REAUTHORIZATION OF THE COURT-APPOINTED SPECIAL ADVOCATE PROGRAM.

SEC. 112. REAUTHORIZATION OF THE COURT-APPOINTED SPECIAL ADVOCATE PROGRAM. (a) Findings.—Section 215 of the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 13011) is amended by striking paragraphs (1) and (2) and inserting the following: “(1) Court Appointed Special Advocates, who may serve as guardians ad litem, are trained volunteers appointed by courts to advocate for the best interests of children who are involved in the juvenile and family court system due to abuse or neglect; and “(2) in 2003, Court Appointed Special Advocate volunteers represented 288,000 children, more than 50 percent of the estimated 540,000 children in foster care because of substantiated cases of child abuse or neglect.”. 119 STAT. 2986(b) Implementation Date.—Section 216 of the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 13012) is amended by striking “January 1, 1995” and inserting “January 1, 2010”. (c) Clarification of Program Goals.—Section 217 of the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 13013) is amended—(1) in subsection (a), by striking “to expand” and inserting “to initiate, sustain, and expand”; (2) subsection (b)—(A) in paragraph (1)—(i) by striking “subsection (a) shall be” and inserting the following: “subsection (a)—“(A) shall be”; (ii) by striking “(2) may be” and inserting the following: “(B) may be”; and (iii) in subparagraph (B) (as redesignated), by striking “to initiate or expand” and inserting “to initiate, sustain, and expand”; and (B) in the first sentence of paragraph (2)—(i) by striking “(1)(a)” and inserting “(1)(A)”; and (ii) striking “to initiate and to expand” and inserting “to initiate, sustain, and expand”; and (3) by adding at the end the following: “(d) Background Checks.—State and local Court Appointed Special Advocate programs are authorized to request fingerprint-based criminal background checks from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s criminal history database for prospective volunteers. The requesting program is responsible for the reasonable costs associated with the Federal records check.”. (d) Report.—Subtitle B of title II of the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 13011 et seq.) is amended—(1) by redesignating section 218 as section 219; and (2) by inserting after section 217 the following new section: “SEC. 218. REPORT. “(a) Report Required.—Not later than December 31, 2006, the Inspector General of the Department of Justice shall submit to Congress a report on the types of activities funded by the National Court-Appointed Special Advocate Association and a comparison of outcomes in cases where court-appointed special advocates are involved and cases where court-appointed special advocates are not involved. “(b) Elements of Report.—The report submitted under subsection (a) shall include information on the following: “(1) The types of activities the National Court-Appointed Special Advocate Association has funded since 1993. “(2) The outcomes in cases where court-appointed special advocates are involved as compared to cases where court-appointed special advocates are not involved, including—“(A) the length of time a child spends in foster care; “(B) the extent to which there is an increased provision of services; “(C) the percentage of cases permanently closed; and “(D) achievement of the permanent plan for reunification or adoption.” . (e) Authorization of Appropriations.—119 STAT. 2987(1) Authorization.—Section 219 of the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990, as redesignated by subsection (d), is amended by striking subsection (a) and inserting the following: “(a) Authorization.—There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this subtitle $12,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2007 through 2011.”. (2) Prohibition on lobbying.—Section 219 of the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990, as redesignated by subsection (d) and amended by paragraphs (1) and (2), is further amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: “(c) Prohibition on Lobbying.—No funds authorized under this subtitle may be used for lobbying activities in contravention of OMB Circular No. A–122.”.