Q if the witnesses would please rise and raise your right hands, so you can be sworn in. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony that you are about to give before the subcommittee is the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth so help you god . Let the record reflect that you have answered the affirmative, please take your seats, and commissioner, jones gaston, begin with your opening statement, with your opening statement. Please ensure that the red light under your microphone is illuminated when that you wish to speak. Blackburn, and established members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear today on behalf of the u. S. Department of health and human services. Im Rebecca Jones gaston, commissioner for the ministration of four children abuse of families, and the ministration for children and families. Thank you also for the years of strong bi prevention efforts which provided the foundation for and enabled the passage of the Family First Services act. A cys is committed to supporting parents and caregivers to holistic and proactive approaches that focus on keeping Families Together and preventing unnecessary involvement with the foster care system. I hear routinely from young people and families that have experienced the Child Welfare system that many families could have stayed safely together if support for their conference needs have met. As part of the commitment to advance prevention and family preservation of the experience of families who encounter the be informing our policies and our programs. We are working with states and tribes to shift the focus of the Child Welfare system, helping them implement family first and promoting them across the system collaborations that wrecking is the Child Welfare system alone, family wellbeing. This effort can be taking time and cannot be done solely as the federal level. Th 2024 budget, including proposals to reauthorize increase funding for and amended promg otinsafe Social Security act, and the runaway homeless sheet act, would expand and provide incentives for the use of the title for ntive program, and provide Additional Support for scribes and support use for our risk for victims of commercial Sexual Exploitation and Human Trafficking. The Childrens Bureau would provide leadership to improve the safety permanency and well being of wellbeing and families. We partner with federal state and local agencies as well as tribal nations. Directing we implement sediment and implementation of them and ensure tribes states in the courts meet established standards, and outcomes for the federare guardianship program. We participate in a variety of activities to carry out funding essential services, sharing and Technical Assistance, and monitoring it Child Welfare assistance. Working with state, territories to improve Child Welfare delivery, achieve positive outcomes for children and families and ensure that every child has a family and permanency. The Bureau Regional offices conduct ongoing joint planning with states and tribes with the development of a strategic five year child and Family Services plan. The update through the annual progress anservices report. Fices provide direct Technical Assistance to grant recipients, and in partnership with other physicians conducting the child in review. Title for eligibility, under the Social Security act, other reviews. One of the most impactful means in which we assist the states and ensung the safety permanency and wellbeing of children and families that they serve, for regulatory action. Through september 2023 the Biden Harrison ministration industry. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the Programs Mission and work. I look forward to working with congress as part of the shared collective effort to ensure the safety permanency and well being of children and families across the country and i am happy to answer any questions. Thank you. You, Deputy Assistant director, jose perez. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to come to you be here today, to speak about eight important sexual explanation of children and traffi undeive responsibilities i have the violent prime program, and specifically today, the crimes against children program. We at the fbi have no more Important Mission than thly children. The work is a priority with all of our programs around the country. We cannot stop Human Trafficking alone so we have partnered with state federal and local Law Enforcement agencies as well as nongovernmental and nonprofit agencies on the front lines to ad angles and provide valuable victim assistance is one coordinated team. Human trafficking in person is a crime in which a person is exploited for labor, services or commercial acts, occurring in every region of the United States throughout the worl of actors frigid of criminals, or organizations. Often trafficking, with other criminal conduct, such asial crimes and narcotics trafficking, online Sexual Exploitation of children extortg of adults includes the recruitment and solicitation and transportation of a person for the purpose of commercial , facilitated through force, fraud, or coercion. Exploitation of a minor threes commercial is Human Trafficking and child drive trafficking does not need to be evolving any type of proofs physical force or proven. Harboring and transportation of a person, but for the purposes of objection for the forced labor or involuntary servitude. Labor traffic can be happening in any agriculture industry, construction, landscaping, factories and manufacturing. Traffickers come from a wide variety of backgrounds and demographic categories they are facilitated by criminal enterprises and transnational organizations. Criminal enterprises often operate in plain sight if they go undetected for decades. W enforcement. Victims do not leave their situations because they feel traffickers will have a distrust towards Law Enforcement. Where lack of understanding with the basic rights. Traffic can affect anybody regardless of age, race, or the city. Vulnerable possible nations are at higher risks. Traffickers can and will identify and exploit vulnerabilities, they often control victims resources, safeties, living and working conditions. Traffickers can Access Services that can exert power over their victims. The fbi investigates all forms of Human Trafficking including trial sets trafficking regardless of age or nationality. We cannotwe work with external partners, primarily National Center for exploited children, we have personnel installed to locate victims and help these victims and hold the subjects of victims. Ive defined trafficking schemes as well. We collaborate with these different entities working together to coordinate forensic interviews and medical exams, counseling and other services. Trafficking and Child Exploitation by working together with federal state and local partners. The fbi is more than 85 Child ExploitationHuman Trafficking past forces spread out 56 field offices consisting of hundreds of fbi agents and over 100 task forcofficers. It many positive results were witnessed. In los angeles, man was sent to life in prison for recruiting teenage girls and an adult for commercial work. The subject advise victims for a commercial website and facilitated responses to online advertisements by arranging in person victims. They victimize at least three minor girls and threats and coercion trafficking young adults, all for young profits. Human trafficking passports keynoted with the. We are looking to build more relationships to private organizations, and the problem is not contained. Each of the fbis 56 field offices receives regular complaints regarding Child Exploitation and human traf we are also part of the working groups aimed at executing the white houses National Action plan to combat Human Trafficking. We have a division devoted to victim services, integrating victims investigations. Members of the subcommittee, thank you for your support, in this round, thank you for so much to speak. Thank you mr. Perez. I will yield a moment, to blackburn, for her opening statement. I want to say before i do, that i have observed few members of the senate who have demonstrated a more sustained commitment to Child Protection and the prevention of child trafficking then sen. Blackburn. And we identified earlier in this congress that the prottion of the Vulnerable Children was the important priority that weve also collaborated on, the e Public Safety vacancies asked to empower local Law Enforcement with the resources they need and are now working to get rid of the report act, which, as you alluded to, empower the program to provide Law Enforcement agencies with foreign veteran information to prosecute online child exportation. I think blackburn, she will be collaborating with them, and i thanked her for her effort. Thank you for that. And the report act is scheduled to go on the hotline. And, it already has a house sponsor. I want to thank each of you for being here. And, mr. Chairman, thank you filling this out a little bit. Mr. Perez, i am so appreciated, and, we are doing this at a time that so many people of lost sight of how important it is to protect children until you say, how important it is, to go after these traffickers. And, they are out there. Did you know they exist. They are social media. And, they are trying to go vitally important part that we go after these traffickers. In these people that are making a profit off of most vulnerable amongst us. And, i know that the chairman knows, some of you may know, for the last several weeks, i have been trying to figure out and to subpoena the record for Jeffrey Epstein, to find out who was on the plane. I have beairman durbin has been continuing to block this, because Jeffrey Epstein had probably what is the most high profile six trafficking ring that we have ever seen. It was high profile, high dollar people, that was and, i do not know why that there is a pus. We need to have access to them. We need to know, who was on the plane. Who was participating . They rejected the records in the Delaine Maxwell trl. But, getting to the bottom of this is important. And as we talk about ting our children, and providing for them, and the role of the federal government in this, for goodness sakes, lets try to figure out what hhs has done with 85,000 migrant children. And where exactl trafficking that you talked about. I find it unconscionable that 85,000 children, we cannot find, its unconscionable that chairman durbin would have continued to block by request, the subpoena, of the flight logs. We appreciate so much that you are here tothese issues, thank you. Thank you sen. Blackburn and we will certainly ensure that our witnesses have the opportunity, to respond to those points. I want to begin, commissioner jones gaston discussing the role that hhs plays in protecting foster children across the country. The child abuse protection and treatment act requires Child Welfare agencies to have procedures to screen and investigate and reports of child abuse and requires the states to include child trafficking and their definition of abuse and neglect. How does hhs ensure that state Child Welfare agencies screened victims of child trafficking in practice . And not as a matter of policy on paper. The oversight, of Child Welfare agencies, across the country, for the agencies, receiving federal funds from the childrens , we have an oversight process called the child and Family Services review. That process is involving case review, data review and interviews with young people, community members, parent that are involved in the cases that are being reviewed. That is the primary mechanism for oversight in the longterm. States are also required to have a title 4 plan that they submit policies and procedures that they have been placing in that you follfederal law and regulation in those plans are reviewed and approved at the Childrens Bureau. I appreciate that. Where i want to bit further here having a plan for a policy document, on paper, it is an important start. If there are failures to implement those plans or policies. If it is policy without effective practice, then, the objective ensuring that Vulnerable Children are protected may not be achieved. Are there tools and statutes, or practices that hhs either has or lacks example, that this requirement that child abuse cases be and not screened out . Upon the report or allegation that these policies are implemented. There to ensure that these policies are incremented . When the requirement came out, that child abuse the cult of the out hotline, and efforts were made with providing federal persistence with jurisdiction to understand what the law is. And make plans for how they were going to implement the practice. Some required state legislative action some required action of the state level. Acf has the over arcing federal rules and regulations. Each state runs the Child Welfare system and has their definition of what child abuse and neglect are. I want to make sure that ear. Through the review that i spoke review. We have regional offices. They alter joint planning with agencies, in regards to how they are implementing the requirements that exist federally and Technical Assistance mechanisms that are available and provided to state agencies r workforce training ability to connect with others that have already made ch regards to those rules and regulations. And again, through the review process, if the issue gets raised up to us, the process of possibly doing partial reviews, we are going in and we are seeingthe case review process, if the federal rules and regulations are being followed and the actual practice on the ground. We will dig a little bit a moment. First, lets talk about children who were reported missing or to run away federal law recovers policies procedures in place which train children who were recovered after , and the purpose is to determine whether they were victims of trafficking and to provide appropriate services. 820 22 hhs Inspector General audit examining the recordd after going missing from care across five states found that in most cases reviewed there was no evidence that these children had received the required screening. My question for you is how does hhs work with states to comply with compliance with those requirements . The safety of children is our priority. And we are working very closely with our partners with the offense of trafficking. And we last year issued a information referendum that identify the requirements that exists but also resources for chafee. And Technical Assistance through the regional offices to ensure that they have the appropriate policies and practices in place. Identifying Technical Assistance and the development of the various success tools that they have and workclose partnership with our partners in regards to continuing to provide training and learning opportunities for the agencies that we serve. Lets talk about the program, and we will talk about the fbi as well. Care agencies are required to report children missing from care to the National Center for missing and exploited children as well as to the National Crime information nter. But, hhs oig audit from march 2023, reviewing data, collected from 46 state Child Welfare agencies across the country, found that 45 of the missing ilreview sample were never reported by states to neck back. So, how can hhs work with the state agencies to improve the compliance with the requirement that they are reporting program of children with care . Some of the mechanisms that we have done issuing the miranda rights and program guidthe requirements. Through the regional offices and during reviews, to make sure that the agencies have the appropriate processes in place and offering the Technical Assistance in areas that they identify that they need assistance improving practice with regards to their workforce. And again, working very closely with our partnersg and making sure that we are providing assistance, Technical Assistance, and awareness out to the of the tools that are available, and the stance that are available so they can be working on improving their practice. Lets talk about the medication of children, with foster care. To receive federal funding for Child Welfare services, states are required to have a plan for th