantiated cases of child abuse or neglect;
- for the training of personnel in best practices to promote
collaboration with the families from the initial time of contact during
the investigation through treatment;
- for the training of personnel regarding the legal duties of such
personnel and their responsibilities to protect the legal rights of
children and families;
- for improving the training of supervisory and nonsupervisory
child welfare workers;
- for enabling State child welfare agencies to coordinate the
provision of services with State and local health care agencies, alcohol
and drug abuse prevention and treatment agencies, mental health
agencies, and other public and private welfare agencies to promote
child safety, permanence and family stability;
- for cross training for child protective service workers in
research-based strategies for recognizing situations of substance abuse,
domestic violence, and neglect; and
- for developing, implementing, or operating information and
education programs or training programs designed to improve the
provision of services to disabled infants with life-threatening conditions
for—
- professionals and paraprofessional personnel concerned
with the welfare of disabled infants with life-threatening
conditions, including personnel employed in child protective
services programs and health care facilities; and
- the parents of such infants.
- TRIAGE PROCEDURES.—The Secretary may award grants under
this subsection to public and private agencies that demonstrate innovation in
responding to reports of child abuse and neglect, including programs of
collaborative partnerships between the State child protective services
agency, community social service agencies and family support programs,
law enforcement agencies, developmental disability agencies, substance
abuse treatment entities, health care entities, domestic violence prevention
entities, mental health service entities, schools, churches and synagogues,
and other community agencies, to allow for the establishment of a triage
system that—
- accepts, screens, and assesses reports received to determine
which such reports require an intensive intervention and which require
voluntary referral to another agency, program, or project;
- provides, either directly or through referral, a variety of
community-linked services to assist families in preventing child abuse
and neglect; and
- provides further investigation and intensive intervention where
the child’s safety is in jeopardy.
- MUTUAL SUPPORT PROGRAMS.—The Secretary may award
grants to private organizations to establish or maintain a national network of
mutual support and self-help programs as a means of strengthening families
in partnership with their communities.
- KINSHIP CARE.—
- IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may award grants to public
and private entities in not more than 10 States to assist such entities in
developing or implementing procedures using adult relatives as the
preferred placement for children removed from their home, where such
relatives are determined to be capable of providing a safe nurturing
environment for the child and where such relatives comply with the
State child protection standards.
- LINKAGES BETWEEN CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICE
AGENCIES AND PUBLIC HEALTH, MENTAL HEALTH, AND
DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES AGENCIES.—The Secretary may
award grants to entities that provide linkages between State or local child
protective service agencies and public health, mental health, and
developmental disabilities agencies, for the purpose of establishing linkages
that are designed to help assure that a greater number of substantiated
victims of child maltreatment have their physical health, mental health, and
developmental needs appropriately diagnosed and treated, in accordance
with all applicable Federal and State privacy laws.
- DISCRETIONARY GRANTS.—In addition to grants or contracts made
under subsection (a) of this section, grants or contracts under this section may be
used for the following:
- Respite and crisis nursery programs provided by community-based
organizations under the direction and supervision of hospitals.
- Respite and crisis nursery programs provided by community-based
organizations.
- Programs based within children’s hospitals or other pediatric and
adolescent care facilities, that provide model approaches for improving
medical diagnosis of child abuse and neglect and for health evaluations of
children for whom a report of maltreatment has been substantiated; and
-
- Providing hospital-based information and referral services to—
- parents of children with disabilities; and
- children who have been neglected or abused and their
parents.
- Except as provided in subparagraph (C)(iii), services provided
under a grant received under this paragraph shall be provided at the
hospital involved—
- upon the birth or admission of a child with disabilities; and
- upon the treatment of a child for abuse or neglect.
- Services, as determined as appropriate by the grantee, provided
under a grant received under this paragraph shall be hospital-based and
shall consist of—
- the provision of notice to parents that information relating
to community services is available;
- the provision of appropriate information to parents of a
child with disabilities regarding resources in the community,
particularly parent training resources, that will assist such parents
in caring for their child;
- the provision of appropriate information to parents of a
child who has been neglected or abused regarding resources in the
community, particularly parent training resources, that will assist
such parents in caring for their child and reduce the possibility of
abuse or neglect;
- the provision of appropriate follow-up services to parents
of a child described in subparagraph (B) after the child has left the
hospital; and
- where necessary, assistance in coordination of community
services available to parents of children described in subparagraph
(B).
The grantee shall assure that parental involvement described in this
subparagraph is voluntary.
- For purposes of this paragraph, a qualified grantee is an acute
care hospital that—
- is in a combination with—
- a health-care provider organization;
- a child welfare organization;
- a disability organization; and
- a State child protection agency;
- submits an application for a grant under this paragraph that
is approved by the Secretary;
- maintains an office in the hospital involved for purposes
of providing services under such grant;
- provides assurances to the Secretary that in the conduct of
the project the confidentiality of medical, social, and personal
information concerning any person described in subparagraph (A)
or (B) shall be maintained, and shall be disclosed only to qualified
persons providing required services described in subparagraph (C)
for purposes relating to conduct of the project; and
- assumes legal responsibility for carrying out the terms and
conditions of the grant.
- In awarding grants under this paragraph, the Secretary shall—
- give priority under this section for two grants under this
paragraph, provided that one grant shall be made to provide
services in an urban setting and one grant shall be made to provide
services in rural setting; and
- encourage qualified grantees to combine the amounts
received under the grant with other funds available to such
grantees.
- Such other innovative programs and projects that show promise of
preventing and treating cases of child abuse and neglect as the Secretary
may approve.
- EVALUATION.—In making grants for projects under this section, the
Secretary shall require all such projects to be evaluated for their effectiveness.
Funding for such evaluations shall be provided either as a stated percentage of a
demonstration grant or as a separate grant or contract entered into by the
Secretary for the purpose of evaluating a particular demonstration project or
group of projects. In the case of an evaluation performed by the recipient of a
grant, the Secretary shall make available technical assistance for the evaluation,
where needed, including the use of a rigorous application of scientific evaluation
techniques.
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