CAPTA at a Glance
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act
The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (P.L. 93-247 AKA CAPTA).1
CAPTA at a Glance2
First passed: 1974
Most recent reauthorization: 2010
Two Core Titles
Title I: State Grants Program
Funds states for child protective services and other activities.
Most Recent Appropriation: $105m3
Title II: Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CB-CAP)
Community-based organizations support families/prevent maltreatment.
Most Recent Appropriation: $70m
So let’s talk about the proverbial Christmas tree of child welfare policy, CAPTA.
Why a Christmas tree? This tree unfortunately does not have a lake of largesses around its base. Nope, it’s so known because of its MANY ornaments.
Placing the Paucity of Presents: Federal Funding for CAPTA
CAPTA is so small that ChildTrends’ biennial state child welfare financing survey4 lists is within “Spending of Other Federal Funds by Child Welfare Agencies”.
States each get a small grant through Title I of CAPTA to support their child protective services (CPS) system. They mostly fund that work with state and local funds.
Title II of CAPTA funds public-private-partnerships to prevent abuse and neglect using the science of risk and protective factors for maltreatment.5
As you can imagine, both of these sets of funds only go so far. So you might think CAPTA was a pretty flexible program, block grant style….
Hanging the Ornaments: Policy Requirements
Except nope, not at all. It has beaucoup requirements.
The word “assurance” appears 15 times in the statutory text of CAPTA. That’s an undercount, since most of those are followed by bulleted lists. Here’s just a handful:
Reporting Systems. Systems for reporting abuse and neglect, like a hotline.
Mandated Reporting. A state law for mandatory reporting of abuse and neglect.
Plans of Safe Care for Substance Exposed Infants. Policies and procedures addressing prenatal substance exposure or Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
Investigation Systems. Systems for investigating child abuse and neglect.
There are around two dozen such assurances, which governors must provide HHS.
Meanwhile on Mount Crumpit: The Funding/Policy Balancing Act
So you may be wondering why we seem to load ornaments onto this tree like Charlie Brown, only to leave states feeling like "But Santy Claus, Why?"
A few factors are at play here. Because this is Child Welfare Wonk, you may have guessed that one is Congressional committee jurisdiction.
In the Senate, almost all major child welfare programs live in the Senate Finance Committee. In the House, most are in the Ways and Means Committee.6
So in general, the same Members oversee those programs. Most are tied to mandatory funding too, which are dollars that permanently support programs.
CAPTA is different, though. It sits in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee and House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
It also relies on appropriations. So it becomes a magnet for well-intended policy that lacks the resources to translate into action.
Policymakers nearly passed a bipartisan reauthorization in 2022 that would have streamlined the assurances and increased funding authorization to $270m each Title.
This ACF legislative history is a good primer to start with.
You can see more about these approps figures in context in the most recent ACF Congressional Justification (CJ). Unfamiliar with CJs? We will do a deep dive during budget season, but know that these documents are treasure troves of information, combined with an Administration’s priorities.
Fellow fans will astutely notice that we are nearly at 2 years out from the last survey release, so it’s countdown time!
If you’re interested in learning more, check out the Children’s Trust Fund Alliance and Prevent Child Abuse America as a start. Both do a lot of Title II-funded work and are on the cutting edge of this type of prevention.
Except Medicaid over at Energy and Commerce. But Medicaid is so big it insists upon the level of attention it receives.