Supporting Families Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1922 To amend title II of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 27, 2021 Mr. HICKENLOOPER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend title II of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. 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 ‘‘Supporting Families 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT ACT 6 AMENDMENTS. 7 (a) PURPOSE AND AUTHORITY OF COMMUNITY- 8 BASED GRANTS FOR THE PREVENTION OF CHILD ABUSE 9 AND NEGLECT.—Section 201 of the Child Abuse Preven- 10 tion and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5116) is amended— 11 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:06 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1922.IS S1922 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1922 IS (1) in subsection (a), by amending paragraph 1 (2) to read as follows: 2 ‘‘(2) to increase access to a continuum of com- 3 munity-based and prevention-focused programs and 4 activities designed to strengthen and support fami- 5 lies to prevent child abuse and neglect, among di- 6 verse populations, in order to help families develop 7 protective factors linked to the prevention of child 8 abuse and neglect.’’; and 9 (2) in subsection (b)(1)— 10 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 11 through (H) as subparagraphs (B) through (I), 12 respectively; and 13 (B) in the matter preceding subparagraph 14 (A), by striking ‘‘(1) developing, operating,’’ 15 and all that follows through ‘‘existing strengths 16 that—’’ and inserting the following: 17 ‘‘(1) providing community-based and preven- 18 tion-focused programs and activities designed to 19 strengthen and support families to prevent child 20 abuse and neglect in order to help families build pro- 21 tective factors linked to the prevention of child abuse 22 and neglect that— 23 ‘‘(A) are accessible, effective, culturally-re- 24 sponsive, and build upon existing strengths;’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:06 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1922.IS S1922 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1922 IS (b) APPLICATION.—Section 204 of the Child Abuse 1 Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5116d) is 2 amended— 3 (1) in paragraph (11), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 4 inserting a semicolon; 5 (2) in paragraph (12), by striking the period 6 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 7 (3) by adding at the end the following: 8 ‘‘(13) a description of how the lead entity will 9 use grant funds received under this title to provide 10 community-based and prevention-focused programs 11 and activities designed to strengthen and support 12 families to prevent child abuse and neglect, in a 13 manner that— 14 ‘‘(A) helps families build protective factors 15 that are linked to the prevention of child abuse 16 and neglect, including knowledge of parenting 17 and child development, parental resilience, so- 18 cial connections, time-limited and need-based 19 concrete support, and social and emotional de- 20 velopment of children; 21 ‘‘(B) is trauma-informed, culturally-re- 22 sponsive, and takes into consideration the as- 23 sets and needs of communities that the entity 24 serves; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:06 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1922.IS S1922 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1922 IS ‘‘(C) promotes coordination between local 1 programs, public agencies, and relevant private 2 entities to develop and expand a continuum of 3 primary preventive supports that promote child, 4 parent, and family well-being, with a focus on 5 increasing access to services for diverse popu- 6 lations.’’. 7 (c) LOCAL PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—Section 8 205(a)(3)(A) of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treat- 9 ment Act (42 U.S.C. 5116e(a)(3)(A)) is amended— 10 (1) by redesignating clauses (ii) through (iv) as 11 clauses (iii) through (v), respectively; and 12 (2) by striking clause (i) and inserting the fol- 13 lowing: 14 ‘‘(i) parent support and education pro- 15 grams that build protective factors linked to the 16 prevention of child abuse and neglect; 17 ‘‘(ii) mutual support and self help, and 18 parent leadership services;’’. 19 (d) DEFINITIONS.—Section 208 of the Child Abuse 20 Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5116h) is 21 amended— 22 (1) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para- 23 graph (4); and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:06 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1922.IS S1922 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1922 IS (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol- 1 lowing: 2 ‘‘(3) PROTECTIVE FACTORS LINKED TO THE 3 PREVENTION OF CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT.—The 4 term ‘protective factors linked to the prevention of 5 child abuse and neglect’ means evidence-based or 6 evidence-informed factors that have been dem- 7 onstrated to ensure that families are more likely to 8 be healthy and strong and less likely to experience 9 child abuse and neglect. Such factors include knowl- 10 edge of parenting and child development, parental 11 resilience, social connections, concrete supports in 12 times of need, and support for the social and emo- 13 tional development of children.’’. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:06 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1922.IS S1922 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS