Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA)

 

 

Issue Background

Since 1974, (CAPTA) has been an essential part of the federal government’s efforts to help states and communities improve their practices in preventing and treating child abuse and neglect.  CAPTA programs support innovations in state child protective services as well as research, training, data collection, technical assistance, and program evaluation.

 

CAPTA provides critical services to families at risk.  The Community-Based Family Resource and Support (CBFRS) Program prevention grants assist states and communities to develop successful approaches to preventing child abuse and neglect through community-based, family-centered programs.  CBFRS grants funds for the development of such essential abuse prevention services as support programs for new parents, parenting education classes, crisis nurseries, hotlines, information on community resources, home visitor services, sexual abuse prevention, respite care for families with disabled children, and other family support services.

 

Congress Works on CAPTA Legislation

 

In April 2002, the House passed the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act (H.R.3839), legislation to reauthorize CAPTA, the Adoption Opportunities Act, and the Abandoned Infants Assistance Act.  In September the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions approved S.2998, its version of the measure, with the addition of provisions creating two new programs, one aimed at protecting children who witness violence, and the other to support young people leaving foster care. 

On October 10,  the House passed by voice vote H.R.5601, a bill introduced by Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), sponsor of the original CAPTA reauthorization bill.  The Hoekstra bill embodied the provisions agreed to by the House-Senate negotiators on CAPTA,  Adoption Opportunities, and Abandoned Infants legislation, but without the two new initiatives proposed in S.2998.  However, Democrats in the Senate, committed to passing the new programs protecting children who witness violence and supporting children leaving foster care, refused to take up H.R.5601 from the House without the new programs included, and the CAPTA reauthorization effort ended for the year.

On Tuesday, January 7, Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) introduced H.R.14, legislation reauthorizing CAPTA, with cosponsors Reps. John Boehner (R-OH), Jim Greenwood (R-PA), Tom DeLay (R-TX), and George Miller (D-CA). The bill incorporates most of the language agreed upon during the House-Senate staff negotiations late last year, embodied in H.R.5601 which Hoesktra introduced and the House passed in October. 

Principal differences between H.R.5601 and H.R.14 are: 

1) adding respite care, home visiting, and family support services to the list of core services for the Title II community-based prevention program, as the coalition requested; 

2) returning to the original Greenwood language on services to addicted newborns, with attention to those born with fetal alcohol syndrome,  but requiring hospitals to report such at-risk births to CPS; 

3) returning original House language, as the coalition requested, identifying a Part C IDEA agency as the appropriate referral for development of a plan of care for infants born drug or alcohol exposed. 

The Senate is expected to follow suit with a similar bill.

With CAPTA up for reauthorization this year, and with national reports of child abuse and neglect remaining woefully high, adequate federal funding to help states and communities protect children and prevent child abuse and neglect should be a congressional priority.  It is critical that CAPTA be fully funded or have its funding enhanced.

State Grants

Title I of CAPTA authorizes discretionary grants to the states to help improve their Child Protective Services (CPS) systems. Funding for these grants has not grown much over the past several years. In fiscal year 2002, CAPTA state grants were funded at $22 million. CAPTA imposes no income or other eligibility requirements for people receiving assistance, and the program is intended to help children of any age. States use these grants to develop innovative approaches to improve CPS systems. States must meet eligibility requirements, such as having mandatory reporting laws, preserving victim confidentiality, appointing guardians ad litem, and establishing citizen review panels. 



Discretionary Grants

CAPTA discretionary funds support state efforts to improve their practices in preventing and treating child abuse and neglect. Funds support program development, research, training, technical assistance, and the collection and dissemination of data to advance the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect. These funds also support the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, the only federal data collection effort to determine the scope of child abuse and neglect. CAPTA funds also support other national initiatives, such as the National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect, the National Resource Center on Child Maltreatment, and the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect. FY 2002 funding for these discretionary grants was $26 million. 



Community-Based Family Resource and Support Program

The Community-Based Family Resource and Support Program was created in 1996 by combining the authority for the existing Community-Based Family Resource Programs, the Temporary Child Care for Children with Disabilities and Crisis Nurseries Program, and the Family Support Program. The consolidated program provides grants to states to support their efforts to develop, operate, and expand a network of community-based, prevention-focused family resource and support programs that coordinate among a range of existing public and private organizations. 



Funding is allocated to states by a formula based on the number of children in a state's population and on the amount of funds directed through the grant recipient for prevention and family resource activities. The governor designates the state's funding recipient, which must be an existing entity, with priority consideration for children's trust funds or other systems that leverage a mix of funds for prevention activities. The Community-Based Family Resource and Support Program was funded at $33.4 million in FY 2002. 

 

How serious is the problem of child abuse and neglect?

The reality of child abuse is disturbing and far-reaching.  According to a report released in April 2001 by the Department of Health and Human Services, substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect investigated by child protective service agencies numbered 826,000  nationally in 1999. Fatalities from child maltreatment remain high: an estimated 1,100 children died of abuse or neglect in 1999.  Based on state-reported child abuse and neglect statistics, HHS estimates that child protective service agencies received 2,974,000 referrals of possible maltreatment in that year.

 

Unfortunately, many of the victims of child maltreatment get no services to mitigate its negative consequences.  States report that the child victims or their families receive no treatment or any other type of service following investigation of the report in one-quarter to three-quarters of the confirmed cases of child abuse.