House Passes Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Bill To Strengthen Military's Child Abuse Reporting Requirements

Press Release

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed Talia's Law (H.R. 3894), legislation introduced by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) in November 2015. The legislation is named in memory of Talia Williams, who at age five was beaten to death by her father who was stationed in Hawaiʻi. In the months leading up to her death, multiple reports of Talia's suspected abuse were made by federal employees in contact with her--including military police, workers at Talia's on-base child care facility, and others--but the reports stayed within the Army's chain of command. The case was not reported to state authorities and ultimately Talia was never taken out of harm's way. Talia's Law would close the gap between mandated reporters of child abuse and the military's Family Advocacy Programs (FAP) reporting on their behalf, by requiring mandated reporters to report suspected child abuse or neglect directly to State Child Protective Services.

"More than 10 years after Talia's tragic death, the same gaps in the military's reporting requirements that failed to protect Talia remain unchanged. Meanwhile, over the last decade, there have been 29,000 cases of child abuse and neglect in military homes," said Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. "To close this gap and fix this problem, Talia's Law requires the same protections that exist for any other child to also protect children in military families, by requiring immediate, direct reporting to State Child Protective Services in cases of suspected abuse and neglect. This legislation cannot right the wrongs that failed to protect Talia, but it takes an important step toward helping to better protect thousands of children in military families, and to get them and their families the care and services they deserve."

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