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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. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. [42 U.S.C. 5101, Note]

[This section was amended by sec. 101 of P.L. 108-36.]

Congress finds that—

1. each year, approximately 900,000 American children are victims of abuse and neglect;

2.  
   1. more children suffer neglect than any other form of maltreatment; and
      
   2. 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.  
   1. child abuse can result in the death of a child;
      
   2. in 2001, an estimated 1,300 children were counted by child protection services to have died as a result of abuse and neglect; and
      
   3. 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.  
   1. many of these children and their families fail to receive adequate protection and treatment; and
      
   2. slightly less than half of these children (42 percent in 2001) and their families fail to receive adequate protection or treatment;
      
5. the problem of child abuse and neglect requires a comprehensive approach that—
   1. integrates the work of social service, legal, health, mental health, education, and substance abuse agencies and community-based organizations;
   2. strengthens coordination among all levels of government, and with private agencies, civic, religious, and professional organizations, and individual volunteers;
   3. emphasizes the need for abuse and neglect prevention, assessment, investigation, and treatment at the neighborhood level;
   4. recognizes the need for properly trained staff with the qualifications needed to carry out their child protection duties; and
   5. is sensitive to ethnic and cultural diversity, which may impact child rearing patterns, while at the same time, not allowing those differences to enable abuse;
6. the failure to coordinate and comprehensively prevent and treat child abuse and neglect threatens the futures of thousands of children and results in a cost to the Nation of billions of dollars in tangible expenditures, as well as significant intangible costs;
   
7. all elements of American society have a shared responsibility in responding to child abuse and neglect;
   
8. substantial reductions in the prevalence and incidence of child abuse and neglect and the alleviation of its consequences are matters of the highest national priority;
9. national policy should strengthen families to prevent child abuse and neglect, provide support for needed services to prevent the unnecessary removal of children from families, and promote the reunification of families where appropriate;
10. the child protection system should be comprehensive, childcentered, family-focused, and community-based, should incorporate all appropriate measures to prevent the occurrence or recurrence of child abuse and neglect, and should promote physical and psychological recovery and social re-integration in an environment that fosters the health, safety, selfrespect, and dignity of the child;
11. because of the limited resources available in low-income communities, Federal aid for the child protection system should be distributed with due regard to the relative financial need of the communities;
12. the Federal government should assist States and communities with the fiscal, human, and technical resources necessary to develop and implement a successful and comprehensive child and family protection strategy;
13. the Federal government should provide leadership and assist communities in their child and family protection efforts by—
    1. promoting coordinated planning among all levels of government;
    2. generating and sharing knowledge relevant to child and family protection, including the development of models for service delivery;
    3. strengthening the capacity of States to assist communities;
    4. allocating financial resources to assist States in implementing community plans;
    5. helping communities to carry out their child and family protection plans by promoting the competence of professional, paraprofessional, and volunteer resources; and
    6. providing leadership to end the abuse and neglect of the nation’s children and youth.

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