Sec. 575. Improvements to Department of Defense tracking of and response to incidents of child abuse involving military dependents on military installations
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The Secretary of Defense shall, consistent with recommendations of the Comptroller General of the United States in Government Accountability Office report GA0–20–110, take actions in accordance with this section in order to improve the efforts of the Department of Defense to track and respond to incidents of child abuse involving dependents of members of the Armed Forces that occur on military installations (in this section referred to as covered incidents of child abuse ). For purposes of this section, child abuse includes any abuse of a child, including sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect.
The Secretary of Defense shall establish a process for the Department of Defense Family Advocacy Program to track reported covered incidents of child abuse in which the alleged offender is not a parent, guardian, or someone in a caregiving role at the time of the incident. The information so tracked shall comport with the information tracked by the Department of Defense in reported covered incidents of child abuse in which the alleged offender is a parent, guardian, or someone in a caregiving role at the time of the incident.
The Secretary shall develop and maintain in the Department of Defense a centralized database to track information across the Department on all covered incidents of child abuse that are reported to the Family Advocacy Program or investigated by a military criminal investigation organization, regardless of whether the alleged offender was another child, an adult, or someone in a non-caregiving role at the time of an incident. The centralized database required by this paragraph shall include, for each incident within the database, the following:
Information pertinent to a determination by the Family Advocacy Program whether such incident meets the criteria of the Department for treatment as an incident of child abuse. The results of any investigation of such incident by a military criminal investigation organization. Information on the ultimate disposition of the incident, if any, including any administrative or prosecutorial action taken. The information collected and maintained in the centralized database shall be reported on an annual basis as part of the annual reports from the Family Advocacy Program on child abuse and domestic abuse in the military as required by section 574 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 ( Public Law 114–328 ; 130 Stat. 2141).
Not later than March 31, 2021, and every six months thereafter until the centralized database required by this paragraph is fully operational, the Secretary shall brief the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives on the status of the database. The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) shall issue clarifications of its guidance on the incidents of child-on-child abuse that qualify as serious incidents for purposes of requirements for the reporting of such serious incidents by school administrators to Activity leadership.
The Department of Defense Family Advocacy Program shall ensure that the voting membership of each Incident Determination Committee on a military installation includes medical personnel with the requisite knowledge and expertise to determine whether a reported covered incident of abuse meets the criteria of the Department of Defense for treatment as child abuse. The Department of Defense Family Advocacy Program shall develop a standardized process by which the Family Advocacy Programs of the military departments screen reported covered incidents of child abuse to determine whether to present such incident to an Incident Determination Committee.
The Secretary of each military department shall develop a process to monitor the manner in which reported covered incidents of child abuse are screened by each installation under the jurisdiction of such Secretary in order to ensure that such screening complies with the standardized screening process developed pursuant to subparagraph (A). The Secretary of each military department shall require that installation Family Advocacy Programs and military criminal investigation organizations under the jurisdiction of such Secretary document in their respective databases the date on which they notified the other of a reported covered incident of child abuse.
The Secretary of each military department shall require that the Family Advocacy Program of such military department, and the headquarters of the military criminal investigation organizations of such military department, to develop processes to oversee the documentation of notifications required by subparagraph
(A)in order to ensure that such notifications occur on a consistent basis at installation level. The Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness shall specify geographic regions in which military families reside for purposes of the availability of and access to certified pediatric sexual assault examiners in such regions. The Under Secretary shall ensure that— one or more certified pediatric sexual assault examiners are located in each geographic region specified pursuant to subparagraph (A); and examiners so located serve as certified pediatric sexual assault examiners throughout such region, without regard to Armed Force or installation. The Secretary of Defense shall, in consultation with the Secretaries of the military departments, issue policy that clarifies and standardizes across the Armed Forces the circumstances under which a commander may remove a child from a potentially unsafe home at an installation overseas. The Secretary of each military department shall develop and maintain a comprehensive guide on resources available through the Department of Defense and such military department for military families under this jurisdiction of such Secretary who are affected by child abuse. Each guide under this paragraph shall include the following: Information on the response processes of the Family Advocacy Programs and military criminal investigation organizations of the military department concerned. Lists of available support services, such as legal, medical, and victim advocacy services, through the Department of Defense and the military department concerned. A resource guide under this paragraph shall be presented to a military family by an installation Family Advocacy Program and military criminal investigation personnel at the time a covered incident of child abuse involving a child in such family is reported. A current version of each resource guide under this paragraph shall be available to the public on an Internet website of the military department concerned available to the public. The Secretary of Defense shall— continue the outreach efforts of the Department of Defense to the States in order to ensure that States are notified when a member of the Armed Forces or a military dependent is involved in a reported incident of child abuse off a military installation; and increase efforts at information sharing between the Department and the States on such incidents of child abuse, including entry into memoranda of understanding with State child welfare agencies on information sharing in connection with such incidents. The Secretary of each military department shall seek to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the National Children’s Alliance under which— the children’s advocacy center services of the Alliance are available to all installations in the continental United States under the jurisdiction of such Secretary; and members of the Armed Forces under the jurisdiction of such Secretary are made aware of the nature and availability of such services. Each memorandum of understanding under this paragraph shall provide for the appropriate participation of the Family Advocacy Program and military criminal investigation organizations of the military department concerned in activities under such memorandum of understanding. Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of each military department shall provide to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a briefing on the status of the development of a memorandum of understanding with the National Children’s Alliance under this paragraph, together with information on which installations, if any, under the jurisdiction of such Secretary have entered into a written agreement with a local children’s advocacy center with respect to child abuse on such installations.
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- 130 Stat. 2141
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Sec. 575
Improvements to Department of Defense tracking of and response to incidents of child abuse involving military dependents on military installations
Stat.130 Stat. 2141
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