National CASA Legislative Updates: CAPTA Reauthorization and VOCA Fix Act
June 30, 2021
Congress has taken action on two pieces of legislation of central importance to the CASA/GAL network – the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) and the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA).
CAPTA Reauthorization
CAPTA was originally enacted in 1974. CAPTA has been amended several times and was last reauthorized in 2010. CAPTA authorizes formula grant funding to states to improve their child protective services systems and funding to states for support of community-based activities to prevent child abuse and neglect. It also authorizes competitively awarded funds to support research, technical assistance and demonstration projects related to prevention, assessment, and treatment of child abuse and neglect.
A key provision of CAPTA is the requirement that in every case involving a victim of child abuse or neglect which results in a judicial proceeding, a guardian ad litem, who may be an attorney or a “court appointed special advocate”, shall be appointed to represent the child in such proceedings.
U. S. House of Representatives – Stronger CAPTA
In March 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Stronger Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (“Stronger CAPTA”). This bill largely tracks the current language in CAPTA with a significantly higher appropriation level. Of particular importance for the CASA/GAL network the bill retains the language from CAPTA that relates to guardian ad litem (GAL) best-interest advocacy and allows for an attorney or Court Appointed Special Advocate to serve in that role.
U. S. Senate – CAPTA Reauthorization Act of 2021
The Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (“HELP”) Committee in the U.S. Senate introduced the CAPTA Reauthorization Act of 2021 in late May 2021. This bill makes significant changes to CAPTA. Of particular importance to CASA/GAL organizations, the bill changes the language in the GAL provision and moves that provision to a different section of the Act. Those changes could make it so that states do not have to provide a best-interest GAL for children in abuse and neglect court proceedings in the same way they do now. Additionally the bill creates a requirement for states to provide a client-directed “Attorney ad Litem” for all children in abuse and neglect court proceedings. The Senate HELP Committee has heard concerns of the CASA/GAL network about the changes. National CASA/GAL is coordinating the dialogue with Congress and is working closely with state directors.
National CASA/GAL Position on the GAL Provision
CAPTA has many nuances and these changes will have different impacts for each state. As a national association, National CASA/GAL takes the following position:
Retain the language in the GAL provision of the existing CAPTA. This would mean replacing section (xii) of the CAPTA Reauthorization Act of 2021 (S. 1927), with the existing language in Section 106(b)(2)(B)(xiii) of CAPTA, Public Law 115-271.
Reinsert the existing GAL language in the Assurances section of the bill where the provision has been in the past.
National CASA/GAL has not taken a position on the requirement for a client-directed attorney ad litem for all children that the Senate introduced in the CAPTA Reauthorization Act of 2021.
CAPTA Legislative Advocacy
Local program directors may wish to make their positions around the proposed changes to CAPTA known to federal governmental officials and employees. Before doing so, they need to coordinate messaging regarding this legislation with the state organization, who will work with National CASA/GAL. This collaborative approach will help to avoid inconsistent or confusing positions coming from across the network.
VOCA Fix Act
The Crime Victims Fund (CVF) was established by the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) of 1984 and is administered by the Office for Victims of Crime. The Fund is financed by the collection of federal crime fines, forfeitures and special assessments rather than taxpayer dollars. Well over half of the CASA/GAL programs across the country receive VOCA funding to support their work with children. Funds in the CVF have been declining in recent years due to diminishing contributions of revenue.
Congress introduced the VOCA Fix Act as a way to increase deposits to the CVF. The Act would direct federal criminal settlements from non-prosecution and deferred prosecution agreements currently deposited into the General Treasury into the Fund. This change could add $4-$7 billion to the Fund over the next few years, stabilizing not only VOCA-funded programs, but the other justice assistance grant programs that rely on the Fund to support the entire DOJ appropriations bill; increase the percentage that state compensation programs may be reimbursed from 60 to 75 percent; provide the U.S. Attorney General the ability to issue no-cost extensions on VOCA awards; and give states the ability to waive the local match for VOCA assistance grants for the duration of the pandemic.
The House passed the VOCA Fix Act in March 2021. The legislation is before the Senate Judiciary Committee and has hit an impasse. To take action in support of the VOCA Fix Act please visit our Grassroots Advocacy page.