14. Department of Health and Human Services · Minor · Needs Congress
Let child welfare funding pay for marriage and relationship education
Printed page 480 14. Department of Health and Human Services
“Allow child welfare funding to be used for marriage and relationship education. … However, Congress could change the law to make it clear that Title II funding can be used for healthy marriage and relationship education.”
What has happened
- Not started
Congress has not amended Title II of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to make clear that community-based prevention funding may be spent on healthy marriage and relationship education. A Corpus title search over 119th Congress bills returns no CAPTA reauthorization or amendment, and the seven in-window Federal Register documents mentioning CAPTA are all Paperwork Reduction Act notices for the Children's Justice Act program instruction, the Child and Family Services Plan and the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System. ACF's one child-welfare reporting rulemaking, RIN 0970-AD32, would streamline the CFSP, APSR and CFSR review scheme and says nothing about allowable uses of Title II funds.
No action found yet. This entry is the starting point, not a finding.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- Searched: the Federal Register since 2025-01-20 for the term “Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act” (7, listed above) and “Healthy Marriage” (4); the titles of the bills we keep and search, for “Child Abuse Prevention” or “CAPTA” (nothing on point) and for “marriage” (10, of which none touches child welfare funding).
- This needs an act of Congress, and no bill has passed a chamber, which is the first step that counts; introducing a bill does not.
- Action
- expand
- Object
- Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act Title II funding
- ID
- 1331