PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Jan 30, 2017
Caring Start Act of 2017
This bill amends the Head Start Act to require that, in providing and allocating resources for training and technical assistance, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) give priority consideration to activities that:
support the implementation of evidence-based trauma-informed practices, age-appropriate positive behavioral interventions and supports, early childhood mental health consultation, and prevention of suspension and expulsion; and
increase coordination between Head Start agencies and other programs that serve very young children.
Such assistance must also, to the maximum extent practicable, assist Head Start agencies in adopting evidence-based approaches to best identify and serve children whose experiences have elicited a toxic stress response. (Toxic stress response can result from strong or prolonged adversity without adequate adult support.)
HHS shall fund personnel training in:
evidence-based trauma-informed practices, as well as early childhood mental health consultation and age-appropriate positive behavioral interventions and supports; and
helping children who are victims of trauma or toxic stress.
People & committees
Rep. Clark, Katherine M. [D-MA-5] · D–MA
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Aug 11, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.737 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.737 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.737 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.737 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.