§20705a Enhancing the ability of State, local, and Tribal child welfare agencies to identify and respond to children who are, or are at risk of being, victims of trafficking

Summary

The Secretary of Health and Human Services may give grants to eligible States to create, improve, or expand programs that help State, local, or Tribal child welfare agencies find and help children who are victims of, or at risk of being victims of, severe forms of trafficking. Grants cover two groups: children counted as victims of child abuse or sexual abuse under 42 U.S.C. 5106g(b)(1) because they are or may be trafficking victims, and children in an agency’s care, placement, or supervision when there is reasonable cause to believe they are, or may be, trafficking victims. A “child” means someone under 18 years old (or an older age a State chose under 42 U.S.C. 675(8)); a State may choose to include people under 26. An “eligible State” is one that has not gotten more than 3 grants under this rule and meets at least one listed condition, such as removing any rule that required identifying a controlling third party, treating a child as a trafficking victim as described in 22 U.S.C. 7102(11)(A), having protocols that require reporting identified trafficking victims and missing or abducted children to law enforcement within 24 hours and reporting totals to HHS, or having a special protocol focused on a trafficking victim’s safety that uses an alternative investigation process when the alleged offender is not the child’s parent or caregiver. “Indian tribe” and “tribal organization” are defined in 25 U.S.C. 5304. “State” includes the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and qualifying tribes or tribal organizations with approved plans or cooperative agreements.