S. 4210 — Child Suicide Prevention Act

This section establishes a grant program administered by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, beginning not later than one year after enactment, under which the Secretary awards grants to eligible entities—including states, state or local health departments, health care professional membership organizations, hospitals serving youth, nonprofits, and institutions of higher education—to establish or expand programs implementing evidence-aligned practices in health care settings to reduce youth suicide rates. Grant recipients must use funds to train health care providers on (1) identifying at-risk youth using validated screening and risk assessment; (2) counseling youth and families on lethal means safety, including safe firearm storage; (3) youth suicide risk factors; (4) prevention, intervention, and post-suicide support; (5) racial/ethnic disparities by age and gender; (6) suicide methods and safety plans; (7) state and federal firearm laws and communication strategies; and (8) referral procedures; up to 15% of funds may provide secure gun storage or safety devices at reduced or no cost to residences with youth, accompanied by a community-needs-based strategy and counseling on device use. The Secretary must provide technical assistance to grantees and providers; grantees must submit annual reports through FY2030, which the Secretary will post publicly and summarize in a FY2030 report to Congress with recommendations; authorizes $20 million for FY2027 through FY2030.

This section establishes a grant program, to be administered by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) beginning not later than one year after enactment, under which eligible schools receive grants to develop and integrate suicide prevention and lethal means safety curricula (i.e., safe firearm storage, relevant laws, risk assessment, communication best practices, and postvention strategies, with an emphasis on covered individuals and those at high suicide risk) into their curricula and continuing education programs. Eligible schools include accredited medical and nursing schools; those with physician assistant, mental or behavioral health, or health care residency/fellowship programs; and other health education schools as determined by the Secretary. Grantees may partner with local health departments, professional associations, nonprofits, or institutions of higher education; HHS must provide technical assistance to applicants and grantees; grantees must submit annual reports through FY2030 (made public on the HHS website); and the Secretary must submit a summary report with recommendations to Congress by the end of FY2030. The section authorizes $10 million for FY2027 through FY2030.

This section directs the Secretary, not later than one year after the date of enactment, to develop and maintain a website informing covered individuals, their family members or guardians, schools educating health care providers, and health care providers on best practices for suicide prevention and firearms use in suicide attempts by covered individuals. The section requires updates to the website based on reports submitted under sections 2(g) and 3(f) and consultation with specified stakeholders (i.e., the website's target audiences, nonprofit organizations, professional associations deemed appropriate by the Secretary, local health departments, hospitals serving covered individuals, institutions of higher education, the Department of Veterans Affairs, federal firearms licensees and instructors, and others as determined by the Secretary).

This section defines terms for purposes of the Act as follows: (1) covered individual as an individual who has not attained 26 years of age; (2) covered risk factors as factors increasing the risk of suicide or self-harm for covered individuals (e.g., alcohol abuse or substance use disorder, sexual or physical abuse, psychiatric diagnoses associated with suicide risk, LGBTQ+ status, membership in racial or ethnic groups with high suicide rates, previous suicide attempts, family factors, or bullying); (3) institution of higher education as having the meaning given in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001) (i.e., public or nonprofit postsecondary institutions—including those awarding associate's degrees or providing gainful employment training—that admit only students with a high school diploma or equivalent, are state-authorized, and accredited or preaccredited); (4) Secretary as the Secretary of Health and Human Services; (5) secure gun storage or safety device as defined in 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(34)(A) and (B); and (6) State as each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, any U.S. territory or possession, Indian tribes and tribal organizations, urban Indian organizations, and Native Hawaiian organizations and health care systems.