Children’s Justice Act Program Instruction

The Children’s Bureau (CB) is a division of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), Administration for Children and Families of the Department of Health and Human Services. CB has responsibility for the administration of the Children’s Justice Act (CJA) authorized by the Child Abuse Prevention and TreatmentAct (CAPTA), as amended by Public Law (P.L.) P.L. 111-320 enacted December 20, 2010. The CJA program is located in Section 107, 42 U.S.C. 5106c under Grants to States for Programs Relating to the Investigation and Prosecution of Child Abuse and Neglect Cases. The CJA is designed to assist states in improving the systems handling child abuse and neglect cases. CB staff execute all the tasks involved in administering and monitoring the CJA program. The legislation notes a requirement for States to submit information to the CB on an annual basis: 42 U.S.C. 5106c Sec. 107 (b) (4) of CAPTA requires States to “submit annually an application to the Secretary….” 42 U.S.C. 5106c Sec. 107 (B) (5) of CAPTA requires States to “submit annually to the Secretary a report on the manner in which assistance received under this program was expended throughout the State,…” While the statutory requirements for reporting have not changed, the related Program Instruction has been revised to focus solely on providing instructions for respondents, remove requests for information not required by statute, reduce duplicative information, and simplify language. Additional information is provided in section A15.

The latest form for Children’s Justice Act Program Instruction expires 2029-04-30 and can be found here.