Help Grandfamilies Prevent Child Abuse Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2747 To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to provide for better protections for children raised in kinship families outside of the foster care system. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 21, 2021 Ms. SCANLON (for herself and Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to provide for better protections for children raised in kinship families outside of the foster care system. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Help Grandfamilies 4 Prevent Child Abuse Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds as follows: 7 (1) Nearly 2,700,000 children are being raised 8 in kinship families or ‘‘grandfamilies’’ by relatives or 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2747.IH H2747 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2747 IH close family friends without their parents in the 1 home, and the vast majority of such children are 2 raised outside of the foster care system. 3 (2) The majority of kinship caregivers are 4 grandparents. 5 (3) For every child in foster care living with rel- 6 atives, there are 19 being raised by relatives outside 7 of the foster care system. 8 (4) More than one-third of all children placed 9 in foster care because of parental drug or alcohol 10 use are placed with relatives. 11 (5) Children who have been exposed to sub- 12 stance misuse in the home may also experience 13 abuse and neglect, and research indicates that chil- 14 dren in family foster care because of substance use 15 are more likely to be placed with relatives than with 16 nonrelatives. 17 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO CAPTA. 18 (a) ADVISORY BOARD ON CHILD ABUSE AND NE- 19 GLECT.—Section 102(c) of the Child Abuse Prevention 20 and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5102(c)) is amended— 21 (1) in paragraph (13), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 22 inserting a semicolon; 23 (2) in paragraph (14), by striking the period 24 and inserting a semicolon; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2747.IH H2747 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2747 IH (3) by adding at the end the following: 1 ‘‘(15) organizations providing services to kin- 2 ship families; and 3 ‘‘(16) birth parents, kinship caregivers, and fos- 4 ter care alumni.’’. 5 (b) NATIONAL CLEARINGHOUSE FOR INFORMATION 6 RELATING TO CHILD ABUSE.—Section 103(b) of the 7 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 8 5104(b)) is amended— 9 (1) in paragraph (8)(B), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 10 and inserting a semicolon; 11 (2) in paragraph (9), by striking the period and 12 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 13 (3) by adding at the end the following: 14 ‘‘(10) coordinate with the National Technical 15 Assistance Center on Grandfamilies and Kinship 16 Families to disseminate information about evidence- 17 based, evidence-informed and exemplary practices 18 used to support children being raised in kinship fam- 19 ilies within, or outside of, the child welfare system.’’. 20 (c) GRANTS TO STATES, INDIAN TRIBES OR TRIBAL 21 ORGANIZATIONS, AND PUBLIC OR PRIVATE AGENCIES 22 AND ORGANIZATIONS.—Section 105(a)(4) of the Child 23 Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 24 5106(a)(4)) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2747.IH H2747 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2747 IH lowing: ‘‘Such procedures used by recipients of a grant 1 pursuant to this paragraph shall reflect equity for children 2 placed with kin, recognize their unique circumstance, and 3 include plans for prioritizing placement with kin as the 4 first placement, identifying and engaging kin as supports 5 for children throughout the child’s involvement with the 6 child welfare system, making it a priority to license kin 7 as foster parents, supporting permanent families for chil- 8 dren placed with kin, and creating a strong community 9 network to support kin families.’’. 10 (d) GRANTS TO STATES FOR CHILD ABUSE OR NE- 11 GLECT PREVENTION AND TREATMENT PROGRAMS.—Sec- 12 tion 106 of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment 13 Act (42 U.S.C. 5106a) is amended— 14 (1) in subsection (b)(2)— 15 (A) in subparagraph (B)(iv), by inserting 16 ‘‘, and for how kinship placements will be 17 prioritized’’ before the semicolon; and 18 (B) in subparagraph (D)(v), by inserting 19 ‘‘kinship navigators,’’ after ‘‘substance abuse 20 treatment agencies,’’; and 21 (2) in subsection (d)(3)— 22 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (B) 23 and (C) as subparagraphs (C) and (D), respec- 24 tively; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2747.IH H2747 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2747 IH (B) by inserting after subparagraph (A) 1 the following: 2 ‘‘(B) the number that did not receive serv- 3 ices during the year under the State program 4 funded under this section or an equivalent State 5 program because the child was diverted from 6 the child welfare system to live with kin outside 7 of the foster care system;’’; and 8 (C) in subparagraph (D), as so redesig- 9 nated, by striking ‘‘families’’ and inserting 10 ‘‘parents’’. 11 (e) COMMUNITY-BASED GRANTS FOR THE PREVEN- 12 TION OF CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT.— 13 (1) PURPOSE.—Section 201(b)(1) of the Child 14 Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 15 5116(b)(1)) is amended— 16 (A) in subparagraph (G), by striking ‘‘; 17 and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 18 (B) in subparagraph (H), by adding ‘‘and’’ 19 after the semicolon; and 20 (C) by adding at the end the following: 21 ‘‘(I) support the unique needs of kinship 22 families raising children inside or outside the 23 foster care system;’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2747.IH H2747 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2747 IH (2) LOCAL PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—Section 1 205(a) of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treat- 2 ment Act (42 U.S.C. 5116e(a)) is amended— 3 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and to 4 parents who are adult former victims of domes- 5 tic violence or child abuse or neglect’’ and in- 6 serting ‘‘to parents who are adult former vic- 7 tims of domestic violence or child abuse or ne- 8 glect, and to families where children are being 9 raised by kin because their parents cannot raise 10 them’’; 11 (B) in paragraph (3)(B)— 12 (i) in clause (viii), by striking ‘‘and’’; 13 (ii) in clause (ix), by striking the pe- 14 riod and inserting a semicolon; and 15 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 16 lowing: 17 ‘‘(x) training to meet the specific 18 needs of kinship caregivers, including 19 training on caring for children with behav- 20 ioral or mental health challenges and how 21 to access services for which such caregivers 22 may be eligible; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2747.IH H2747 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2747 IH ‘‘(xi) training on understanding sub- 1 stance use disorders and the impact of 2 trauma on children.’’; and 3 (C) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘, kin- 4 ship caregivers, and foster care alumni’’ after 5 ‘‘parents’’. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2747.IH H2747 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS