[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17037]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    CHILD ABUSE IN MILITARY FAMILIES

  (Ms. GABBARD asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, Talia Williams was just 5 years old when 
she was beaten to death by her own father after suffering months of 
abuse at home. Despite multiple reports to officials at the Army base 
in Hawaii where Talia and her father lived, the system failed to 
protect her.
  Talia's tragic story is just one of over 29,000 cases of child abuse 
and neglect in military homes over the last decade. This is a problem 
that demands better protections for our children in military families 
who are being abused and better support for military families facing 
the stresses of war, multiple deployments, and economic hardship.
  I have introduced Talia's Law today, joined by Representative Mark 
Takai, which requires military officials to immediately report 
suspected cases of abuse to State child protective services. We owe it 
to our servicemembers, their families, and thousands of children like 
Talia to disrupt the status quo and stop another decade of preventable 
child abuse.

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