Murray, DeLauro Introduce Children’s Recovery from Trauma Act

(Washington, D.C.) - Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) introduced the Children’s Recovery from Trauma Act, legislation that would help ensure our nation’s health care system is better prepared to provide support to children and families following traumatic events. This bill would reauthorize and strengthen the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative (NCTSI), a national network of child trauma centers that works with children and families who are exposed to a wide range of traumatic experiences. They were joined by original co-sponsors Congressman Tim Murphy (R-PA) and Congresswoman Katherine Clark (D-MA).

“As we have seen far too often in recent years, traumatic events can impact children at any time, in all parts of our country,” said Senator Murray.  “The Children’s Recovery from Trauma Act would take important steps to help children and their families rebuild and recover following events beyond their control. As communities across the country face difficult times, this legislation would ensure our nation’s health care system is better prepared to provide support to children and families and help ease their burden.”

“Every year, far too many children are abused, neglected, or suffer some other kind of adverse childhood experience,” said Congresswoman DeLauro. “Children who are victims of these often overlapping experiences, both inside and outside of the home, are at risk of lower educational and occupational achievement, increased medical costs, and shortened life spans. Giving them the tools to succeed helps not just them and their families, but their entire communities. I am proud to join Senator Murray in introducing this legislation that will help mental health professionals continue to develop best practices to help children in need.”

The NCTSI focuses on providing clinical services, developing and disseminating new interventions and resources, offering education and training programs, collaborating with established child-serving systems of care, informing public policy and awareness efforts, and coordinating the collection, analysis, and reporting of data. The network now includes 79 funded centers and over 120 affiliate centers and individuals working in hospitals, universities, and community-based programs in 43 states. Centers affiliated with the network mobilized in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks, natural disasters including Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Sandy and the Oso Mudslide, and in the wake of the school shootings at Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The Children’s Recovery from Trauma Act would:

• Continue support for the national collaborative network of child trauma centers including through grants for university, hospital, mental health agencies, and other community-based child serving programs, and specifically the CLEAR Center at Washington State University and its affiliate center, Harborview Center for Sexual Assault and Traumatic Stress.

• Support the analysis and reporting of child outcome and other data collected by the NCTSI coordinating center to better understand the effectiveness, implementation, and clinical utility of evidence-based treatment and services.

• Support the continuum of interprofessional training initiatives in evidence-based and trauma-informed treatments, interventions, and practices.

• Support the collaboration of NCTSI, HHS, and other federal agencies in the dissemination of NCTSI evidence-based interventions, treatments, products, and other resources to all child-serving systems and policymakers.

• Support the development of prevention services and resources related to the prevention of exposure to traumatic events and early intervention programs focused on preventing of the long-term consequences of child trauma.

• Support NCTSI collaboration with federal research agencies to conduct program evaluations and inform national research priorities related to child trauma.