Child Abuse Prevention & Treatment Act (CAPTA)
The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), adopted in 1974, provides guidelines and federal funding to states for child abuse and neglect prevention, assessment, investigation, prosecution and treatment activities. With each reauthorization, most recently in 2010, and amended in January 2019, by the Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-424), CAPTA has evolved in response to the child welfare climate, shifting its focus to safety due to concerns over child fatalities in open cases, children languishing in care, and children returned home to unsafe environments, as well as a desire to increase accountability in the child protective services (CPS) system.
CAPTA provides grants to states for the purpose of improving the state's child protection systems. To be eligible for a CAPTA grant, the state is required to develop a state CAPTA plan that specifies how the CAPTA grant will be used to improve the state's child protection system. Georgia's state CAPTA plan was last updated in 2020. The CAPTA plan must also include detailed information on the state's compliance with CAPTA requirements.
