Native American Children's Safety Act - P.L. 114-165

Overview

S. 184
Enacted June 3, 2016

Purpose: To reauthorize and amend the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act

Major Provisions of the Act

• Prohibited the final approval of any foster care placement or a foster care license from being issued until the Tribal social services agency does the following:
  • Completes a criminal records check of each covered individual who resides in the household or is employed at the institution in which the foster care placement will be made
  • Concludes that each of those individuals meets the Tribe's standards established pursuant to this act
• Defined a 'covered individual' as an adult and any other individual the Tribe determines is subject to a criminal records check
• Required the Tribe's standards to include requirements for Tribal social services agencies to do the following:
  • Perform criminal records checks, including fingerprint-based checks of national crime information databases
  • Check any abuse registries maintained by the Indian Tribe
  • Check any child abuse and neglect registry maintained by the State and any Tribal abuse registries maintained in the State in which the individual resides
  • Request any other State in which the individual resided during the preceding 5 years to enable the agency to check its registry
  • Fulfill any other additional requirements that the Indian Tribe determines are necessary and permissible within its existing authority, such as the creation of voluntary agreements with State entities to facilitate the sharing of information related to the performance of criminal records checks
• Prohibited a foster care placement from being ordered if the investigation revealed that a covered individual has been found guilty by a Federal, State, or Tribal court of a felony involving child abuse or neglect, spousal abuse, a crime against a child, violence, or drugs
• Exempted emergency foster care placements from such requirements
• Required Indian Tribes to establish procedures to recertify homes or institutions in which foster care placements are made
• Directed the U.S. Department of the Interior to issue guidance regarding the following:
  • Procedures for a criminal records check of any covered individual who resides in the home or is employed at the institution in which the child is placed after the investigations that preceded that placement occurred
  • Self-reporting requirements for foster care homes or institutions that have knowledge that a covered individual residing on their premises would fail a criminal records check
  • Promising practices used by Indian Tribes to address emergency foster care placements
  • Procedures for certifying compliance with the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act