§20304. Local children's advocacy centers

(a) In general

The Administrator shall make grants to-

(1) establish and maintain a network of care for child abuse victims where investigation, prosecutions, and interventions are continually occurring and coordinating activities within local children's advocacy centers and multidisciplinary teams;

(2) develop, enhance, and coordinate multidisciplinary child abuse investigations, intervention, and prosecution activities;

(3) promote the effective delivery of the evidence-based, trauma-informed Children's Advocacy Center Model and the multidisciplinary response to child abuse; and

(4) develop and disseminate practice standards for care and best practices in programmatic evaluation, and support State chapter organizational capacity and local children's advocacy center organizational capacity and operations in order to meet such practice standards and best practices.

(b) Direct services for child victims of a severe form of trafficking in persons and victims of human trafficking and child pornography

The Administrator may make grants to develop and implement specialized programs to identify and provide direct services to victims of a severe form of trafficking (as defined in section 7102(9)(A) ¹ of title 22) who were under the age of 18 at the time of the offense and victims of human trafficking and child pornography.

(c) Grant criteria

(1) The Administrator shall establish the criteria to be used in evaluating applications for grants under subsections (a) and (b) consistent with sections 11183 and 11186 of this title.

(2) In general, the grant criteria established pursuant to paragraph (1) may require that a program include any of the following elements:

(A) A written agreement between local law enforcement, child protective service, health, and other related agencies to coordinate child abuse investigation, prosecution, treatment, and counseling services.

(B) An appropriate site for referring, interviewing, treating, and counseling child victims of sexual and serious physical abuse and neglect and nonoffending family members (referred to as a "children's advocacy center").

(C) Referral of all child abuse cases that meet designated referral criteria to the children's advocacy center not later than 24 hours to the greatest extent practicable, but in no case later than 72 hours, after notification of an incident of abuse.

(D) Forensic interviews of child victims by trained personnel that are used by law enforcement, health, and child protective service agencies to interview suspected abuse victims about allegations of abuse.

(E) Provision of needed follow up services such as medical care, mental healthcare, and victims advocacy services.

(F) A requirement that, to the extent practicable, all interviews and meetings with a child victim occur at the children's advocacy center or an agency with which there is a linkage agreement regarding the delivery of multidisciplinary child abuse investigation, prosecution, and intervention services.

(G) Coordination of each step of the investigation process to eliminate duplicative forensic interviews with a child victim.

(H) Designation of a director for the children's advocacy center.

(I) Designation of a multidisciplinary team coordinator.

(J) Assignment of a volunteer or staff advocate to each child in order to assist the child and, when appropriate, the child's family, throughout each step of intervention and judicial proceedings.

(K) Coordination with State chapters to assist and provide oversight, and organizational capacity that supports local children's advocacy centers, multidisciplinary teams, and communities working to implement a multidisciplinary response to child abuse in the provision of evidence-informed initiatives, including mental health counseling, forensic interviewing, multidisciplinary team coordination, and victim advocacy.

(L) Such other criteria as the Administrator shall establish by regulation.

(d) Distribution of grants

In awarding grants under this section, the Administrator shall ensure that grants are distributed to all States that are eligible for such grants, including large and small States, and to rural, suburban, and urban jurisdictions.

(e) Consultation with regional children's advocacy centers

A grant recipient under this section shall consult from time to time with regional children's advocacy centers in its census region that are grant recipients under section 20303 of this title.

(f) Grants to State chapters for assistance to local children's advocacy centers

In awarding grants under this section, the Administrator shall ensure that a portion of the grants is distributed to State chapters to enable State chapters to provide oversight, training, and technical assistance to local centers on evidence-informed initiatives including mental health, counseling, forensic interviewing, multidisciplinary team coordination, and victim advocacy.

( Pub. L. 101–647, title II, §214, formerly §212, Nov. 29, 1990, 104 Stat. 4793 ; renumbered §214 and amended Pub. L. 102–586, §6(b)(1), (c), Nov. 4, 1992, 106 Stat. 5029 , 5034; Pub. L. 107–273, div. C, title II, §12221(b)(1)(A), Nov. 2, 2002, 116 Stat. 1894 ; Pub. L. 114–22, title I, §104(2), May 29, 2015, 129 Stat. 236 ; Pub. L. 115–392, §6, Dec. 21, 2018, 132 Stat. 5253 ; Pub. L. 115–424, §2(d), (h)(2), Jan. 7, 2019, 132 Stat. 5467 , 5470; Pub. L. 117–354, §3(4), Jan. 5, 2023, 136 Stat. 6275 .)

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Section 7102(9)(A) of title 22, referred to in subsec. (b), was redesignated section 7102(11)(A) of title 22 by Pub. L. 115–427, §2(1), Jan. 9, 2019, 132 Stat. 5503 .

Codification

Section was formerly classified to section 13002 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section. Some section numbers or references in amendment notes below reflect the classification of such sections or references prior to editorial reclassification.

Prior Provisions

A prior section 214 of Pub. L. 101–647 was renumbered section 214B and is classified to section 20306 of this title.

Amendments

2023-Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 117–354, §3(4)(A), added subsec. (a) and struck out former subsec. (a). Prior to amendment, text read as follows: "The Administrator, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Victims of Crime, shall make grants to-

"(1) develop and enhance multidisciplinary child abuse investigations, intervention, and prosecution; and

"(2) promote the effective delivery of the evidence-informed Children's Advocacy Model and the multidisciplinary response to child abuse, including best practices in programmatic evaluation and financial oversight of Federal funding."

Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 117–354, §3(4)(B), struck out ", in coordination with the Director of the Office of Victims of Crime," after "Administrator".

Subsec. (c)(2)(C). Pub. L. 117–354, §3(4)(C)(i), inserted "to the greatest extent practicable, but in no case later than 72 hours," after "hours".

Subsec. (c)(2)(D) to (L). Pub. L. 117–354, §3(4)(C)(ii), added subpars. (D) to (L) and struck out former subpars. (D) to (I) which read as follows:

"(D) Joint initial forensic interviews of child victims by personnel from law enforcement, health, and child protective service agencies.

"(E) A requirement that, to the extent practicable, all interviews and meetings with a child victim occur at the children's advocacy center or an agency with which there is a linkage agreement regarding the delivery of multidisciplinary child abuse investigation, prosecution, and intervention services.

"(F) Coordination of each step of the investigation process to eliminate duplicative forensic interviews with a child victim.

"(G) Designation of a director for the children's advocacy center.

"(H) Assignment of a volunteer or staff advocate to each child in order to assist the child and, when appropriate, the child's family, throughout each step of intervention and judicial proceedings.

"(I) Such other criteria as the Administrator shall establish by regulation."

Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 117–354, §3(4)(D), added subsec. (f) and struck out former subsec. (f). Prior to amendment, text read as follows: "In awarding grants under this section, the Administrator shall ensure that a portion of the grants is distributed to State chapters to enable State chapters to provide technical assistance, training, coordination, and oversight to other recipients of grants under this section in providing evidence-informed initiatives, including mental health counseling, forensic interviewing, multidisciplinary team coordination, and victim advocacy."

2019-Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 115–424, §2(d)(1), added subsec. (a) and struck out former subsec. (a). Prior to amendment, text read as follows: "The Administrator, in coordination with the Director and with the Director of the Office of Victims of Crime, shall make grants to develop and implement multidisciplinary child abuse investigation and prosecution programs."

Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 115–424, §2(d)(2), in heading, inserted "human trafficking and" before "child pornography", and in text, struck out "with the Director and" after "coordination" and inserted "human trafficking and" before "child pornography".

Subsec. (c)(1). Pub. L. 115–424, §2(h)(2), made technical amendment to reference in original act which appears in text as reference to sections 11183 and 11186 of this title.

Pub. L. 115–424, §2(d)(3)(A), substituted "Administrator" for "Director" and "subsections (a) and (b)" for "this section".

Subsec. (c)(2)(A). Pub. L. 115–424, §2(d)(3)(B)(i), substituted "child protective service" for "social service".

Subsec. (c)(2)(B). Pub. L. 115–424, §2(d)(3)(B)(ii), substituted "a 'children's advocacy center' " for "the 'counseling center' ".

Subsec. (c)(2)(C). Pub. L. 115–424, §2(d)(3)(B)(iii), substituted "child abuse cases that meet designated referral criteria to the children's advocacy center" for "sexual and serious physical abuse and neglect cases to the counseling center".

Subsec. (c)(2)(D). Pub. L. 115–424, §2(d)(3)(B)(iv), substituted "forensic" for "investigative" and "child protective service" for "social service".

Subsec. (c)(2)(E). Pub. L. 115–424, §2(d)(3)(B)(v)–(vii), redesignated subpar. (F) as (E), substituted "children's advocacy center or an agency with which there is a linkage agreement regarding the delivery of multidisciplinary child abuse investigation, prosecution, and intervention services" for "counseling center", and struck out former subpar. (E) which read as follows: "A requirement that, to the extent practicable, the same agency representative who conducts an initial interview conduct all subsequent interviews."

Subsec. (c)(2)(F). Pub. L. 115–424, §2(d)(3)(B)(vi), (viii), redesignated subpar. (G) as (F) and substituted "eliminate duplicative forensic interviews with a child victim" for "minimize the number of interviews that a child victim must attend". Former subpar. (F) redesignated (E).

Subsec. (c)(2)(G). Pub. L. 115–424, §2(d)(3)(B)(vi), (ix), redesignated subpar. (H) as (G) and substituted "children's advocacy center" for "multidisciplinary program". Former subpar. (G) redesignated (F).

Subsec. (c)(2)(H). Pub. L. 115–424, §2(d)(3)(B)(vi), (x), redesignated subpar. (I) as (H) and inserted "intervention and" before "judicial proceedings". Former subpar. (H) redesignated (G).

Subsec. (c)(2)(I), (J). Pub. L. 115–424, §2(d)(3)(B)(vi), (xi), redesignated subpar. (J) as (I) and substituted "Administrator" for "Director". Former subpar. (I) redesignated (H).

Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 115–424, §2(d)(4), substituted "the Administrator" for "the Director" and "all States that are eligible for such grants, including large and small States," for "both large and small States".

Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 115–424, §2(d)(5), added subsec. (f).

2018-Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 115–392 inserted "child victims of a severe form of trafficking in persons and" before "victims of child pornography" in heading and "victims of a severe form of trafficking (as defined in section 7102(9)(A) of title 22) who were under the age of 18 at the time of the offense and" before "victims of child pornography" in text.

2015-Subsecs. (b) to (e). Pub. L. 114–22 added subsec. (b) and redesignated former subsecs. (b) to (d) as (c) to (e), respectively.

2002-Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 107–273 substituted "sections 5673 and 5676 of this title" for "sections 5665a, 5673, and 5676 of this title".

1992-Pub. L. 102–586, §6(c)(1), substituted "Local children's advocacy centers" for "Authority of Director to make grants" in section catchline.

Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 102–586, §6(c)(2), substituted "The Administrator, in coordination with the Director and with the Director of the Office of Victims of Crime," for "The Director of the Office of Victims of Crime (hereinafter in this subchapter referred to as the 'Director'), in consultation with officials of the Department of Health and Human Services,".

Subsec. (b)(2)(B). Pub. L. 102–586, §6(c)(3), inserted "and nonoffending family members" after "neglect".

Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 102–586, §6(c)(4), added subsec. (d).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date of 2002 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 107–273 effective on the first day of the first fiscal year that begins after Nov. 2, 2002, and applicable only with respect to fiscal years beginning on or after the first day of the first fiscal year that begins after Nov. 2, 2002, see section 12223 of Pub. L. 107–273, as amended, set out as a note under section 11101 of this title.

¹ See References in Text note below.