STRENGTHENING CHILD WELFARE RESPONSE TO TRAFFICKING ACT OF 2015

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Strengthening Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act of 2015, sponsored by the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Bass).

This bill will support victims of child sex trafficking by helping them find services they need, by training child protective services workers to identify cases of child sex trafficking, and by improving data collection on the number of child sex trafficking victims.

This legislation would also require the Department of Health and Human Services to submit a report to Congress that describes the type and prevalence of severe forms of trafficking to which identified victims are subjected.

This bill also summarizes State practices to identify and serve trafficking victims and those at risk of trafficking and describes Federal statutory or regulatory barriers that may prevent child trafficking victims from getting the services they need, including an evaluation of the State's capacity to address such victim's needs.

The bill would also allow the State welfare agencies to include child labor trafficking in their provisions of staff training. Under the bill, if a State includes child labor trafficking in those responsibilities, the States must also collect data on the number of those victims.

The bill is a product of good bipartisan work and diligent negotiations by the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Bass) and her staff and Democratic and Republican staffs in the Education and the Workforce Committee.

I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation, which has the backing of child welfare advocates and will improve services and responses to child trafficking victims.