New Legislation for 112th Congress
Protect OUR Kids Act S.1984/H.R.3653
12/13/2011 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Co- Sponsors: Senators John Kerry, Susan Collins Rep. Lloyd Doggett, Joseph Crowley
Summary:
This bill will create a National Commission on Child Abuse and Neglect Deaths to study and evaluate federal, state, and private child welfare systems and develop a national strategy to prevent and reduce these deaths.It shall conduct a thorough study on reducing fatalities from child abuse and neglect. The Commission shall develop recommendations for Federal, State, and local agencies, and private sector and nonprofit organizations to implement a comprehensive national strategy that reduces fatalities from child abuse and neglect. Not later than 6 months after the submission of the report required under section 4(d), any Federal agency that is affected by a recommendation described in the report shall submit to Congress a report containing the response of the Federal agency to the recommendation and the plans of the Federal agency to address the recommendation.
Keeping All Students Safe Act H.R.1381/ S. 2020
4/15/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.
Sponsors: Sen. Tom Harkin
Summary:
Directs the Secretary of Education (Secretary) to establish minimum standards that: (1) prohibit elementary and secondary school personnel from managing any student by using any mechanical or chemical restraint, physical restraint or escort that restricts breathing, or aversive behavioral intervention that compromises student health and safety; (2) prohibit such personnel from using physical restraint or seclusion, unless such measures are required to eliminate an imminent danger of physical injury to the student or others and certain precautions are taken; (3) require states and local educational agencies (LEAs) to ensure that a sufficient number of school personnel receive state-approved crisis intervention training and certification in first aid and certain safe and effective student management techniques; (4) prohibit physical restraint or seclusion from being written into a student's education plan, individual safety plan, behavioral plan, or individual education program as a planned intervention; and (5) require schools to establish procedures to notify parents in a timely manner if physical restraint or seclusion is imposed on their child.
S. 1318: Supporting Adoptive Families Act
Cosponsors:3
Status: Referred to Senate Finance Committee
This bill supports adoptive families by creating more programs for adopted children, such as peer reflective groups and counseling. Also, this bill will create a 24 hour hot-line for parents of the adopted children. This hotline can give them advice on parenting and emergency situations.
H.R. 2565: WE CARE Act
Co-Sponsor-1
Official Summary:
7/15/2011--Introduced. Working to Encourage Community Action and Responsibility in Education Act or WE CARE Act - Amends title I (Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require states and local educational agencies (LEAs) to assess the nonacademic factors affecting student academic performance and work with other public, private, nonprofit, and community-based entities to address those factors. Requires the annual report cards issued by states and LEAs to include additional performance data, including information on their efforts to increase community and parental involvement in students' education. Establishes a new program requiring the Secretary of Education to award matching grants to LEAs for the development and implementation of community involvement policies that leverage the resources, services, and opportunities available from public, private, nonprofit, and community-based partners to address students' academic and nonacademic needs and thereby support their attainment of state academic performance standards.
FOSTER CARE:
Every Child Deserves a Family Act (H.R. 1681):
- Sponsor: Rep. Stark (CA). Co-sponsors: Reps. Ackerman (NY), Baldwin (WI), Berkley (NV), Berman (CA), Blumenauer (OR), Capps (CA), Chu (CA), Cicilline (RI), Clarke (NY), Davis (CA), DeGette (CO), DeLauro (CT), Ellison (MN), Eshoo (CA), Fattah (PA), Filner (CA), Frank (MA), Grijalva (AZ), Gutierrez (IL), Hastings (FL), Hinchey (NY), Honda (CA), Jackson Lee (TX), Jackson (IL), Lee (CA), Lewis (GA), Markey (MA), Matsui (CA), McDermott (WA), McGovern (MA), Moore (WI), Moran (VA), Nadler (NY), Napolitano (CA), Norton (DC), Olver (MA), Pelosi (CA), Pingree, (ME), Polis (CO), Quigley (IL), Rangel (NY), Richardson (CA), Ros-Lehtinen (FL), Rothman (NJ), Sablan (MP), Schakowsky (IL), Serrano (NY), Sutton (OH), Tonko (NY), Tsongas (MA), Waxman (CA), Weiner (NY), Woolsey (CA), Wu (OR)
- Committee:House Ways and Means
- Status: Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Summary: to prohibit discrimination in adoption or foster care placements based on the sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status of any prospective adoptive or foster parent, or the sexual orientation or gender identity of the child involved.
H.R.2063: To eliminate the requirement that, to be eligible for foster care maintenance payments, a child would have been eligible for aid under the former program of Aid to Families with Dependent Children at the time of removal from the home.
- Sponsor: Rep Lewis (GA) Co-sponsors:Reps. Berkley (NV), McDermott (WA), Moore (WI), Stark (CA)
- Committee: House Ways and Means
- Status: 5/31/2011 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Text and Summary not yet available.
H.R.1194: Latest Title: To renew the authority of the Secretary of Health and Human Services to approve demonstration projects designed to test innovative strategies in State child welfare programs.
- Sponsor: Rep McDermott, Jim (WA)Co-Sponsor: Rep Davis (KY)
- Committee: Finance
- Status: 6/6/2011 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Summary: Amends title XI of the Social Security Act to renew through FY2016 the authority of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to authorize states to conduct child welfare program demonstration projects likely to promote the objectives of part B (Child and Family Services) or E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA).
Includes among the demonstration projects that may be approved any designed to: (1) identify and address barriers that result in delays to kinship guardianship for children in foster care, (2) provide early intervention and crisis intervention services that safely reduce out-of-home placements and improve child outcomes, or (3) identify and address domestic violence that endangers children and results in the placement of children in foster care.
Prohibits the Secretary from authorizing a demonstration project if the state fails to provide health insurance coverage to any child with special needs for whom there is in effect a kinship guardianship agreement between the state and the adoptive parent or parents.
Requires the Secretary, in assessing a demonstration project application submitted by a state in which a court order is in effect which has determined that the state's child welfare program has failed to comply with part B or E of SSA title IV, or with the U.S. Constitution, to take into consideration the state's ability to implement an approved corrective action.
Requires any demonstration project application to include: (1) an accounting of any additional federal, state, local, and private investments made during the two fiscal years preceding the application to provide project services; and (2) an assurance that the state will provide an accounting of the same spending for each year of an approved project.
Requires the mandatory project evaluation by an independent contractor to use an approved evaluation design which provides for a comparison of the amounts of federal, state, local and private investments in the project services, by service type, with the amount of the investments during the period of the project. Requires the evaluation design also to compare the outcomes for all children and families under the project who come to the attention of the state's child welfare program, either through a report of abuse or neglect or through the provision of project services.
S. Res. 203 Recognizing ‘National Foster Care Month’ as an opportunity to raise awareness about the challenges of children in the foster care system, and encouraging Congress to implement policy to improve the lives of children in the foster care system.
Cosponsors: 16
Status: Passed
Summary: A resolution recognizing "National Foster Care Month" as an opportunity to raise awareness about the challenges of children in the foster care system, and encouraging Congress to implement policy to improve the lives of children in the foster care system
S.1667 - Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2011
Sponsor: Senator Thomas Harkin D-IA
Summary: A bill to require certain standards and enforcement provisions to prevent child abuse and neglect in residential programs, and for other purposes.
H.R. 2022: To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a study on the recruitment and retention of foster parents in the United States.
Co-Sponsors: 0
Official Summary: Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to study the recruitment and retention of foster parents of children served by any foster care program funded under part E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Social Security Act.
CHILD TRAFFICKING
Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act of 2011
- Sponsor: Sen. Ryden (OR) Co-sponsors: Sens. Brown (MA), Brown (OH), Cantwell (WA), Cornyn (TX), Harkin (IA), Klobuchar (MN), Kyl (AZ), Merkley (OR), Schumer (NY)
- Committee: Senate Judiciary
- Status: 3/16/2011 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Summary: Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the Attorney General should implement changes to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database to ensure that a child will be automatically designated as an endangered juvenile if the child has been reported missing three times in a year and that the database will cross-reference newly entered reports with historical records and include a visual cue on the record of a child designated as an endangered juvenile; (2) funds awarded under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program should be used to provide education, training, deterrence, and prevention programs relating to sex trafficking of minors; (3) states should treat minor victims of sex trafficking as crime victims rather than as criminal defendants or juvenile delinquents and make such minors eligible for compensation; and (4) demand for commercial sex with minors must be deterred through consistent law enforcement.
Amends the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 to revise the grant program to combat trafficking in persons to authorize the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs to award block grants to up to six state or local governments to combat sex trafficking of minors, for uses including providing shelter to minor victims of trafficking, case management services, mental health counseling, legal services, and outreach and education programs.
Amends title IV of the Social Security Act (Grants to States for Needy Families with Children and for Child-Welfare Services) to require states to adopt procedures for reporting information on missing or abducted children for entry into the NCIC database.
Amends the Crime Control Act of 1990 to require: (1) the Attorney General's annual statistical summary under such Act to include the total number of missing child reports received and the total number of entries made to the NCIC database, and (2) state law enforcement agencies to update the record of a missing child with a photograph taken within the previous 180 days and to notify the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of each report of a child missing from a fostercare family home or childcare institution.
Amends: (1) the Trafficking Victims Reauthorization Act of 2008 to require the inclusion of safe harbor provisions for children exploited through prostitution in model state anti-trafficking statutes, (2) the federal criminal code to expand protection of minor victims and witnesses from harassment or intimidation and impose a minimum one-year prison term for possession of certain child pornography, and (3) the federal judicial code to allow the issuance of an administrative subpoena for the investigation of unregistered sex offenders by the United States Marshals Service.
Directs the United States Sentencing Commission to review and amend federal sentencing guidelines and policy statements to ensure that such guidelines provide an additional penalty for sex trafficking of children and other child abuse crimes.
Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to coordinate with the heads of federal departments and independent agencies to devise a strategy and establish guidelines to reduce overall government printing costs beginning with FY2013.
S. 185 Child Protection Compact Act of 2011
- Sponsor: Boxer (CA) Co-sponsors: Brown (MA), Burr (NC), Cantwell (WA), Cardin (MD), Johanns (NE), Klobuchar (MN), Menendez (NJ)
- Committee: Foreign Relations
- Status: 25/2011 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Summary: Authorizes the Secretary of State, through the Ambassador-at-Large of the Department of State's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, to provide assistance (grants, cooperative agreements, or contracts) for an eligible country with a significant prevalence of trafficking in children that enters into a ChildProtection Compact with the United States to support policies and programs to eradicate the trafficking of children.
H.R. 975 Anti-Bullying and Harassment Act of 2011
- Sponsor: Davis (IL) Co-sponsors: Clarke (NY), Jackson Lee (TX), Jackson (IL), Lee, CA), Norton (DC), Rangel (NY), Rush (IL
- Committee: Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education
- Status: 3/21/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.
Summary: Amends the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act to require: (1) states to use grants for safe and drug-free schools to collect and report information on the incidence of bullying and harassment, and (2) local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools to use sub-grants to prevent and respond to incidents of bullying and harassment.
Requires such LEAs or schools to: (1) notify parents and students annually of conduct prohibited in their school discipline policies, that now must include bullying and harassment; and (2) establish complaint procedures for students and parents to register complaints regarding such conduct.
Includes bullying and harassment within the Act's definition of violence.
H.R. 1648 Safe Schools Improvement Act of 2011
- Sponsor: Rep. Sanchez (CA) Co-sponsors: [there are 78]
- Committee: Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education
- Status: 5/20/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.
Summary: Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require states, on an ongoing basis, to: (1) collect and report certain information on bullying and harassment by youth in their elementary and secondary schools and communities; (2) conduct, and report the results of, a needs assessment for bullying and harassment prevention programs; and (3) provide technical assistance to local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools in their efforts to thwart bullying and harassment.
Requires LEAs to: (1) include clear prohibitions against bullying and harassment within their discipline policies; (2) establish and monitor performance indicators for incidents of bullying and harassment; and (3) establish grievance procedures students, parents, and educators can use to redress such conduct.
Directs LEAs to notify parents, students, and educators annually on: (1) the bullying and harassment prohibited by their discipline policies, (2) the numbers and nature of bullying and harassment incidents for each of their schools, and (3) grievance procedures for redressing such conduct.
Requires: (1) the Secretary of Education to conduct, and report on, an independent biennial evaluation of programs to combat bullying and harassment in elementary and secondary schools; and (2) the Commissioner for Education Statistics to collect data, that are subject to independent review, to determine the incidence and prevalence of bullying and harassment in elementary and secondary schools in this country.
EDUCATION/DISCRIMINATION/LGBTQ
H.R. 998 Student Non-Discrimination Act of 2011
- Sponsor: Polis (CO) Co-sponsors: [there are 137]
- Committee: Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education
- Status: 3/21/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.
Summary: Prohibits public school students from being excluded from participating in, or subject to discrimination under, any federally-assisted educational program on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity or that of their associates.
Considers harassment to be a form of discrimination.
Prohibits retaliation against anyone for opposing conduct they reasonably believe to be unlawful under this Act.
Authorizes federal departments and agencies to enforce these prohibitions by cutting off the educational assistance of recipients found to be violating them.
Allows an aggrieved individual to assert a violation of this Act in a judicial proceeding and recover reasonable attorney's fees should they prevail.
Deems a state's receipt of federal educational assistance for a program to constitute a waiver of sovereign immunity for conduct prohibited under this Act regarding such program.
ABUSE
Violence Against Children Act of 2011 S. 175
- Sponsor: Sen. Boxer (CA)
- Committee: Judiciary
- Status: 1/25/2011 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Summary: Directs the Attorney General to: (1) provide technical, forensic, prosecutorial, or other assistance to state, local, or Indian tribal governments in the criminal investigation or prosecution of felonies against individuals under 18 years of age; and (2) award grants to develop and strengthen effective law enforcement and prosecution of crimes against children and to provide education, prevention, intervention, and victims' assistance services for such crimes.
Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to: (1) require states to use a certain percentage of funds received under such Act to improve their parole systems; and (2) allow the use of school security grants for the placement of surveillance equipment in schools and the establishment of hotlines or tiplines for reporting potentially dangerous students and situations.
Establishes an interagency task force to develop advisory school safety guidelines.
Requires states receiving grants under this Act to use the National Incident-Based Reporting System to report crimes against children.
Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop model training and caseload standards for child guardians in childabuse and neglect cases.
Mynisha's Law - Authorizes a local government, city, county, tribal government, or a group of counties (located in one or more states) to apply to the Attorney General for designation as a High Intensity Gang Activity Area. Requires the Attorney General to: (1) establish criteria for reviewing such applications; and (2) establish an Interagency Gang Prevention Task Force to coordinate federal assistance to such Areas.
H.R. 1434 International Child Protection Act of 2011
- Sponsor: Rep. Shuler (NC)
- Committee: Judiciary
- Status: 4/7/2011 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Summary: Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to make aliens convicted of sex offenses against minors inadmissible to the United States.
Expresses the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), the Attorney General (DOJ), and the Secretary of State should work with foreign law enforcement agencies and international organizations to establish related information reporting mechanisms.
HEALTH
H.R. 671 Ensuring Continuous Coverage Under SCHIP Act of 2011
- Sponsor: Rep Green (TX) Co-sponsor: Doggett (TX)
- Committee: Health Subcommittee
- Status: 2/18/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
Summary: Amends title XXI (Children'sHealth Insurance) (CHIP, formerly known as SCHIP) of the Social Security Act (SSA) with respect to a state plan that provides child health insurance through a means other than through the state's plan under SSA title XIX (Medicaid).
Requires in such a case for the CHIP plan to implement the 12-month continuous eligibility option available under Medicaid for targeted low-income children whose family income is below 200% of the poverty line.
HOMELESSNESS
H.R.1253 Educational Success for Children and Youth Without Homes Act of 2011
- Sponsor: Rep. Biggert (IL) Co-sponsors: Reps. Grijalva (AZ), Kildee (MI)
- Committee: Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity
- Status: 5/2/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity.
Summary: Amends the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act's program of grants to states and, through them, sub-grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) for the education of homeless youths to:
- raise the minimum allotment for each state;
- elaborate on the functions of each state's Office of the Coordinator for Education of Homeless Children and Youths;
- elaborate on required state procedures for resolving disputes regarding the educational placement of homeless youth;
- ensure that homeless youth do not lose credits earned in other schools and are not segregated into separate schools or programs within schools;
- require states, LEAs, and schools to promote success for homeless youth by holding them to the same achievement standards as other students and removing barriers to their full participation in all classes and school activities;
- list student-centered factors to be considered before an LEA places a homeless youth in a school;
- require such schools to immediately enroll homeless youth despite unpaid fees or missed application or enrollment deadlines;
- protect the privacy of information about a homeless youth's living situation;
- require LEAs to coordinate services provided to homeless and disabled youth;
- add to the duties of, and funding available to, LEA liaisons for homeless youth;
- provide for the enrollment of homeless children in preschool programs;
- require the Secretary of Education to establish or designate a Federal Office of the Coordinator for Education of Homeless Children and Youths;
- authorize the Secretary to award grants or enter into contracts for evaluation, dissemination, and technical assistance activities for educational programs for homeless youth;
- triple authorized FY2012 appropriations from those authorized for FY2009.
Establishes a separately funded Emergency Disaster Grant program which distributes funds to LEAs directly or through states to increase LEAs' capacity to respond to major disasters.
H.R.751 - Mental Health in Schools Act of 2011
Sponsor: Rep. Napolitano (CA)
Co-Sponsors (52)
Committees: House Energy and Commerce, House Energy and Commerce- Health
Status: Introduced
Official Summary-
2/17/2011--Introduced.Mental Health in Schools Act of 2011 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to revise a community children and violence program to assist local communities and schools in applying a public health approach to mental health services, including by:
(1) revising eligibility requirements for a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement; and
(2) providing for comprehensive school mental health programs that are culturally and linguistically appropriate and age appropriate. Makes only a partnership between a local educational agency and at least one community program or agency that is involved in mental health eligible for such funding. Sets forth assurances required for eligibility, including that:
(1) the local education agency will enter into a memorandum of understanding with relevant community-based entities that clearly states the responsibilities of each partner;
(2) the program will include training of all school personnel, family members of children with mental health disorders, and concerned members of the community; and
(3) the program will demonstrate the measures to be taken to sustain the program after funding terminates. Requires the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to develop a process for evaluating grant program activities, including:
(1) the development of guidelines for the submission of program data by recipients; and
(2) the development of measures of outcomes to be applied by recipients in evaluating programs, to include student and family measures and local educational measures.
H.R.2883 - Child and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act
Sponsor: Rep. Davis (KY)
Co-sponsors: Reps Berg (ND), Blumenauer (OR), Boustany (LA), Crowley (NY), Doggett (TX), Langevin (RI), Levin (MI), Lewis (GA), Marchant (TX), McDermott (WA), Rangel (NY), Reed (NY), Reichert (WA), Roskam (IL), Stark (CA), Tiberi (OH)
Current Status: Introduced
Committees: House Ways and Means, House Budget
Official Summary:9/12/2011--IntroducedChild and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act - Amends title IV part B (Child and Family Services) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to extend through FY2016 the authorization of appropriations for the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Child Welfare Services Program. Revises requirements for child visitations by caseworkers. Extends through FY2016:
(1) permit part E foster care maintenance payments to a long-term therapeutic family treatment center on behalf of a child residing in the center, or
(2) identify and address domestic violence that endangers children and results in the placement of children in foster care. Defines a long-term therapeutic family treatment center as a state-licensed or -certified program that:
(1) enables parents and their children to live together in a safe environment for at least six months; and
(2) provides substance abuse treatment services, children's early intervention services, family counseling, medical care,and related services. Sets forth child welfare improvement policies.
Summary: This bill essentially provides substance/domestic abuse treatment programs for children in foster care. Children will receive these treatments through grants. This bill will revise these grants to specifically target foster children who are drug abusers.
H.R.1360 -Child Protection Improvements Act of 2011
Sponsor: Representative Adam Schiff (CA)
Co-Sponsors: Reps Conyers (MI), Frank (MA), Rogers (MI)
Current Status: Introduced
Committees: House Judiciary- Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security
Official Summary:
(1) Establish policies and procedures for a program for national criminal history background checks for child-serving organizations,
(2) Assist such organizations in obtaining access to nationwide background checks,
(3) Establish procedures for ensuring the accuracy of criminal history records,
(4) Identify individuals convicted of serious misdemeanors or felonies involving children, and
(5) Collect demographic data relating to individuals and organizations covered by this Act and make reports to Congress on such data. Limits the liability of a child-serving organization for failure to conduct criminal background checks or to take adverse action against employees with a criminal history. Imposes limitations on the disclosure or use of criminal history records. Amends the PROTECT Act to extend the Child Safety Pilot Program.
Findings: Sec 2 (9) 6% of adult volunteers were previously charged with a serious crime. These crimes include sexual abuse of minors, assault, child cruelty, murder, and serious drug offenses.
Requirements of being an eligible adult volunteer: Sec 5 (3) The Attorney General or the criminal history review designee shall, in determining when a criminal history record indicates that a covered individual has a criminal history that may bear on the fitness of the covered individual to provide care to children
S 420 Foster Care Mentoring Act of 2011
Last week Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), introduced the Foster Care Mentoring Act of 2011 (S. 420) with cosponsors Mark Begich (D-AK) and Tim Johnson (D-SD). A longtime focus for the co-chair of the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth, Landrieu has introduced this bill in each Congress since the 107th. Currently, it has been referred to the Senate Committee on Finance.
The bill's findings assert improved achievement, social, and academic outcomes for youth when they have a relationship with a caring adult. It also points to the 423,773 children and youth in foster care and their need for an intentionally structured mentoring program. Finally, mentoring programs are characterized as a cost-effective way to improve youth outcomes.
The bill's proposed mentoring program would be added to Promoting Safe and Stable Families statute which is located in Title IV-B, part 2 of the Social Security Act. It would entail a grant program authorized at $15 million for states and eligible political subdivisions to apply for no more than $600,000 to expand or establish a foster care mentoring program. The bill also includes an additional $4 million to fund a national public awareness and recruitment campaign. Finally, a separate provision intended to incentivize recruitment would make mentors eligible for $2,000 in student loan forgiveness for every 200 hours served as a foster care mentor for up to $10,000.
Every Child Deserves a Family Act (H.R. 1681):
• Sponsor: Rep. Stark (CA). Co-sponsors: Reps. Ackerman (NY), Baldwin (WI), Berkley (NV), Berman (CA), Blumenauer (OR), Capps (CA), Chu (CA), Cicilline (RI), Clarke (NY), Davis (CA), DeGette (CO), DeLauro (CT), Ellison (MN), Eshoo (CA), Fattah (PA), Filner (CA), Frank (MA), Grijalva (AZ), Gutierrez (IL), Hastings (FL), Hinchey (NY), Honda (CA), Jackson Lee (TX), Jackson (IL), Lee (CA), Lewis (GA), Markey (MA), Matsui (CA), McDermott (WA), McGovern (MA), Moore (WI), Moran (VA), Nadler (NY), Napolitano (CA), Norton (DC), Olver (MA), Pelosi (CA), Pingree, (ME), Polis (CO), Quigley (IL), Rangel (NY), Richardson (CA), Ros-Lehtinen (FL), Rothman (NJ), Sablan (MP), Schakowsky (IL), Serrano (NY), Sutton (OH), Tonko (NY), Tsongas (MA), Waxman (CA), Weiner (NY), Woolsey (CA), Wu (OR)
• Committee:House Ways and Means
• Status: Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Summary:to prohibit discrimination in adoption or foster care placements based on the sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status of any prospective adoptive or foster parent, or the sexual orientation or gender identity of the child involved.
H.R.2063: To eliminate the requirement that, to be eligible for foster care maintenance payments, a child would have been eligible for aid under the former program of Aid to Families with Dependent Children at the time of removal from the home.
• Sponsor: Rep Lewis (GA) Co-sponsors:Reps. Berkley (NV), McDermott (WA), Moore (WI), Stark (CA)
• Committee: House Ways and Means
• Status: 5/31/2011 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Text and Summary not yet available.
H.R.1194:Latest Title: To renew the authority of the Secretary of Health and Human Services to approve demonstration projects designed to test innovative strategies in State child welfare programs.
• Sponsor: Rep McDermott, Jim (WA)Co-Sponsor: Rep Davis (KY)
• Committee: Finance
• Status: 6/6/2011 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Summary: Amends title XI of the Social Security Act to renew through FY2016 the authority of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to authorize states to conduct child welfare program demonstration projects likely to promote the objectives of part B (Child and Family Services) or E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA).
Includes among the demonstration projects that may be approved any designed to: (1) identify and address barriers that result in delays to kinship guardianship for children in foster care, (2) provide early intervention and crisis intervention services that safely reduce out-of-home placements and improve child outcomes, or (3) identify and address domestic violence that endangers children and results in the placement of children in foster care.
Prohibits the Secretary from authorizing a demonstration project if the state fails to provide health insurance coverage to any child with special needs for whom there is in effect a kinship guardianship agreement between the state and the adoptive parent or parents.
Requires the Secretary, in assessing a demonstration project application submitted by a state in which a court order is in effect which has determined that the state's child welfare program has failed to comply with part B or E of SSA title IV, or with the U.S. Constitution, to take into consideration the state's ability to implement an approved corrective action.
Requires any demonstration project application to include: (1) an accounting of any additional federal, state, local, and private investments made during the two fiscal years preceding the application to provide project services; and (2) an assurance that the state will provide an accounting of the same spending for each year of an approved project.
Requires the mandatory project evaluation by an independent contractor to use an approved evaluation design which provides for a comparison of the amounts of federal, state, local and private investments in the project services, by service type, with the amount of the investments during the period of the project. Requires the evaluation design also to compare the outcomes for all children and families under the project who come to the attention of the state's child welfare program, either through a report of abuse or neglect or through the provision of project services.
Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act of 2011
• Sponsor: Sen. Ryden (OR) Co-sponsors: Sens. Brown (MA), Brown (OH), Cantwell (WA), Cornyn (TX), Harkin (IA), Klobuchar (MN), Kyl (AZ), Merkley (OR), Schumer (NY)
• Committee: Senate Judiciary
• Status: 3/16/2011 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Summary: Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the Attorney General should implement changes to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database to ensure that a child will be automatically designated as an endangered juvenile if the child has been reported missing three times in a year and that the database will cross-reference newly entered reports with historical records and include a visual cue on the record of a child designated as an endangered juvenile; (2) funds awarded under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program should be used to provide education, training, deterrence, and prevention programs relating to sex trafficking of minors; (3) states should treat minor victims of sex trafficking as crime victims rather than as criminal defendants or juvenile delinquents and make such minors eligible for compensation; and (4) demand for commercial sex with minors must be deterred through consistent law enforcement.
Amends the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 to revise the grant program to combat trafficking in persons to authorize the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs to award block grants to up to six state or local governments to combat sex trafficking of minors, for uses including providing shelter to minor victims of trafficking, case management services, mental health counseling, legal services, and outreach and education programs.
Amends title IV of the Social Security Act (Grants to States for Needy Families with Children and for Child-Welfare Services) to require states to adopt procedures for reporting information on missing or abducted children for entry into the NCIC database.
Amends the Crime Control Act of 1990 to require: (1) the Attorney General's annual statistical summary under such Act to include the total number of missing child reports received and the total number of entries made to the NCIC database, and (2) state law enforcement agencies to update the record of a missing child with a photograph taken within the previous 180 days and to notify the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of each report of a child missing from a fostercare family home or childcare institution.
Amends: (1) the Trafficking Victims Reauthorization Act of 2008 to require the inclusion of safe harbor provisions for children exploited through prostitution in model state anti-trafficking statutes, (2) the federal criminal code to expand protection of minor victims and witnesses from harassment or intimidation and impose a minimum one-year prison term for possession of certain child pornography, and (3) the federal judicial code to allow the issuance of an administrative subpoena for the investigation of unregistered sex offenders by the United States Marshals Service.
Directs the United States Sentencing Commission to review and amend federal sentencing guidelines and policy statements to ensure that such guidelines provide an additional penalty for sex trafficking of children and other child abuse crimes.
Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to coordinate with the heads of federal departments and independent agencies to devise a strategy and establish guidelines to reduce overall government printing costs beginning with FY2013.
S. 185 Child Protection Compact Act of 2011
• Sponsor: Boxer (CA) Co-sponsors: Brown (MA), Burr (NC), Cantwell (WA), Cardin (MD), Johanns (NE), Klobuchar (MN), Menendez (NJ)
• Committee: Foreign Relations
• Status: 25/2011 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Summary:Authorizes the Secretary of State, through the Ambassador-at-Large of the Department of State's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, to provide assistance (grants, cooperative agreements, or contracts) for an eligible country with a significant prevalence of trafficking in children that enters into a ChildProtection Compact with the United States to support policies and programs to eradicate the trafficking of children.
H.R. 975 Anti-Bullying and Harassment Act of 2011
• Sponsor: Davis (IL) Co-sponsors: Clarke (NY), Jackson Lee (TX), Jackson (IL), Lee, CA), Norton (DC), Rangel (NY), Rush (IL
• Committee: Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education
• Status: 3/21/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.
Summary:Amends the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act to require: (1) states to use grants for safe and drug-free schools to collect and report information on the incidence of bullying and harassment, and (2) local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools to use sub-grants to prevent and respond to incidents of bullying and harassment.
Requires such LEAs or schools to: (1) notify parents and students annually of conduct prohibited in their school discipline policies, that now must include bullying and harassment; and (2) establish complaint procedures for students and parents to register complaints regarding such conduct.
Includes bullying and harassment within the Act's definition of violence.
H.R. 1648 Safe Schools Improvement Act of 2011
• Sponsor: Rep. Sanchez (CA) Co-sponsors: [there are 78]
• Committee: Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education
• Status: 5/20/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.
Summary:Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require states, on an ongoing basis, to: (1) collect and report certain information on bullying and harassment by youth in their elementary and secondary schools and communities; (2) conduct, and report the results of, a needs assessment for bullying and harassment prevention programs; and (3) provide technical assistance to local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools in their efforts to thwart bullying and harassment.
Requires LEAs to: (1) include clear prohibitions against bullying and harassment within their discipline policies; (2) establish and monitor performance indicators for incidents of bullying and harassment; and (3) establish grievance procedures students, parents, and educators can use to redress such conduct.
Directs LEAs to notify parents, students, and educators annually on: (1) the bullying and harassment prohibited by their discipline policies, (2) the numbers and nature of bullying and harassment incidents for each of their schools, and (3) grievance procedures for redressing such conduct.
Requires: (1) the Secretary of Education to conduct, and report on, an independent biennial evaluation of programs to combat bullying and harassment in elementary and secondary schools; and (2) the Commissioner for Education Statistics to collect data, that are subject to independent review, to determine the incidence and prevalence of bullying and harassment in elementary and secondary schools in this country.
H.R. 998 Student Non-Discrimination Act of 2011
• Sponsor: Polis (CO) Co-sponsors: [there are 137]
• Committee: Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education
• Status: 3/21/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.
Summary:Prohibits public school students from being excluded from participating in, or subject to discrimination under, any federally-assisted educational program on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity or that of their associates.
Considers harassment to be a form of discrimination.
Prohibits retaliation against anyone for opposing conduct they reasonably believe to be unlawful under this Act.
Authorizes federal departments and agencies to enforce these prohibitions by cutting off the educational assistance of recipients found to be violating them.
Allows an aggrieved individual to assert a violation of this Act in a judicial proceeding and recover reasonable attorney's fees should they prevail.
Deems a state's receipt of federal educational assistance for a program to constitute a waiver of sovereign immunity for conduct prohibited under this Act regarding such program.
Violence Against Children Act of 2011 S. 175
• Sponsor: Sen. Boxer (CA)
• Committee: Judiciary
• Status: 1/25/2011 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Summary: Directs the Attorney General to: (1) provide technical, forensic, prosecutorial, or other assistance to state, local, or Indian tribal governments in the criminal investigation or prosecution of felonies against individuals under 18 years of age; and (2) award grants to develop and strengthen effective law enforcement and prosecution of crimes against children and to provide education, prevention, intervention, and victims' assistance services for such crimes.
Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to: (1) require states to use a certain percentage of funds received under such Act to improve their parole systems; and (2) allow the use of school security grants for the placement of surveillance equipment in schools and the establishment of hotlines or tiplines for reporting potentially dangerous students and situations. Establishes an interagency task force to develop advisory school safety guidelines.
Requires states receiving grants under this Act to use the National Incident-Based Reporting System to report crimes against children.
Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop model training and caseload standards for child guardians in childabuse and neglect cases.
Mynisha's Law - Authorizes a local government, city, county, tribal government, or a group of counties (located in one or more states) to apply to the Attorney General for designation as a High Intensity Gang Activity Area. Requires the Attorney General to: (1) establish criteria for reviewing such applications; and (2) establish an Interagency Gang Prevention Task Force to coordinate federal assistance to such Areas.
H.R. 1434 International Child Protection Act of 2011
• Sponsor: Rep. Shuler (NC)
• Committee: Judiciary
• Status: 4/7/2011 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Summary:Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to make aliens convicted of sex offenses against minors inadmissible to the United States.
Expresses the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), the Attorney General (DOJ), and the Secretary of State should work with foreign law enforcement agencies and international organizations to establish related information reporting mechanisms.
H.R. 671 Ensuring Continuous Coverage Under SCHIP Act of 2011
• Sponsor: Rep Green (TX) Co-sponsor: Doggett (TX)
• Committee: Health Subcommittee
• Status: 2/18/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
Summary:Amends title XXI (Children'sHealth Insurance) (CHIP, formerly known as SCHIP) of the Social Security Act (SSA) with respect to a state plan that provides child health insurance through a means other than through the state's plan under SSA title XIX (Medicaid).
Requires in such a case for the CHIP plan to implement the 12-month continuous eligibility option available under Medicaid for targeted low-income children whose family income is below 200% of the poverty line.
H.R.1253 Educational Success for Children and Youth Without Homes Act of 2011
• Sponsor: Rep. Biggert (IL) Co-sponsors: Reps. Grijalva (AZ), Kildee (MI)
• Committee: Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity
• Status: 5/2/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity.
Summary:Amends the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act's program of grants to states and, through them, sub-grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) for the education of homeless youths to:
• raise the minimum allotment for each state;
• elaborate on the functions of each state's Office of the Coordinator for Education of Homeless Children and Youths;
• elaborate on required state procedures for resolving disputes regarding the educational placement of homeless youth;
• ensure that homeless youth do not lose credits earned in other schools and are not segregated into separate schools or programs within schools;
• require states, LEAs, and schools to promote success for homeless youth by holding them to the same achievement standards as other students and removing barriers to their full participation in all classes and school activities;
• list student-centered factors to be considered before an LEA places a homeless youth in a school;
• require such schools to immediately enroll homeless youth despite unpaid fees or missed application or enrollment deadlines;
• protect the privacy of information about a homeless youth's living situation;
• require LEAs to coordinate services provided to homeless and disabled youth;
• add to the duties of, and funding available to, LEA liaisons for homeless youth;
• provide for the enrollment of homeless children in preschool programs;
• require the Secretary of Education to establish or designate a Federal Office of the Coordinator for Education of Homeless Children and Youths;
• authorize the Secretary to award grants or enter into contracts for evaluation, dissemination, and technical assistance activities for educational programs for homeless youth;
• triple authorized FY2012 appropriations from those authorized for FY2009.
Establishes a separately funded Emergency Disaster Grant program which distributes funds to LEAs directly or through states to increase LEAs' capacity to respond to major disasters.