Sponsors (9)
The bill improves data, coordination, and consistent definitions to help identify and respond to co-occurring child and animal abuse, but it raises privacy risks, administrative costs, and potential legal confusion that states and agencies will need to manage.
Child welfare agencies, researchers, and service providers will gain standardized case-level data linking child abuse/neglect with animal abuse, enabling better identification, prevention, and targeted interventions for affected children and families.
State and local agencies will have improved cross-jurisdictional awareness and coordination through an HHS clearinghouse for co-occurring family violence and animal cruelty cases.
A standardized federal definition of animal abuse establishes consistent reporting criteria that can improve comparability for research and inform policy-making.
Families and children face increased privacy and confidentiality risks from expanded case-level data collection and dissemination if safeguards are not strict and consistently applied.
State and local agencies may incur new administrative burdens and costs to collect, maintain, and report the required data, potentially diverting resources from direct services.
A broad federal definition of animal abuse that covers conduct not prohibited by some state laws could create reporting inconsistencies and legal confusion for agencies and providers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Adds reporting of child abuse/neglect cases related to animal abuse to the federal clearinghouse's data functions, using a broad definition of animal abuse.
Expands the federal child-abuse data clearinghouse to require reporting of child abuse and neglect cases that are related to animal abuse. "Animal abuse" is defined broadly to include acts or failures to act that cause undue pain, suffering, or death to any animal, even if the conduct does not violate state or local cruelty laws. The change is limited to the clearinghouse’s data functions and does not create new criminal penalties or specify funding or new reporting deadlines.
Introduced January 23, 2025 by Jefferson Van Drew · Last progress January 23, 2025