(a) Establishment

The Secretary shall through the Department, or by one or more contracts of not less than 3 years duration let through a competition, establish a national clearinghouse for information relating to child abuse and neglect.

(b) Functions

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The Secretary shall, through the clearinghouse established by subsection (a)—

(1) maintain, coordinate, and disseminate information on effective programs, including private and community-based programs, that have demonstrated success with respect to the prevention, assessment, identification, and treatment of child abuse or neglect and hold the potential for broad-scale implementation and replication;

(2) maintain, coordinate, and disseminate information on the medical diagnosis and treatment of child abuse and neglect;

(3) maintain and disseminate information on best practices relating to differential response;

(4) maintain and disseminate information about the best practices used for achieving improvements in child protective systems;

(5) maintain and disseminate information about the requirements of section 5106a(b)(2)(B)(iii) of this title and best practices relating to the development of plans of safe care as described in such section for infants born and identified as being affected by substance abuse or withdrawal symptoms, or a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder;

(6) maintain and disseminate information relating to—

(A) the incidence of cases of child abuse and neglect in the United States;

(B) the incidence of such cases in populations determined by the Secretary under section 105(a)(1) of the Child Abuse Prevention, Adoption, and Family Services Act of 1988 (42 U.S.C. 5105 note); and

(C) the incidence of any such cases related to substance abuse;

(7) provide technical assistance upon request that may include an evaluation or identification of—

(A) various methods and procedures for the investigation, assessment, and prosecution of child physical and sexual abuse cases;

(B) ways to mitigate psychological trauma to the child victim; and

(C) effective programs carried out by the States under this subchapter and subchapter III;

(8) collect and disseminate information relating to various training resources available at the State and local level to—

(A) individuals who are engaged, or who intend to engage, in the prevention, identification, and treatment of child abuse and neglect; and

(B) appropriate State and local officials to assist in training law enforcement, legal, judicial, medical, mental health, education, child welfare, substance abuse treatment services, and domestic violence services personnel; and

(9) collect and disseminate information, in conjunction with the National Resource Centers authorized in section 10410(b) of this title, on effective programs and best practices for developing and carrying out collaboration between entities providing child protective services and entities providing domestic violence services.

(c) Coordination with available resources

(1) In general

In establishing a national clearinghouse as required by subsection (a), the Secretary shall—

(A) consult with other Federal agencies that operate similar clearinghouses;

(B) consult with the head of each agency involved with child abuse and neglect on the development of the components for information collection and management of such clearinghouse and on the mechanisms for the sharing of such information with other Federal agencies and clearinghouses;

(C) develop a Federal data system involving the elements under subsection (b) which, to the extent practicable, coordinates existing Federal, State, tribal, regional, and local child welfare data systems which shall include—

(i) standardized data on false, unfounded, unsubstantiated, and substantiated reports;

(ii) information on the number of deaths due to child abuse and neglect;

(iii) information about the incidence and characteristics of child abuse and neglect in circumstances in which domestic violence is present; and

(iv) information about the incidence and characteristics of child abuse and neglect in cases related to substance abuse;

(D) through a national data collection and analysis program and in consultation with appropriate State and local agencies and experts in the field, collect, compile, and make available State child abuse and neglect reporting information which, to the extent practical, shall be universal and case specific and integrated with other case-based foster care and adoption data collected by the Secretary;

(E) compile, analyze, and publish a summary of the research conducted under section 5105(a) of this title;

(F) collect and disseminate information that describes best practices being used throughout the Nation for making appropriate referrals related to, and addressing, the physical, developmental, and mental health needs of victims of child abuse or neglect; and

(G) solicit public comment on the components of such clearinghouse.

(2) Confidentiality requirement

In carrying out paragraph (1)(D), the Secretary shall ensure that methods are established and implemented to preserve the confidentiality of records relating to case specific data.