Federal legislation mandates that States receiving Federal funding for child care programs under Title XX of the Social Security Act must have laws that require nationwide criminal record checks for employees of 'any facility having primary custody of children for 20 hours or more per week' and for all 'juvenile detention, correction or treatment facilities.' The Federal Child Abuse Amendments of 1984 require that States receiving funding under the act specify the reporting of out-of-home child abuse. State initiatives that address out-of-home child abuse include amendments to abuse reporting laws, mandatory screening of current and prospective child-care employees, and licensing sanctions. Two areas in need of substantial improvement are the interviewing of young children and troubled adolescents suspected of being abused and reducing the trauma of the administrative and judicial processes that may follow an abuse revelation. 19 footnotes.