Office on Child Abuse and Neglect

The Secretary of Health and Human Services may establish an office to be known as the Office on Child Abuse and Neglect. The purpose of the Office established under subsection (a) shall be to execute and coordinate the functions and activities of this subchapter and subchapter III. In the event that such functions and activities are performed by another entity or entities within the Department of Health and Human Services, the Secretary shall ensure that such functions and activities are executed with the necessary expertise and in a fully coordinated manner involving regular intradepartmental and interdepartmental consultation with all agencies involved in child abuse and neglect activities. publish proposed regulations for purposes of implementing the amendments made by this Act before the expiration of the 90-day period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act [Apr. 25, 1988]; allow not less than 45 days for public comment on such proposed regulations; and publish final regulations for purposes of implementing the amendments made by this Act before the end of the 195-day period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.” No provision of this Act or any amendment made by this Act [See Short Title of 1984 Amendment note above] is intended to affect any right or protection under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 [29 U.S.C. 794]. No provision of this Act or any amendment made by this Act may be so construed as to authorize the Secretary or any other governmental entity to establish standards prescribing specific medical treatments for specific conditions, except to the extent that such standards are authorized by other laws. If the provisions of any part of this Act or any amendment made by this Act or the application thereof to any person or circumstances be held invalid, the provisions of the other parts and their application to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.” in fiscal year 2008, approximately 772,000 children were found by States to be victims of child abuse and neglect; more children suffer neglect than any other form of maltreatment and close to ⅓ of all child maltreatment-related fatalities in fiscal year 2008 were attributed to neglect alone; and investigations have determined that approximately 71 percent of children who were victims of maltreatment in fiscal year 2008 suffered neglect, 16 percent suffered physical abuse, 9 percent suffered sexual abuse,, [sic] 7 percent suffered psychological maltreatment, 2 percent experienced medical neglect, and 9 percent were victims of other forms of maltreatment; child abuse or neglect can result in the death of a child; in fiscal year 2008, an estimated 1,740 children were counted by child protection services to have died as a result of abuse or neglect; and in fiscal year 2008, children younger than 1 year old comprised 45 percent of child maltreatment fatalities and 72 percent of child maltreatment fatalities were younger than 4 years of age; many of these children and their families fail to receive adequate protection and treatment; and approximately 37 percent of victims of child abuse did not receive post-investigation services in fiscal year 2008; African-American children, American Indian children, Alaska Native children, and children of multiple races and ethnicities experience the highest rates of child abuse or neglect; integrates the work of social service, legal, health, mental health, domestic violence services, education, and substance abuse agencies and community-based organizations; strengthens coordination among all levels of government, and with private agencies, civic, religious, and professional organizations, and individual volunteers; emphasizes the need for abuse and neglect prevention, assessment, investigation, and treatment at the neighborhood level; recognizes the need for properly trained staff with the qualifications needed, to carry out their child protection duties; and recognizes the diversity of ethnic, cultural, and religious beliefs and traditions that may impact child rearing patterns, while not allowing the differences in those beliefs and traditions to enable abuse or neglect; the failure to coordinate and comprehensively prevent and treat child abuse and neglect threatens the futures of thousands of children and results in a cost to the Nation of billions of dollars in tangible expenditures, as well as significant intangible costs; all elements of American society have a shared responsibility in responding to child abuse and neglect; substantial reductions in the prevalence and incidence of child abuse and neglect and the alleviation of its consequences are matters of the highest national priority; national policy should strengthen families to prevent child abuse and neglect, provide support for needed services to prevent the unnecessary removal of children from families, and promote the reunification of families where appropriate; the child protection system should be comprehensive, child-centered, family-focused, and community-based, should incorporate all appropriate measures to prevent the occurrence or recurrence of child abuse and neglect, and should promote physical and psychological recovery and social re-integration in an environment that fosters the health, safety, self-respect, and dignity of the child; because both child maltreatment and domestic violence occur in up to 60 percent of the families in which either is present, States and communities should adopt assessments and intervention procedures aimed at enhancing the safety both of children and victims of domestic violence; because of the limited resources available in low-income communities, Federal aid for the child protection system should be distributed with due regard to the relative financial need of the communities; the Federal Government should assist States and communities with the fiscal, human, and technical resources necessary to develop and implement a successful and comprehensive child and family protection strategy; and promoting coordinated planning among all levels of government; generating and sharing knowledge relevant to child and family protection, including the development of models for service delivery; strengthening the capacity of States to assist communities; allocating financial resources to assist States in implementing community plans; helping communities to carry out their child and family protection plans by promoting the competence of professional, paraprofessional, and volunteer resources; and providing leadership to end the abuse and neglect of the nation’s children and youth.” the age of 18; or except in the case of sexual abuse, the age specified by the child protection law of the State in which the child resides; the term ‘child abuse and neglect’ means, at a minimum, any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation (including sexual abuse as determined under section 111 [42 U.S.C. 5106g]), or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm; the term ‘child with a disability’ means a child with a disability as defined in section 602 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1401), or an infant or toddler with a disability as defined in section 632 of such Act (20 U.S.C. 1432); the term ‘Governor’ means the chief executive officer of a State; the terms ‘Indian’, ‘Indian tribe’, and ‘tribal organization’ have the meanings given the terms in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b) [now 25 U.S.C. 5304]; the term ‘Secretary’ means the Secretary of Health and Human Services; except as provided in section 106(f) [42 U.S.C. 5106a(f)], the term ‘State’ means each of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands; and the term ‘unaccompanied homeless youth’ means an individual who is described in paragraphs (2) and (6) of section 725 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a).” the problem of child abuse and neglect requires a comprehensive approach that— the Federal Government should provide leadership and assist communities in their child and family protection efforts by— the term ‘child’ means a person who has not attained the lesser of— (Source: (Pub. L. 93–247, title I, § 101, formerly § 2, Jan. 31, 1974, 88 Stat. 5; Pub. L. 93–644, § 8(d)(1), Jan. 4, 1975, 88 Stat. 2310; Pub. L. 95–266, title I, § 101, Apr. 24, 1978, 92 Stat. 205; Pub. L. 98–457, title I, § 101, Oct. 9, 1984, 98 Stat. 1749; Pub. L. 99–401, title I, § 103(a), Aug. 27, 1986, 100 Stat. 906; Pub. L. 100–294, title I, § 101, Apr. 25, 1988, 102 Stat. 103; renumbered title I, § 101, Pub. L. 101–126, § 3(a)(1), (2), Oct. 25, 1989, 103 Stat. 764; Pub. L. 104–235, title I, § 101, Oct. 3, 1996, 110 Stat. 3064.))