To amend section 105(a) of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award a grant to a nonprofit entity for a national child abuse hotline.

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 566 To amend section 105(a) of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award a grant to a nonprofit entity for a national child abuse hotline. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 28, 2021 Mrs. MCBATH (for herself and Ms. STEFANIK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend section 105(a) of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award a grant to a nonprofit entity for a national child abuse hotline. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. NATIONAL CHILD ABUSE HOTLINE. 3 Section 105(a) of the Child Abuse Prevention and 4 Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5106(a)) is amended by adding 5 at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(8) NATIONAL CHILD ABUSE HOTLINE.— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H566.IH H566 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 566 IH ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 1 award a grant under this subsection to a non- 2 profit entity to provide for the ongoing oper- 3 ation of a 24-hour, national, toll-free telephone 4 hotline to provide information and assistance to 5 youth victims of child abuse or neglect, parents, 6 caregivers, mandated reporters, and other con- 7 cerned community members, including through 8 alternative modalities for communications (such 9 as texting or chat services) with such victims 10 and other information seekers. 11 ‘‘(B) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants de- 12 scribed in this paragraph, the Secretary shall 13 give priority to applicants with experience in 14 operating a hotline that provides assistance to 15 victims of child abuse, parents, caregivers, and 16 mandated reporters. 17 ‘‘(C) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to re- 18 ceive a grant described in this paragraph, a 19 nonprofit entity shall submit an application to 20 the Secretary that shall— 21 ‘‘(i) contain such assurances and in- 22 formation, be in such form, and be sub- 23 mitted in such manner, as the Secretary 24 shall prescribe; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H566.IH H566 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 566 IH ‘‘(ii) include a complete description of 1 the entity’s plan for the operation of a na- 2 tional child abuse hotline, including de- 3 scriptions of— 4 ‘‘(I) the professional development 5 program for hotline personnel, includ- 6 ing technology professional develop- 7 ment to ensure that all persons affili- 8 ated with the hotline are able to effec- 9 tively operate any technological sys- 10 tems used by the hotline; 11 ‘‘(II) the qualifications for hot- 12 line personnel; 13 ‘‘(III) the methods for the cre- 14 ation, maintenance, and updating of a 15 comprehensive list of prevention and 16 treatment service providers; 17 ‘‘(IV) a plan for publicizing the 18 availability of the hotline throughout 19 the United States; 20 ‘‘(V) a plan for providing service 21 to non-English speaking callers, in- 22 cluding service through hotline per- 23 sonnel who have non-English language 24 capability; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H566.IH H566 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 566 IH ‘‘(VI) a plan for facilitating ac- 1 cess to the hotline and alternative mo- 2 dality services by persons with hearing 3 impairments and disabilities; 4 ‘‘(VII) a plan for providing crisis 5 counseling, general assistance, and re- 6 ferrals to youth victims of child abuse; 7 and 8 ‘‘(VIII) a plan to offer alternative 9 services to calling, such as texting or 10 live chat; 11 ‘‘(iii) demonstrate that the entity has 12 the capacity and the expertise to maintain 13 a child abuse hotline and a comprehensive 14 list of service providers; 15 ‘‘(iv) demonstrate the ability to pro- 16 vide information and referrals for contacts, 17 directly connect contacts to service pro- 18 viders, and employ crisis interventions; 19 ‘‘(v) demonstrate that the entity has a 20 commitment to providing services to indi- 21 viduals in need; and 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H566.IH H566 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 566 IH ‘‘(vi) demonstrate that the entity com- 1 plies with State privacy laws and has es- 2 tablished quality assurance practices.’’. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H566.IH H566 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS