[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 134 (Thursday, October 20, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11666-S11667]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. McCAIN (for himself, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. Crapo, and Mr. 
        Inouye):
  S. 1899. A bill to amend the Indian Child Protection and Family 
Violence Prevention Act to identify and remove barriers to reducing 
child abuse, to provide for examinations of certain children, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Indian Affairs.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, today I am introducing a bill to 
reauthorize the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention 
Act. This bill is intended to reauthorize appropriations for child 
sexual abuse prevention and treatment grants, to identify the scope of 
child abuse and family violence in Indian country by requiring annual 
comprehensive data gathering, to encourage inter-agency coordination 
between the Indian Health Service and public and private medical or 
treatment organizations in the treatment and examination of children 
through the use of telemedicine, and to conform the Act to other 
Federal child abuse reporting and confidentiality laws. The bill 
provides a 4-year reauthorization of appropriations for the Act.
  The Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act was 
enacted in 1990 to address findings of the Senate Select Committee on 
Indian Affairs and the Special Committee on Investigations as it 
examined the Federal trust relationship with Indian tribes. Through 
public hearings, these Committees found that, at the time, Indian 
country was a safe haven for child abuse perpetrators. I will not 
forget the testimony of parents whose children fell prey to the 
notorious cases of multiple child sexual abuse that occurred on the 
Hopi, Navajo, and Cherokee reservations over the course of many years. 
The Federal investigation and prosecution of these crimes revealed that 
child abuse perpetrators were aware that the conditions of reporting, 
investigating, and preventing crimes upon children were in such a sorry 
state that their crimes would rarely be detected. Needless to say, the 
consequences proved tragic to hundreds of child victims, their families 
and their communities.
  We enacted this law to give the Federal Government an opportunity to 
meet its responsibility to Indian children and families by establishing 
policies and programs to prevent child abuse and family violence. To 
accomplish this, appropriations were authorized to establish prevention 
and treatment programs within the BIA and IHS. The Act also authorized 
the BIA and IHS to assist tribes in establishing on-reservation child 
abuse prevention and treatment programs. The Act also provided criminal 
sanctions for professionals who failed to report acts of abuse or 
suspected abuse and prescribed a child abuse reporting process for law 
enforcement.
  I don't believe that the possible benefits of the Act have been fully 
realized.

[[Page S11667]]

Neither the BIA nor the IHS have successfully requested or received 
appropriations to fully implement the programs envisioned by the Act. 
Today, tribal governments rely on special appropriations, congressional 
earmarks and piecemeal grants. And, we still do not have a firm idea of 
the extent to which child sexual or physical abuse is occurring in 
Indian communities or the degree of success that we are having in 
treating victims of child abuse. Surely, we can do better than this.
  This bill provides for a comprehensive approach to gathering this 
information on child abuse in Indian country. Under current law, the 
FBI is responsible for gathering this data. At the time, the FBI was 
primarily responsible for investigating acts of felony child abuse in 
Indian country. Today, we know that many Indian tribal police agencies, 
operating under Indian Self-Determination and Educational Assistance 
Act compacts and contracts, jointly investigate these felony crimes and 
that they are also responsible for responding to and investigating 
tribal offenses. The bill requires a comprehensive sharing of numerical 
data by all Federal, tribal and State law enforcement agencies.
  In addition, the Act requires all local law enforcement agencies to 
document incidents of child abuse and to submit this documentation to 
the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Act, however, does not provide 
for use of this valuable information. This bill permits the FBI to 
continue to gather conviction data and to make this information 
available, on a limited basis, to specific agencies requiring such 
information in the course of their professional duties. It permits 
agencies to access information in the course of conducting background 
checks on those who seek employment in an area involving children.
  Finally, the bill authorizes the Indian Health Service to use 
advances in telemedicine to bring expert advice and training to the 
examination and diagnosis of child abuse. This new provision recognizes 
that children, when victimized, require immediate and expert diagnosis 
and treatment.
  This section will help supplement stretched or unavailable IHS 
resources in the most isolated Indian communities. This body recently 
sent a clear message on domestic violence and sexual predators. This 
bill furthers that message by continuing to protect Indian children and 
families and ensuring that they continue to receive prevention and 
treatment resources to address the impact of these crimes in their own 
communities. I look forward to receiving the comments from the 
Administration and working with my colleagues toward final passage of 
this bill.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
                                 ______