---
kind: "section"
citation: "34 U.S.C. § 20333"
title: "34"
title_heading: "Crime Control and Law Enforcement"
number: "20333"
heading: "Specialized technical assistance and training programs"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/34/20333"
units:
  - "Subtitle II — Protection of Children and Other Persons"
  - "Chapter 203 — Victims of Child Abuse"
  - "Subchapter III — Child Abuse Training Programs for Judicial Personnel and Practitioners"
---

# §20333. Specialized technical assistance and training programs

- (a) **Grants to develop model programs—**
  - (1) The [Administrator](/usc/34/20302.md?p=1) shall make grants to national organizations to develop 1 or more model technical assistance and training programs to improve the judicial system’s handling of [child abuse](/usc/34/20302.md?p=4) and [neglect](/usc/34/21701.md?p=1) cases.
  - (2) An organization to which a grant is made pursuant to [paragraph (1)](#a-1) shall be one that has broad membership among juvenile and family court judges and has demonstrated experience in providing training and technical assistance for judges, attorneys, child welfare personnel, and lay child advocates.
- (b) **Grants to juvenile and family courts—**
  - (1) In order to improve the judicial system’s handling of [child abuse](/usc/34/20302.md?p=4) and [neglect](/usc/34/21701.md?p=1) cases, the [Administrator](/usc/34/20302.md?p=1) shall make grants to [State](/usc/34/21701.md?p=3) courts or judicial [administrators](/usc/34/20302.md?p=1) for programs that provide or contract for, the implementation of—
    - (A) training and technical assistance to judicial personnel and attorneys in juvenile and family courts; and
    - (B) administrative reform in juvenile and family courts.
  - (2) The criteria established for the making of grants pursuant to [paragraph (1)](#b-1) shall give priority to programs that improve—
    - (A) procedures for determining whether child service agencies have made reasonable efforts to prevent placement of children in foster care;
    - (B) procedures for determining whether child service agencies have, after placement of children in foster care, made reasonable efforts to reunite the family;
    - (C) procedures for coordinating information and services among health professionals, social workers, [law enforcement](/usc/34/21701.md?p=1) professionals, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and juvenile and family court personnel, consistent with subchapter I; and
    - (D) procedures for improving the judicial response to children who are vulnerable to human trafficking, to the extent an appropriate screening tool exists.
- (c) **Grant criteria—** The [Administrator](/usc/34/20302.md?p=1) shall make grants under subsections [(a)](#a) and [(b)](#b) consistent with sections [11172](/usc/34/11172.md), [11183](/usc/34/11183.md), and [11186](/usc/34/11186.md) of this title.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 101–647, title II, § 223, Nov. 29, 1990, 104 Stat. 4797; Pub. L. 107–273, div. C, title II, § 12221(b)(1)(D), Nov. 2, 2002, 116 Stat. 1894; Pub. L. 115–393, title V, § 503, Dec. 21, 2018, 132 Stat. 5277; Pub. L. 115–424, § 2(h)(5), Jan. 7, 2019, 132 Stat. 5470.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Codification

Section was formerly classified to section 13023 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section. Some section numbers or references in amendment notes below reflect the classification of such sections or references prior to editorial reclassification.

### Amendments

2019—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 115–424 made technical amendment to reference in original act which appears in text as reference to sections 11183 and 11186 of this title.

2018—Subsec. (b)(2)(D). Pub. L. 115–393 added subpar. (D).

2002—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 107–273 substituted “sections 5666, 5673, and 5676 of this title” for “section 5665a, 5673, and 5676 of this title”.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date of 2002 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 107–273 effective on the first day of the first fiscal year that begins after Nov. 2, 2002, and applicable only with respect to fiscal years beginning on or after the first day of the first fiscal year that begins after Nov. 2, 2002, see section 12223 of Pub. L. 107–273, as amended, set out as a note under section 11101 of this title.