Bipartisan Child Welfare Coalition

ParentalRights.org is part of a bipartisan coalition effort to bring needed changes to federal child welfare investigation laws and the state laws that result.

So far, the coalition has focused discussion on amendments to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) and the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA). The bullet points below share some of the coalition's current efforts.

• Poverty is not neglect: The coalition is championing the bill recently offered by Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) to amend CAPTA to require that in order to receive federal funds, states must clarify that poverty does not constitute neglect.
• Confidential instead of anonymous: The coalition is also working on amending CAPTA and ASFA to replace "anonymous reporting" of child abuse or neglect with "confidential reporting." In both cases, the parent in question may not know who made the call, but with "confidential reporting" at least the department must know who made the call. This will cut down on vindictive false reports, and allow states to identify and prosecute those callers who abuse the hotline system.