HR712-119

What This Bill Does

The Child and Animal Abuse Detection and Reporting Act amends the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act national clearinghouse authority. HHS already collects information related to child abuse and neglect. This bill adds the incidence of child-abuse or neglect cases related to animal abuse, defining animal abuse for this purpose as any act or failure to act that results in undue pain, suffering, or death to any animal, regardless of whether the conduct violates state or local cruelty law. The practical effect is to make animal-abuse overlap part of federal child-maltreatment information gathering, which can help researchers and child-protection agencies track warning signs and co-occurring violence.

Who Benefits and How

Child protective services agencies, child-abuse researchers, animal welfare investigators, domestic violence specialists, social workers, and children in homes with co-occurring animal abuse benefit because the clearinghouse would track a risk signal that may help identify patterns of maltreatment. HHS benefits from clearer statutory authority to include animal-abuse-related incidence data.

Who Bears the Burden and How

HHS clearinghouse staff, state child-welfare agencies, local child protective services offices, animal-control agencies, and mandated reporters may need to collect, code, share, or interpret additional data about whether child-abuse cases are related to animal abuse. Agencies must apply the federal definition even when conduct does not violate local animal-cruelty laws.

Key Provisions

• Adds animal-abuse-related child-abuse and neglect incidence data to the CAPTA national clearinghouse.
• Defines animal abuse as acts or failures to act causing undue pain, suffering, or death to an animal.
• Requires the animal-abuse data category regardless of whether the conduct violates state or local cruelty law.
• Supports federal tracking of co-occurring child maltreatment and animal abuse indicators.