Part C—National Clearinghouse

§12351. Findings and purpose

(a) Findings

Congress finds that—

(1) fundamental changes in the demographics and economics of family life in the United States over the past 20 years have had a profound effect on children and their parents;

(2) since 1966, the number of women working outside the home has increased by 92 percent and the number of two earner families has increased by over 50 percent;

(3) 61 percent of the children born today will live in a single-parent family before reaching the age of 20, with one out of every three single female heads of households living on income below the Federal poverty level;

(4) one out of every four children under the age of 6 in the United States currently lives below the Federal poverty level;

(5) over the past 10 years, parents have increasingly come together with other parents to organize family resource and support programs that promote healthy child development and increase parental competency, particularly families at risk; and

(6) Federal investment in promoting the development of family resource and support programs will reap long-term benefits for individual families and the nation as a whole.

(b) Purpose

It is the purpose of this part ¹ to—

(1) stimulate the development and expansion of family resource and support programs that are prevention oriented;

(2) encourage early intervention of such programs with families to ameliorate problem situations before such situations become crises; and

(3) assist parents in enhancing their children's development to ensure that their children enter school prepared and ready to learn.

(Pub. L. 101–501, title IX, §956, Nov. 3, 1990, 104 Stat. 1278.)

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This part, referred to in subsec. (b), was in the original "this Act", and was translated as reading "this chapter", meaning chapter 3 (§§955–960) of subtitle A of title IX of Pub. L. 101–501, known as the Family Resources Act, to reflect the probable intent of Congress.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective Oct. 1, 1990, see section 1001(a) of Pub. L. 101–501, set out as an Effective Date of 1990 Amendment note under section 8621 of this title.

¹ See References in Text note below.

§12352. "Family resource and support programs" defined

As used in this part, the term "family resource and support programs" means community-based services that offer sustained assistance to families at various stages in their development. Such services shall promote parental competencies and behaviors that will lead to the healthy and positive personal development of parents and children through—

(1) the provision of assistance to build family skills and assist parents in improving their capacities to be supportive and nurturing parents;

(2) the provision of assistance to families to enable such families to use other formal and informal resources and opportunities for assistance that are available within the communities of such families; and

(3) the creation of supportive networks to enhance the childrearing capacity of parents and assist in compensating for the increased social isolation and vulnerability of families.

(Pub. L. 101–501, title IX, §957, Nov. 3, 1990, 104 Stat. 1278.)

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective Oct. 1, 1990, see section 1001(a) of Pub. L. 101–501, set out as an Effective Date of 1990 Amendment note under section 8621 of this title.

§12353. Establishment of National Center on Family Resource and Support Programs

(a) Establishment

The Commissioner shall establish, through grant or contract, a national center for the collection and provision of programmatic information and technical assistance that relates to all types of family resource and support programs, to be known as the "National Center on Family Resource and Support Programs".

(b) Functions

The national center established under subsection (a) shall serve as a national information and data clearinghouse, training, technical assistance, and material development source for family resource and support programs. Such center shall—

(1) develop and maintain a system for disseminating information on all types of family resource and support programs and on the state of family resource and support program development, including information concerning the most effective model programs;

(2) develop and sponsor a variety of training institutes and curricula for family resource and support program staff;

(3) identify several programs representing the various types of family resource and support programs to develop technical assistance materials and activities to assist other agencies in establishing family resource and support programs; and

(4) develop State-wide networks of family resource and support programs for the purpose of sharing and disseminating information.

(Pub. L. 101–501, title IX, §958, Nov. 3, 1990, 104 Stat. 1279; Pub. L. 103–252, title IV, §403(a), May 18, 1994, 108 Stat. 673.)

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1994—Subsec. (b)(3). Pub. L. 103–252 substituted "several programs" for "several model programs".

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective Oct. 1, 1990, see section 1001(a) of Pub. L. 101–501, set out as an Effective Date of 1990 Amendment note under section 8621 of this title.

§12354. Evaluation

The Commissioner shall, through grants or contracts awarded or entered into with independent auditors, conduct evaluations and related activities, of family resource and support programs, including—

(1) evaluations of on-going programs;

(2) process evaluations focusing on implementation strategies; and

(3) the development of simple evaluation models for use by local family resource and support programs.

(Pub. L. 101–501, title IX, §959, Nov. 3, 1990, 104 Stat. 1279.)

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective Oct. 1, 1990, see section 1001(a) of Pub. L. 101–501, set out as an Effective Date of 1990 Amendment note under section 8621 of this title.

§12355. Authorization of appropriations

(a) Establishment of Center

To carry out section 12353 of this title, there are authorized to be appropriated $2,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 1995 through 1998.

(b) Evaluation

To carry out section 12354 of this title, there are authorized to be appropriated $1,000,000 for fiscal year 1995, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 1996 through 1998.

(Pub. L. 101–501, title IX, §960, Nov. 3, 1990, 104 Stat. 1279; Pub. L. 103–252, title IV, §403(b), May 18, 1994, 108 Stat. 673.)

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1994—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103–252, §403(b)(1), substituted "$2,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 1995 through 1998" for "$2,300,000 for fiscal year 1991, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 1992 through 1994".

Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 103–252, §403(b)(2), substituted "$1,000,000 for fiscal year 1995, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 1996 through 1998" for "$700,000 for fiscal year 1991, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 1992 through 1994".

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective Oct. 1, 1990, see section 1001(a) of Pub. L. 101–501, set out as an Effective Date of 1990 Amendment note under section 8621 of this title.