28 U.S.C. § 540D Multidisciplinary Teams

• Library: United States Statutes
• Edition: 2023 Edition
• Currency: Current through P.L. 118-19 (published on www.congress.gov on 10/06/2023)

(a) DEFINITIONS.-In this section-

(1) the term "child sexual abuse material" means a visual depiction described in section 2256(8)(A) of title 18;

(2) the term "covered investigation" means any investigation of child sexual exploitation or abuse, the production of child sexual abuse material, or child trafficking conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation;

(3) the term "Director" means the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation;

(4) the term "multidisciplinary team" means a multidisciplinary team established or used under subsection (b)(2);

(5) the term "relevant children's advocacy center personnel" means children's advocacy center staff that regularly participate in multidisciplinary child support settings, including the director of the children's advocacy center, the coordinator of a multidisciplinary team, forensic interviewers, victim advocates, forensic medical evaluators, physicians, sexual assault nurse examiners, and mental health clinicians; and

(6) the term "victim advocate" means a person, whether paid or serving as a volunteer, who provides services to victims under the auspices or supervision of a victim services program.

(b) FBI VICTIM SUPPORT REQUIREMENTS.-

(1) IN GENERAL.-To carry out the functions described in subsection (c) in connection with each covered investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Director shall, unless unavailable or otherwise inconsistent with applicable Federal law-

(A) use a multidisciplinary team; and

(B) in accordance with paragraph (3), use-

(i) a trained Federal Bureau of Investigation child adolescent forensic interviewer; or

(ii) in the absence of a trained Federal Bureau of Investigation child adolescent forensic interviewer, a trained forensic interviewer at a children's advocacy center.

(2) USE AND COORDINATION.-The Director shall use and coordinate with children's advocacy center-based multidisciplinary teams as necessary to carry out paragraph (1).

(3) CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY CENTERS.-The Director-

(A) may work with children's advocacy centers to implement a multidisciplinary team approaches ¹ for purposes of covered investigations; and

(B) shall allow, facilitate, and encourage multidisciplinary teams to collaborate with a children's advocacy center with regard to availability, provision, and use of services to and by victims and families that are participants in or affected by the actions at issue in a covered investigation.