[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 77 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 H. R. 77

 To provide for the establishment of a task force within the Bureau of 
 Justice Statistics to gather information about, study, and report to 
  the Congress regarding, incidents of abandonment of infant children.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 7, 2003

   Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas introduced the following bill; which was 
  referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the 
     Committee on Education and the Workforce, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for the establishment of a task force within the Bureau of 
 Justice Statistics to gather information about, study, and report to 
  the Congress regarding, incidents of abandonment of infant children.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

     This Act may be cited as the ``Baby Abandonment Prevention Act of 
2003''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF TASK FORCE.

    (a) In General.--The Attorney General, acting through the Director 
of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, shall establish a task force (to 
be known as the Task Force on Baby Abandonment) to carry out the 
following:
            (1) Collecting information from State and local law 
        enforcement agencies and child welfare agencies regarding 
        incidents of abandonment of an infant child by a parent of that 
        child.
            (2) Maintaining that information in a comprehensive 
        database.
            (3) Studying that information and making findings, 
        conclusions, and recommendations regarding that information.
            (4) Submitting reports in accordance with this section.
    (b) Information Included.--The information referred to in 
subsection (a) shall include information with respect to the following:
            (1) The prevalence of such incidents.
            (2) The demographics of such children and such parents.
            (3) The factors that influence the decision of such parents 
        to abandon such children.
            (4) The circumstances surrounding such abandonments, 
        including the time, place, and manner of such abandonments.
            (5) The outcomes for such children and such parents after 
        such abandonments.
            (6) Trends and variations in the matters set forth in 
        paragraphs (1) through (5).
    (c) Definition.--In this section, the term ``infant child'' means a 
child not more than 12 months of age.
    (d) Reports.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the task force shall 
submit a report to the Congress detailing its methodology, findings, 
conclusions, and recommendations.
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