Bill Summary
The Child Abuse Death Disclosure Act is a bill that amends part B of title IV of the Social Security Act in order to require states to review all child fatalities due to maltreatment on an annual basis. This includes the participation of a multidisciplinary team to review and analyze the circumstances surrounding each child's death, as well as develop recommendations for preventing future fatalities. The bill also requires the development of national definition standards for reporting data on child fatalities from maltreatment. This information will be shared on a national website and used for research purposes. The effective date of the act is 6 months after its enactment.
Possible Impacts
1. The Child Abuse Death Disclosure Act could potentially affect families and individuals by requiring States to review child fatalities and report on their findings, including information about the circumstances surrounding the child's death, any previous interactions with child protective services, and the services provided to the child before their death. This could lead to increased scrutiny and potential consequences for families and individuals who have been involved with child maltreatment cases.
2. The Act may also affect professionals and organizations involved in child welfare, such as child welfare workers, prosecutors, law enforcement, coroners or medical examiners, public health care providers, pediatricians, substance use disorder treatment providers, and advocates and researchers for the prevention and treatment of domestic violence. These individuals and organizations may be required to participate in multidisciplinary reviews of child fatalities and provide information and recommendations to prevent future deaths.
3. The Act could also impact the privacy of families and individuals involved in child maltreatment cases, as it requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish national reporting incident thresholds and implement privacy protections for children, individuals who are not the perpetrators of the maltreatment, and individuals who have been or are at risk of domestic violence. This could potentially limit the information that is publicly available and protect the privacy of those involved.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3027 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 3027
To amend part B of title IV of the Social Security Act to require
States to review child fatalities from maltreatment, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 11, 2019
Mr. Brown (for himself and Mr. Blunt) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend part B of title IV of the Social Security Act to require
States to review child fatalities from maltreatment, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Child Abuse Death Disclosure Act''.
SEC. 2. STRENGTHENING NATIONAL DATA ON CHILD FATALITIES FROM
MALTREATMENT.
(a) IV-B Requirement To Review Child Fatalities From
Maltreatment.--Section 422(b)(19) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
622(b)(19)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``and'' after the
semicolon;
(2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end
and inserting ``; and''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(C) an assurance that the State shall--
``(i) engage at least annually, and, more
frequently as necessary, in a multidisciplinary
review of all child fatalities from
maltreatment in the State that occurred during
the previous year in accordance with the
requirements of section 429A; and''.
(b) Review Requirements.--Subpart 1 of part B of title IV of the
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 621 et seq.) is amended by adding at the
end the following:
``SEC. 429A. ONGOING REVIEW OF CHILD FATALITIES FROM MALTREATMENT.
``(a) Requirements.--In order to satisfy the requirements of
section 422(b)(19)(C), a State shall require the State's
multidisciplinary child death review team or, if the State does not
have such a team as of the date of enactment of this section, a
multidisciplinary team established by the State that is comprised of
representatives of integral elements of the State child welfare system,
such as child welfare workers, child protective services workers,
prosecutors, law enforcement, coroners or medical examiners, public
health care providers, pediatricians with expertise in child
maltreatment and the child welfare system, substance use disorder
treatment providers, and advocates and researchers for the prevention
and treatment of domestic violence, as well as representatives of
educators, including early childhood educators and child care
providers, to review at least annually and more frequently as necessary
all child fatalities from maltreatment in the State that occurred
during the most recently ended fiscal year and for which all
administrative or judicial review is complete or no longer timely (in
this section referred to as the `review team'). Any child fatality from
maltreatment in the State that occurred during the most recently ended
fiscal year but for which administrative or judicial review is not
complete or remains timely shall be reviewed by the review team in
during the first review period that occurs after all administrative or
judicial review is complete or no longer timely.
``(b) Report and Recommendations.--The review team shall--
``(1) for each child fatality from maltreatment in the
State subject to review, make findings based on information
available to the review team regarding the causes of child's
fatality and other factors that impacted the child's fatality,
including to the extent possible and taking into account
privacy protections under Federal and State law, the
circumstances of the fatality, the characteristics of the
victim, the perpetrators, including their relationship to the
child, and the parents or guardians of the child, whether there
were previous familial interactions with child protective
services and the outcomes of those interactions, whether the
child had any siblings and how many, whether there were other
children present or living in the household at the time of the
fatality, and the social services, public cash or in-kind
assistance (including housing), health (including mental
health) services, alcohol or substance use disorder treatment,
or other public or private services provided to or on behalf of
the child prior to the child's death;
``(2) submit all findings and data made in accordance with
paragraph (1) to the Child Death Review Case Reporting System
(in this section referred to as the `CDR Reporting System')
operated by the National Center for Fatality Review and
Prevention;
``(3) based on the findings made in accordance with
paragraph (1), develop recommendations for preventing future
child fatalities from maltreatment; and
``(4) submit a report, at least annually, and, more
frequently as necessary, to the State Governor, the State
legislature, and, if the incident reporting threshold
established under subsection (c) is met, to the Secretary, that
contains the findings and data submitted to the CDR Reporting
System under subparagraph (2) (de-identified) and the
recommendations developed under paragraph (3).
``(c) Incident Reporting Threshold.--
``(1) State-specific thresholds.--
``(A) In general.--The Secretary annually shall
establish a national reporting incident threshold for
each State for purposes of protecting the privacy of
families and other living individuals whose information
is part of the findings and data submitted under
subsection (b)(2) and the reports to the State Governor
and State Legislature required under subsection (b)(4).
``(B) Requirements.--In establishing the national
reporting incident threshold for a State, the Secretary
shall ensure that the reporting threshold is subject to
privacy protections that are designed to protect the
privacy of--
``(i) children;
``(ii) individuals who are not the
perpetrators of the child maltreatment that
resulted in the fatality; and
``(iii) individuals who are or have been
victimized by domestic violence or who are at
risk of domestic violence.
``(2) Application.--If the number of child fatalities from
maltreatment in a State in a fiscal year is below the reporting
threshold established for the State for the fiscal year, the
State shall not submit the report required under subsection
(b)(4) to the Secretary but shall submit to the Secretary--
``(A) the findings and data submitted to the CDR
Reporting System under subsection (b)(2) for the
purpose of making such findings and data accessible as
a public use data set on the national website required
under subsection (g) after redacting any personal
identifying information; and
``(B) the recommendations developed under
subsection (b)(3).
``(d) Training.--In order to satisfy the requirements of section
422(b)(19)(C) and subsection (i), a State shall provide short-term
training for the members and staff of the State's multidisciplinary
child death review team, coroners, medical examiners, pathologists,
crime scene investigators, social workers, and law enforcement
regarding--
``(1) the set of national definition standards promulgated
under section 3(a) of the Child Abuse Death Disclosure Act; and
``(2) approaches to--
``(A) reduce and prevent discrimination based on
race or culture (including training related to implicit
biases) in the provision of child protection and
welfare services related to child abuse and neglect;
and
``(B) address racial or cultural disproportionality
in the incidence of child maltreatment fatality cases.
``(e) Funding.--
``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), amounts
expended by a State during each quarter beginning after the
effective date of this section for administrative costs (as
defined in section 422(c)(1)) to carry out this section and
section 422(b)(19)(C) shall be deemed to be amounts expended
during such quarter as found necessary by the Secretary for the
proper and efficient administration of the State plan under
part E and eligible for Federal matching payments under section
474(a)(3)(E) without regard to whether such costs are incurred
on behalf of a child who is, or is potentially, eligible for
foster care maintenance payments or adoption assistance under
part E.
``(2) Training.--Amounts expended by a State during each
quarter beginning after the effective date of this section for
providing training required under subsection (d) of this
section shall be eligible for Federal matching payments under
section 474(a)(3)(B) without regard to whether such costs are
incurred on behalf of a child who is, or is potentially,
eligible for foster care maintenance payments or adoption
assistance under part E.
``(f) Indian Tribes, Tribal Organizations.--The Secretary, in
consultation with the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs of the Bureau
of Indian Affairs of the Department of Interior and tribal child
welfare organizations, shall determine how and the extent to which the
requirements of this section shall apply to Indian tribes and tribal
organizations (as defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination
and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304).
``(g) Nonapplication.--The limitations on payments for
administrative costs under sections 424(e) and 472(i) shall not apply
to State expenditures made to carry out this section.
``(h) National Website.--
``(1) In general.--The Secretary, in coordination with the
National Center for Fatality Review and Prevention, shall
publish on a website that is available to the public and
maintained and updated at least annually--
``(A) each report submitted to the Secretary under
subsection (b)(4); and
``(B) the findings and data submitted to the CDR
Reporting System under subsection (b)(2) (with any
personal identifying information or information that
identifies the submitting State redacted) in a manner
that is accessible as a public use data set for
purposes of research to identify risk factors and to
prevent future deaths of children from maltreatment.
``(2) Notice to congress.--The Secretary shall notify
Congress when information on the website required under
paragraph (1) is updated.''.
(c) Conforming Amendment.--Section 425 of the Social Security Act
(42 U.S.C. 625) is amended by striking ``426, 427, and 429'' and
inserting ``422(b)(19)(C), 426, 427, 429, and 429A''.
SEC. 3. DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL DEFINITION STANDARDS RELATING TO CHILD
FATALITIES FROM MALTREATMENT.
(a) Promulgation of National Definition Standards.--Not later than
18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of
Health and Human Services (in this section referred to as the
``Secretary'') shall promulgate proposed regulations establishing a set
of national definition standards relating to child fatalities from
maltreatment that States shall use to report data to the National Child
Abuse and Neglect Data System established and maintained in accordance
with section 103 of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42
U.S.C. 5104) and, not later than 6 months after the date on which the
public comment period on the proposed regulations closes, shall issue
final regulations establishing such standards.
(b) Requirements.--In promulgating the regulations under subsection
(a), the Secretary shall consult with representatives of--
(1) State and county officials responsible for
administering the State plans under parts B and E of title IV
of the Social Security Act;
(2) child welfare professionals with field experience;
(3) child welfare researchers;
(4) child development professionals;
(5) mental health professionals;
(6) substance use disorder treatment professionals;
(7) emergency medicine physicians;
(8) child abuse pediatricians, as certified by the American
Board of Pediatrics, who specialize in treating victims of
child abuse;
(9) forensic pathologists;
(10) public health administration;
(11) public health researchers;
(12) law enforcement;
(13) advocates and researchers for the prevention and
treatment of domestic violence;
(14) a representative from the National Center for Fatality
Review and Prevention; and
(15) such other organizations or entities as the Secretary
determines appropriate.
(c) Conforming Amendments.--
(1) CAPTA.--
(A) National child abuse and neglect data system.--
Section 103(c)(1)(C) of the Child Abuse Prevention and
Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5104(c)(1)(C)) is amended--
(i) in clause (iii), by striking ``and''
after the semicolon;
(ii) in clause (iv), by adding ``and''
after the semicolon; and
(iii) by inserting after clause (iv), the
following:
``(v) information on child fatalities from
maltreatment in accordance with the set of
national definition standards promulgated under
section 3(a) of the Child Abuse Death
Disclosure Act;''.
(B) State data reports.--Section 106(d) of the
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C.
5106a(d)) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``(19) The number of child fatalities from maltreatment and
related information required to be reported in accordance with
the set of national definition standards promulgated under
section 3(a) of the Child Abuse Death Disclosure Act.''.
(2) Social security act.--
(A) IV-B plan.--Section 422(b)(19)(C) of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 622(b)(19)), as amended by
section 2(a), is further amended by adding at the end
the following:
``(ii) report information on child
maltreatment deaths required by Federal law in
accordance with the set of national definition
standards promulgated under section 3(a) of the
Child Abuse Death Disclosure Act.''.
(B) Review requirements.--Section 429A of the
Social Security Act, as added by section 2(b), is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``(i) Application of National Definition Standards.--The review
team shall use the set of national definition standards promulgated
under section 3(a) of the Child Abuse Death Disclosure Act to make and
submit findings and data to the CDR Reporting System and to develop the
recommendations required under subsection (b)(3).''.
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act and the amendments made by this Act take effect on the
date that is 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act.
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