WASHINGTON, D.C. -- House Select Education Subcommittee Chairman Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) today introduced the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act, H.R. 3839, to reauthorize the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) and related child and family protection acts. CAPTA’s primary focus is to prevent child abuse and family violence and protect and treat abused and neglected children and victims of family violence.

     “This legislation emphasizes the prevention of child abuse and neglect and family violence before it occurs,” said Hoekstra. “It promotes partnerships between child protective services and private and community-based organizations to ensure that services are more effectively provided, and supports public education on child abuse and neglect by strengthening the public’s understanding of the role of child protective services and appropriate methods for public reporting of suspected incidents of child maltreatment.”

     H.R. 3839 modifies current law by:

· Promoting partnerships between child protective services and private and community-based organizations, including education, health and mental health providers, to offer child abuse prevention and treatment services;

· Improving public education on the role of the child protection system and the reporting of suspected incidents of child abuse and neglect to reduce the number of false or malicious allegations;

· Improving the training, recruitment, and retention of child protective service personnel;

· Improving the training of child protective services to ensure collaboration with families and protection of individual rights;

· Requiring child protective services personnel to advise individuals subject to a child abuse investigation of the allegation made against them;

· Instructing the Health and Human Services Secretary to conduct the fourth National Incidence Study (NIS-4), which collects data on children who have been investigated by child protection agencies and those suspected of abuse;

· Requiring the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a study on the number of infants and young children abandoned each year and their parents; and

· Extending the authorization for the transitional housing assistance program, which awards grants to organizations that provide housing assistance to victims and their dependents fleeing a domestic violence situation.

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