CAPTA Reauthorization Act of 2010 - P.L. 111-320
Date: May 2019
Overview
S. 3817
Enacted December 20, 2010
Note: The Children's Bureau offers guidance on the provisions of this legislation in Information Memorandum ACYF-CB-IM-11-02, issued February 15, 2011.
Major Provisions of the Act
- Amended the State plan eligibility provisions to require submission of a plan that will remain in effect for the duration of the State's participation in the program, with the following required of States:
- Review periodically and revise the plan to reflect any changes in State programs
- Provide notice to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) of any substantive changes related to child abuse prevention that may affect the State's eligibility for the grant program
- Provide notice to HHS of any significant changes in how the State is using grant funds
- Prepare and submit to HHS an annual report describing how CAPTA funds were used
- Directed the Secretary of HHS to complete studies and reports to Congress on the following:
- Shaken baby syndrome
- Efforts to coordinate the objectives and activities of agencies and organizations responsible for programs and activities related to child abuse and neglect
- The effectiveness of citizen review panels in examining State and local child protection agencies and evaluating the extent to which they fulfill their child protection responsibilities
- How provisions for immunity from prosecution under State and local laws and regulations facilitate and inhibit individuals cooperating, consulting, or assisting in making good faith reports of child abuse or neglect
- Authorized grants to public or private agencies and organizations to develop or expand effective collaborations between child protective services (CPS) entities and domestic violence service entities to improve the following:
- Collaborative investigation and intervention procedures
- Provision for the safety of the nonabusing parent and children
- Provision of services to children exposed to domestic violence that also support the caregiving role of the nonabusing parent
- Amended the requirements for State plan assurances to include laws, policies, or programs for the following:
- Identifying categories of mandated reporters
- Including fetal alcohol spectrum disorders in procedures for the referral and development of a plan of safe care for substance-exposed newborns
- Including differential response in screening and assessment procedures
- Requiring that guardians ad litem be trained in early childhood, child, and adolescent development
- Providing that reunification not be required when a parent has committed intrafamilial sexual abuse or must register with a sex offender registry
- Ensuring the provision of technology to track CPS reports from intake through final disposition
- Encouraging the appropriate involvement of families in decision-making
- Promoting and enhancing collaboration among child protective, substance use, and domestic violence agencies
- Requiring training and programs that address the needs of unaccompanied homeless youth
- Ensuring collaboration with community-based prevention programs and families affected by child abuse and neglect in the development of the State plan
- Ensuring that the State, to the maximum extent possible, has coordinated its CAPTA State plan with its title IV-B State plan
- Required additional data in the annual State data reports, including the following:
- The number of families that received differential response as a preventive service
- Caseload requirements and the average caseload for CPS workers
- The education, qualifications, and training requirements for CPS personnel
- The number of children referred to CPS under policies established to address the needs of infants born affected by illegal substance use or fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
- The number of children under age 3 involved in a substantiated case of child abuse or neglect who were eligible for referral to agencies providing early intervention services and the number of those children who were actually referred
- Reauthorized the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment and Adoption Reform Act of 1978, including appropriations, through fiscal year 2015, with the following required amendments:
- Efforts to promote the adoption of older children, minority children, and children with special needs
- Recruitment of prospective adoptive families for children in foster care, including developing and using procedures to notify relatives when a child enters the child welfare system
- Authorized grants to States for improving efforts to increase the placement of children in foster care who are legally free for adoption and required that grant applications describe the following:
- How the State plans to improve the placement rate of children in permanent homes
- The methods the State, prior to submitting the application, has used to improve the placement of older children, minority children, and children with special needs who are legally free for adoption
- The State's evaluation plan for determining the effectiveness of programs and methods of placement
- How the State plans to coordinate activities under this subsection with relevant activities under 42 U.S.C. § 673