Grant program for State task forces to examine child marriage

The Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (42 U.S.C. 10401 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 315. State task forces to examine child marriage (a) In general (1) Program From amounts made available under subsection (c), the Secretary may award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible States to establish a State-based task force to examine child marriage in the eligible State. (2) Eligible State In this section, the term eligible State means a State that permits an individual younger than 18 years of age to marry. (3) Applications To be eligible to receive a grant under paragraph (1), an eligible State shall submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require. (b) State task force (1) In general An eligible State awarded a grant under subsection (a)(1) shall establish a task force to examine child marriage in the eligible State. (2) Appointees A task force established under paragraph (1) shall include individuals with— (A) advocacy expertise in combating family violence, sexual assault, or child abuse or neglect issues; (B) experience in social work or school counseling, with preference for such individuals with experience providing culturally specific services; (C) experience in providing legal assistance to survivors of family violence or sexual assault with a preference for such individuals with experience serving such survivors who are younger than 18 years of age; (D) experience in providing legal assistance to individuals with needs for child protection services, including foster youth, homeless and runaway youth, and youth otherwise at-risk for needing such services; (E) judicial experience with cases involving child protection and family violence issues; (F) legal experience with cases involving emancipation, guardianship, or child-specific protection orders, with special preference for such individuals who have worked on cases involving forced or coerced marriage; or (G) providing professional medical or mental health services to youth who have experienced child, early, or forced marriage. (3) Tasks A task force established under paragraph (1) shall— (A) collect statewide statistics for each of the 10 years preceding the date of the grant award on the number, age, sex, and residency of individuals in the eligible State who were younger than 18 years of age at the time of the marriage of such individual; (B) examine the risk factors that lead to child marriage and negative impacts from child marriage in the eligible State, including the relationship between child marriage and threats to a minor’s safety, health, and well-being, and including risk factors and impacts such as forced or coerced marriage, family violence, sexual assault, child abuse and neglect, human trafficking, educational impacts, poverty, and other negative impacts on individuals who are younger than 18 years of age who marry; (C) develop policy recommendations for the eligible State to address negative impacts of child marriage on individuals and the intersection between child marriage and forced or coerced marriage, family violence, sexual assault, child abuse and neglect, and human trafficking; and (D) prepare a report with the recommendations of the task force regarding how best to protect individuals who are younger than 18 years of age from the negative impacts of child marriage and forced or coerced marriages and enabling already-married individuals who are younger than 18 years of age to protect themselves from these forms of abuse. (c) Authorization of appropriations There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $375,000 for each of fiscal years 2027 through 2032..