34 U.S.C. § 20705a — Enhancing the ability of State, local, and Tribal child welfare agencies to identify and respond to children who are, or are at risk of being, victims of trafficking

(a) Grants to enhance child welfare services. The Secretary of Health and Human Services may give grants to eligible States. The grants may be used to develop, improve, or expand programs that help State, local, or Tribal child welfare agencies identify and respond to: (1) children considered victims of "child abuse and neglect" and "sexual abuse" under section 5106g(b)(1) of title 42 because they have been identified as victims or as at risk of being victims of a severe form of trafficking in persons; and (2) children whom those agencies are responsible for placing, caring for, or supervising, when there is reasonable cause to believe that the children are, or are at risk of being, victims of one or more severe forms of trafficking in persons^*. This section does not define the terms "child abuse and neglect", "sexual abuse", or "severe form of trafficking in persons".

(b) Definitions.
(1) Child. "Child" means an individual who has not reached 18 years of age, or an older age that the State has chosen under section 475(8) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 675(8)). An eligible State may choose to include an individual who has not reached 26 years of age.
(2) Eligible State. An "eligible State" is a State that has not received more than 3 grants under this section and meets at least one of these criteria:
(A) Elimination of third-party-control requirement. The State has eliminated, or will eliminate, any requirement to identify a controlling third party who causes a child to engage in a commercial sex act^* before the child can be considered a victim of trafficking or a victim of one or more severe forms of trafficking in persons for purposes of receiving child welfare services and care. This section does not define "commercial sex act".
(B) Application of standard for human trafficking. The State considers a child to be a trafficking victim if the individual is a victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons, as described in section 7102(11)(A) of title 22.
(C) Development and implementation of State child welfare plan protocols. The State agency responsible for administering the State plan for foster care and adoption assistance under part E of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 670 et seq.) has developed and is implementing, or will develop and implement, protocols that meet these reporting requirements: (i) report immediately, and in no case later than 24 hours after receiving the information, to law enforcement authorities information about children identified as victims of a severe form of trafficking in persons, as required by section 471(a)(34)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)); (ii) report immediately, and in no case later than 24 hours after receiving the information, to law enforcement authorities information about missing or abducted children, including children classified as "runaways", for entry into the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database, and report that information to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, as required by section 471(a)(35)(B) of that Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)(35)(B)); and (iii) report to the Secretary of Health and Human Services the total number of children who are victims of child human trafficking, as required by section 471(a)(34)(B) of that Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)(34)(B)). This section does not define "runaways" or "child human trafficking".
(D) Trafficking-specific protocol. The State has developed and implemented, or will develop and implement, a specialized protocol for responding to a child who is, or is at risk of being, a trafficking victim. The protocol must ensure that the response focuses on the child's specific safety needs as a trafficking victim. It must also include an alternative way to investigate and respond to child human trafficking cases in which the alleged offender is not the child's parent or caregiver, without using the existing processes for investigating and responding to other forms of child abuse or neglect that require filing an abuse or neglect petition.
(3) Indian tribe; tribal organization. "Indian tribe" and "tribal organization" have the meanings given those terms in section 5304 of title 25. This section does not define those terms.
(4) State. "State" means each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. It also includes an Indian tribe, tribal organization, or tribal consortium with a plan approved under section 479B of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 679c), or that receives funding to provide foster care under part E of title IV of that Act (42 U.S.C. 670 et seq.) under a cooperative agreement or contract with a State.