[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3437 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3437

  To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to establish 
    grant programs for the development and implementation of model 
  undergraduate and graduate curricula on child abuse and neglect at 
 institutions of higher education throughout the United States and to 
 assist States in developing forensic interview training programs, to 
 establish regional training centers and other resources for State and 
     local child protection professionals, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                 May 27 (legislative day, May 26), 2010

 Mrs. Lincoln (for herself, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Franken, and Mr. Pryor) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
          Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to establish 
    grant programs for the development and implementation of model 
  undergraduate and graduate curricula on child abuse and neglect at 
 institutions of higher education throughout the United States and to 
 assist States in developing forensic interview training programs, to 
 establish regional training centers and other resources for State and 
     local child protection professionals, and for other purposes.

    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 ``National Child Protection Training 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Studies indicate that the majority of child protection 
        professionals, including child protection workers, child 
        protection attorneys, medical and mental health professionals, 
        law enforcement officers, forensic interviewers, and other 
        professionals who work directly with maltreated children, are 
        inadequately prepared through undergraduate and graduate 
        programs to recognize and respond to cases of child 
        maltreatment.
            (2) Studies indicate that individuals mandated to report 
        child maltreatment often fail to recognize instances of 
        maltreatment, and that such failure to recognize maltreatment 
        is attributable, in part, to inadequate training in 
        undergraduate and graduate programs.
            (3) Child protection professionals often find it difficult 
        to access quality training on investigating, or otherwise 
        responding to, cases of child maltreatment, and many programs, 
        such as forensic interview training programs, that require 
        intensive training and small class sizes could reach more 
        professionals if such programs were developed at the State, 
        rather than the national, level.
            (4) Child protection professionals should be trained not 
        only to respond to cases of child maltreatment after such 
        maltreatment has occurred, but also to take a leadership role 
        in implementing evidence-based community prevention programs.
            (5) The National Child Protection Training Center has taken 
        a leadership role in implementing model undergraduate and 
        graduate curricula on child abuse and neglect, in assisting 
        States in developing forensic interview training programs, and 
        in providing ongoing training, technical assistance, and 
        publications to child protection professionals. Specifically, 
        the National Child Protection Training Center has--
                    (A) assisted the States of Arkansas, Connecticut, 
                Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, 
                Missouri, Mississippi, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Ohio, 
                South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia in 
                developing and sustaining forensic interview training 
                programs;
                    (B) developed and implemented model undergraduate 
                and graduate curricula on child maltreatment in 13 
                universities and colleges in 8 States and the District 
                of Columbia, and has worked with dozens of additional 
                universities to implement model curricula; and
                    (C) provided training, technical assistance, and 
                other services to more than 40,000 child protection 
                professionals throughout the United States.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF REGIONAL TRAINING CENTERS AND GRANT PROGRAMS.

    (a) In General.--The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act is 
amended by inserting after section 109 (42 U.S.C. 5106e) the following:

``SEC. 109A. REGIONAL TRAINING CENTERS AND GRANT PROGRAMS.

    ``(a) Regional Training Centers.--The Secretary of Health and Human 
Services (referred to in this section as the `Secretary') shall enter 
into an agreement with the National Child Protection Training Center to 
establish and sustain within the Center regional training centers in 
the midwestern, northeastern, southern, and western regions of the 
United States, which shall be called `Regional Training Centers' 
(referred to in this section as the `Centers'). The Centers shall--
            ``(1) provide child protection professionals (including 
        child protection workers, child protection attorneys, medical 
        and mental health professionals, law enforcement officers, 
        forensic interviewers, and other professionals who work 
        directly with maltreated children) in the field with low-cost, 
        high-quality training, technical assistance, and publications;
            ``(2) provide child protection professionals ongoing 
        training and assistance in developing evidence-based community 
        prevention programs;
            ``(3) develop model undergraduate and graduate curricula on 
        child maltreatment and, after approval by the Secretary, 
        disseminate the curricula to community colleges, colleges, 
        universities, law schools, medical schools, and other 
        institutions of higher education; and
            ``(4) assist States in developing and maintaining forensic 
        interview training programs.
    ``(b) Grant Programs.--The Secretary, in accordance with agreements 
entered into with the National Child Protection Training Center, shall 
establish the following grant programs:
            ``(1) Forensic interview training programs.--The National 
        Child Protection Training Center, in accordance with an 
        agreement between such center and the Secretary under this 
        paragraph, shall award grants to State and local governments 
        and other nonprofit entities to--
                    ``(A) assist State and local child protection 
                professionals described in subsection (a) in developing 
                statewide forensic interview training programs; or
                    ``(B) expand forensic interview training programs 
                to provide for additional, advanced forensic interview 
                training courses.
            ``(2) Model curricula.--The National Child Protection 
        Training Center, in accordance with an agreement between such 
        center and the Secretary under this paragraph, shall award 
        grants to State and local governments and other nonprofit 
        entities to--
                    ``(A) defray the expenses of institutions of higher 
                education in implementing model undergraduate or 
                graduate curricula on child abuse and neglect; or
                    ``(B) assist institutions of higher education in 
                expanding model undergraduate or graduate curricula on 
                child abuse and neglect.
    ``(c) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            ``(1) Regional centers.--To carry out subsection (a), there 
        is authorized to be appropriated $3,000,000 for each of fiscal 
        years 2011 through 2014.
            ``(2) Grant programs.--To carry out subsection (b), there 
        is authorized to be appropriated $2,000,000 for each of fiscal 
        years 2011 through 2014, of which--
                    ``(A) $1,000,000 per fiscal year shall be allocated 
                to the program under paragraph (1) of such subsection; 
                and
                    ``(B) $1,000,000 per fiscal year shall be allocated 
                to the program under paragraph (2) of such 
                subsection.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendments.--The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment 
Act (42 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) in section 1(b), by inserting after the item relating 
        to section 109 the following new item:

``109A. Regional training centers and grant programs.'';
        and
            (2) in section 112--
                    (A) in subsection (a)--
                            (i) in paragraph (1), by inserting 
                        ``(except section 109A)'' after ``this title''; 
                        and
                            (ii) in paragraph (2)(A), by inserting 
                        ``(except for activities under section 109A)'' 
                        after ``this title''; and
                    (B) in subsection (b), by inserting ``(except for 
                funds appropriated under section 109A)'' after ``this 
                title''.
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