The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) is a federal law that provides grants to states to fund the prevention of child abuse and neglect.
The History Leading to CAPTA
As late as the 19th century, cruelty to children, commonly perpetrated by employers and schoolteachers, was widespread and commonplace, and corporal punishment was the norm in many households across the globe. It wasn’t until the middle of the 20th century that doctors began noticing the correlation between children removed from abusive households and the subsequent lack of new injuries and ailments.
This began professional inquiry into the topic in the early 1960s, when C. Henry Kemp, a pediatrician, published his paper “The Battered Child-Syndrome” in The Journal of the American Medical Association. From there, the idea of child maltreatment and its potential effects entered mainstream awareness.
This led to further studies of child abuse emerging as an academic discipline in the early 1970s in the US and helped narrow the concept of children’s rights and their protection from maltreatment. More programs were developed, and eventually, in 1974, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) was enacted. The new public law provided financial assistance for demonstration programs for the prevention, identification, and treatment of child abuse and neglect and to establish a National Center on Child Abuse.
Moving well into the 1980s, several programs were developed, starting as 2-3 hour one-off meetings and later moving into the online training programs we see today, like MandatedReporterTraining.com. Since 1983, April has been designated as Child Abuse Prevention Month in the United States.
CAPTA has been reauthorized numerous times, most recently in 2010, and amended to better address issues facing children today, such as substance abuse and poverty.
How Does CAPTA Work?
CAPTA’s laws specifically focus on the funding given to states in order to support child abuse prevention efforts. This is done primarily through four main funding streams:
- State Grants
- Child Abuse Discretionary Activities
- Children’s Justice Act Grants
- Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention Grants
State CAPTA Grants
State Grants are known as ‘formula grants' and are given based on a state-specific formula that can be based on several quantifiable factors, such as population and abuse and neglect data reports. To qualify for this funding, each state must complete the following steps:
1 - Submit a state plan
Each state must submit a plan to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that assures they have a variety of laws, policies, and programs regarding child welfare including:
- Mandatory reporting
- Screening of and response to child abuse reports
- A technology system to track reports
- Procedures to identify and provide plans of safe care for substance-exposed newborns
- Referrals of children not at imminent risk to community services
- Criminal records check of foster and adoptive parents
- Training of caseworkers
- Referrals of young children to early intervention services
- Provision of guardians ad litem (legally speaking) for children in court proceedings
- Laws mandating identification and assessment of reports involving children known or suspected to be victims of sex trafficking and requiring training of child protective services workers in identifying and providing services to children who are victims of sex trafficking
2 - Establish and Support Citizen Review Panels
These are put in place to evaluate effectiveness and hold child welfare practices and policies accountable.
3 - Submit State Data Reports
Each state must submit child abuse and neglect data to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) annually, as compiled by HHS in the “Child Maltreatment” report. The 2015 CAPTA amendments require states to report on child sex trafficking victims annually. The 2016 amendments mandate annual reporting on substance-exposed infants, including those with a plan of safe care and those referred for services.
Child Abuse Discretionary Activities
This funding supports competitive research grants and contracts for public and private agencies and provides technical assistance to states on child abuse prevention and treatment. It also funds the Child Welfare Information Gateway, National Incidence Studies, Child Welfare Capacity-Building Collaborative, and the Office of Child Abuse and Neglect at HHS. Projects include addressing child trafficking, evaluating supportive housing for child welfare families, interventions for at-risk youth, and innovative research on child maltreatment.
Children’s Justice Grants
This program supports the investigation, assessment, and prosecution of child abuse and neglect, focusing on sexual abuse, child fatalities from maltreatment, and abuse of children with disabilities or serious health disorders. To qualify for funding, states must have a CAPTA state plan and establish a multidisciplinary children’s justice task force. These task forces review and recommend improvements to policies and procedures for handling child abuse and neglect cases.
Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention Grants (CBCAP)
These grants are given to a “lead entity” in each state, designated by the governor, which can be public, quasi-public, or nonprofit private agencies, with priority to Children’s Trust Fund Advisory Boards. Lead entities distribute funds to community-based organizations that prevent child abuse and neglect.
Core services funded include parent education, mutual support, respite care, and home visiting. Optional services include adoption support, child care, job readiness programs, community service referrals, and domestic violence services.
Approximately 3.1 million children receive preventive services through CBCAP annually. HHS uses CBCAP funds for peer review processes, an information clearinghouse, and information sharing systems. These funds also support the National Resource Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention, providing training and technical assistance to state-lead entities.
The Continued Effects of CAPTA
CAPTA plays a crucial role in federal child welfare policy, providing states and tribes with resources to address child abuse and neglect and strengthen families. Since its enactment, the field has learned a lot about brain development, the impact of adverse childhood experiences, risk factors for maltreatment, and the importance of safe, supportive environments.
CAPTA also highlighted effective, evidence-based programs. Ongoing advances in science and data should continue to inform federal policy, enhance prevention, and improve early intervention strategies.
Although CAPTA is only a small section of the overarching child welfare budget, it is one of the few federal child welfare funding programs that address child abuse and neglect on the “front end.”
If you want to learn more about the programs that CAPTA has affected and how funding is being used to better the lives of vulnerable children and individuals, read more about it in our blogs below:
