On March 15, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved, by voice vote, a bill (S. 627) to amend the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-415) to authorize $5 million annually for FY2008 through 2012 to address the health and well-being of abused infants and toddlers.
In a statement introducing the legislation, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) said that the Safe Babies Act of 2007 would “establish a National Court Teams Resource Center that would provide grants and technical assistance to juvenile courts for the creation of local Court Teams to better handle infant and toddler abuse and neglect cases. Few judges have all the necessary knowledge about early childhood development and they frequently lack resources in the community for services necessary to young children.” Sen. Harkin said that the bill would bring together the expertise of “guardians ad litem, Court Appointed Special Advocates, substance abuse treatment providers and mental health care providers” to “prevent multiple placements for infants and toddlers in foster care, secure needed services, and find a permanent home for these children as quickly as possible.”
