[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3692 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3692

  To improve the ability of the Department of Defense to effectively 
     prevent, track, and respond to military-connected child abuse.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 12, 2020

 Mrs. Gillibrand (for herself, Mr. Rounds, and Ms. Sinema) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
                           on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To improve the ability of the Department of Defense to effectively 
     prevent, track, and respond to military-connected child abuse.

    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 ``End Military-Connected Child Abuse 
and Neglect Act''.

SEC. 2. ACTIONS TO ADDRESS MILITARY-CONNECTED CHILD ABUSE.

    (a) In General.--Consistent with the recommendations of the 
Government Accountability Office in the report titled ``Increased 
Guidance and Collaboration Needed to Improve DOD's Tracking and 
Response to Child Abuse'' (GAO-20-110), the Secretary of Defense shall 
carry out activities to improve the ability of the Department of 
Defense to effectively prevent, track, and respond to military-
connected child abuse.
    (b) Activities Required.--The activities carried out under 
subsection (a) shall include the following:
            (1) The Secretary of Defense shall expand the scope of the 
        Department of Defense's centralized database on problematic 
        sexual behavior in children and youth to track information on 
        all incidents involving child abuse reported to a Family 
        Advocacy Program or investigated by a military law enforcement 
        organization, regardless of whether the perpetrator of the 
        abuse is another child, an adult, or a person in a 
        noncaregiving role at the time of the incident.
            (2) The Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the 
        Secretary of each military department, shall ensure--
                    (A) that each Family Advocacy Program records, in a 
                database of the Program, the date on which the Program 
                notified a military law enforcement organization of a 
                reported incident of child abuse; and
                    (B) that each military law enforcement organization 
                records, in a database of the organization, the date on 
                which the organization notified a Family Advocacy 
                Program of a reported incident of child abuse.
            (3) The Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the 
        Secretary of each military department, shall issue guidance 
        that clarifies the process through which the Family Advocacy 
        Program of an Armed Force will receive, and incorporate into 
        the Program's central registry, information regarding child 
        abuse allegations involving members of that Armed Force and 
        dependents of such members in cases in which such allegations 
        were previously recorded by the Family Advocacy Program of 
        another Armed Force. Such guidance shall include a mechanism 
        for monitoring the process to ensure that the process is 
        carried out consistently.
            (4) Each Armed Force shall develop a process to monitor how 
        reported incidents of child abuse are screened at military 
        installations to help ensure that all reported child abuse 
        incidents that should be presented to an Incident Determination 
        Committee are consistently presented and tracked.
            (5) The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that the Under 
        Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, in 
        consultation with the Director of the Department of Defense 
        Education Activity, clarifies Department of Defense Education 
        Activity guidance to define what types of child abuse incidents 
        must be reported as serious incidents to help ensure that all 
        serious incidents of which Department of Defense Education 
        Activity leadership needs to be informed are accurately and 
        consistently reported by school administrators.
            (6) The Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the 
        Secretaries of the military departments, shall expand the 
        voting membership of each Incident Determination Committee to 
        include medical personnel with requisite knowledge and 
        experience.
            (7) Each Armed Force shall implement procedures to provide 
        the families of child abuse victims with comprehensive 
        information on how reported incidents of child abuse will be 
        addressed. Such practices may include the development of a 
        guide that--
                    (A) explains the processes the Family Advocacy 
                Program and military law enforcement organizations will 
                follow to address the report; and
                    (B) identifies services and other resources 
                available to victims and their families.
            (8) The Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the 
        Secretaries of the military departments, shall issue guidance 
        to clarify the circumstances under which military commanders 
        may exercise the authority to remove a child from a potentially 
        unsafe home on a military installation outside the United 
        States.
            (9) The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that the Under 
        Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, in 
        consultation with the Director of the Defense Health Agency, 
        establishes processes that help ensure children who are 
        sexually abused outside the United States have timely access to 
        a certified pediatric sexual assault forensic examiner to 
        conduct an examination. Such processes may include certifying 
        pediatricians or adult sexual assault forensic examiners as 
        pediatric examiners during mandatory training or establishing 
        shared regional assets.
            (10) The Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the 
        Deputy Attorney General, shall seek to improve communication 
        between military criminal investigative organizations and 
        United States Attorneys for relevant cases involving child 
        victims, including by seeking to ensure that military 
        investigators are notified when a prosecution is declined and 
        that such notice includes the reasons for the declination when 
        appropriate.
            (11) The Secretary of each military department shall seek 
        to develop a memorandum of understanding with the National 
        Children's Alliance that makes children's advocacy center 
        services available to all military installations of the 
        department and increases awareness of those services across the 
        department.
    (c) Deadline.--The Secretary of Defense shall carry out the 
activities described in subsection (b) not later than one year after 
the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``Armed Forces'' means the Army, Navy, Air 
        Force, and Marine Corps.
            (2) The term ``child abuse'' means any abuse of a child 
        (including physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and 
        neglect) regardless of whether the perpetrator of the abuse is 
        another child, an adult, or a person in a noncaregiving role.
            (3) The term ``Incident Determination Committee'' means a 
        committee established at a military installation that is 
        responsible for reviewing reported incidents of child abuse and 
        determining whether such incidents constitute child abuse 
        according to the applicable criteria of the Department of 
        Defense.
            (4) The term ``military-connected'', when used with respect 
        to child abuse, means child abuse occurring on a military 
        installation or involving a dependent of a member of the Armed 
        Forces.
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