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Interagency Task Force on Trauma-Informed Care

CMHS leads the Interagency Task to develop best practices for trauma-informed identification, referral, and support.

Description:

The Interagency Task Force on Trauma-Informed Care (TIC Task Force) was established on October 13th, 2018 of the Public Law 115-271, the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act of 2018 under Subtitle N, Section 7132.

Review Section N – of the SUPPORT Act (PDF | 57 KB) to learn more about the work of the Task Force.

Description of Duties:

  • To identify, evaluate, and make recommendations regarding:
    (1) best practices with respect to children and youth, and their families as appropriate, who have experienced or are at risk of experiencing trauma; and
    (2) ways in which Federal agencies can better coordinate to improve the Federal response to families impacted by substance use disorders and other forms of trauma.

Membership:

  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
    • Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS)
    • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
    • Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
    • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
    • Indian Health Service (IHS)
    • National Institutes of Health (NIH)
    • Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
    • Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
    • Office of Minority Health (OMH)
    • Administration of Children and Families (ACF)
      • Office of Head Start (OHS)
      • Children’s Bureau (CB)
    • Office of Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
    • Office for Civil Rights (OCR)
  • U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)
  • U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
    • Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
    • Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS)
    • Office on Violence Against Women (OVW)
  • U.S. Department of Education (ED)
    • National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE)
    • National Center for Special Education Research of the Institute of Education Science (NCSER)
    • Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE)
    • Office for Civil Rights (OCR)
    • Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS)
  • U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI)
    • Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
    • Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)
  • U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
    • Veterans Health Administration (VHA)
  • U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Department (HUD)
    • Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs (SNAPS)

Chairperson:

Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, or the Assistant Secretary’s designee

Duties:

(1) Solicit input from stakeholders, including frontline service providers, educators, mental health professionals, researchers, experts in infant, child, and youth trauma, child welfare professionals, and the public, in order to inform the activities under paragraph (2).

(2) Identify, evaluate, make recommendations, and update such recommendations not less than annually, to the general public, the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of the Interior, the Attorney General, and other relevant cabinet Secretaries, and Congress regarding:

(A) A set of evidence-based, evidence-informed, and promising best practices with respect to:

(i) prevention strategies for individuals at risk of experiencing or being exposed to trauma, including trauma as a result of exposure to substance use;
(ii) the identification of infants, children and youth, and their families as appropriate, who have experienced or are at risk of experiencing trauma;
(iii) the expeditious referral to and implementation of trauma-informed practices and supports that prevent and mitigate the effects of trauma, which may include whole-family and multi-generational approaches; and
(iv) community based or multi-generational practices that support children and their families;

(B) A national strategy on how the task force and member agencies will collaborate, prioritize options for, and implement a coordinated approach, which may include—

(i) data sharing;
(ii) providing support to infants, children, and youth, and their families as appropriate, who have experienced or are at risk of experiencing trauma;
(iii) identifying options for coordinating existing grants that support infants, children, and youth, and their families as appropriate, who have experienced, or are at risk of experiencing, exposure to substance use or other trauma, including trauma related to substance use; and
(iv) other ways to improve coordination, planning, and communication within and across Federal agencies, offices, and programs, to better serve children and families impacted by substance use disorders; and

(C) Existing Federal authorities at the Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Justice, Department of Labor, Department of the Interior, and other relevant agencies, and specific Federal grant programs to disseminate best practices on, provide training in, or deliver services through, trauma informed practices, and disseminate such information—

(i) in writing to relevant program offices at such agencies to encourage grant applicants in writing to use such funds, where appropriate, for trauma informed practices; and
(ii) to the general public through the internet website of the task force.

Final Report:

Not later than 3 years after the date of the first meeting of the task force, the task force shall submit to the general public, Secretary of Education, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of the Interior, the Attorney General, other relevant cabinet Secretaries, the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, and Congress, a final report containing all of the findings and recommendations required under this section, and shall make such report available online in an accessible format.

Sunset:

The task force shall sunset on the date that is 60 days after the submission of the final report under subsection (f), but not later than September 30, 2023.

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