CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION & TREATMENT ACT 1974

Child Abuse Prevention & Treatment Act 1974

Child Abuse Prevention & Treatment Act 1974

Introduction

Children who have been victims of abuse and neglect need effective advocacy to protect their interests in a dependency proceeding. While every state's law provides for the appointment of child advocates in these proceedings, there is an ongoing debate over who should serve as the advocate--lawyer or layman--and whether the advocate's role is to represent the child or the advocate's view of the child's best interests. Congress has weighed in on this debate and stated that each child in dependency proceedings must have an advocate and that the advocate must "make recommendations to the court concerning the best interests of the child. (Wilson & James 2002)"

This article makes the argument that permitting non-lawyers to provide the type of advocacy mandated by federal legislation and necessary to achieve good outcomes for children promotes the unauthorized practice of law. The article concludes with a recommendation that the language of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) be changed to require the appointment of an attorney for every child in a dependency proceeding, and that the attorney represents the child in a traditional attorney-client capacity(Shireman 2003).

Summary of Legislative History:

The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act(CAPTA) was originally enacted in 1974 and was later amended by the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment and Adoption Reform Act of 1978. The law was completely rewritten in the Child Abuse Prevention, Adoption and Family Services Act of 1988. It was further amended by the Child Abuse Prevention Challenge Grants Reauthorization Act of 1989 and the Drug Free School Amendments of 1989.

The Community-Based Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Grants program was originally authorized by sections 402 through 409 of the Continuing Appropriations Act for FY 1985 (P.L. 98-473, 10/12/84). The Child Abuse Prevention Challenge Grants Reauthorization Act of 1989 (P.L. 101-126) transferred this program to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, as amended(Schwartz, McCauley & Epstein 2001).

A new title III, Certain Preventive Services Regarding Children of Homeless Families or Families at Risk of Homelessness, was added to the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention and Treatment Act by the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act Amendments of 1990.

The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act was amended and reauthorized by the Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Adoption, and Family Services Act of 1992 and amended by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act Amendments of 1992.

CAPTA was amended by the Older American Act Technical Amendments of 1993 and the Human Services Amendments of 1994. CAPTA was further amended by the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act Amendments of 1996 (P.L. 104-235, 10/3/96), which amended title I, replaced the title II Community-Based Family Resource Centers program with a new Community-Based Family Resource and Support Program and repealed title III, Certain Preventive Services Regarding Children of Homeless Families or Families at Risk of Homelessness(Kinnear 2007). In 2003, CAPTA was reauthorized and amended by the Keeping Children and Families ...