I think we can all agree the most heinous crimes are those perpetrated against our children, which is why the Pennsylvania Legislature has been diligently working over the past couple of years to enact stronger and better child protection measures.

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and earlier this month, I was recognized by the Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance for my active participation in the fight against child abuse.

Specifically, I was honored for my legislation (now law) designed to secure a reliable funding stream for the state's Child Advocacy Centers.

A CAC is essentially a one-stop-shop treatment program for abused children that brings together doctors, nurses, prosecutors, social workers and law enforcement.

This multidisciplinary approach gives abused children the best chance to recover and also provides the most effective way to gather evidence to bring perpetrators to justice.

There are currently more than 20 CACs in operation across the state.

Under the new law, I established a $10 fee increase for the cost of duplicate birth certificates to fund existing CACs, support the development of new CACs, train individuals mandated to report suspected child abuse and offset other child abuse-related costs.

The cost of a duplicate birth certificate is now $20. This minimal fee increase is estimated to raise approximately $2.86 million per year to help our state's abused children.

In addition, in an effort to further increase the effectiveness and efficiency of our child abuse prevention programs in Pennsylvania, I called for an in-depth study of child abuse and neglect prevention programs both in the commonwealth and across the country.

The goal of the study was to identify which state or federal programs are working and opportunities to integrate successful methods and approaches into Pennsylvania child abuse programs and policies.

Overall, I think Pennsylvania is doing very well in terms of child abuse and neglect prevention programs, but there is still more that can and should be done.

In 2013, 3,425 substantiated cases of child abuse were reported in this commonwealth, with 38 children dying as a result of abuse and neglect.

This study will help guide us in areas where perhaps we haven't focused on enough in the past in order to protect even more children.

The full study of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Programs in Pennsylvania is available on my website at julieharhart.com.

To further protect our state's children, the state House also passed a comprehensive package of bills last session that were signed into law.

These new laws make abusers pay the price, improve child abuse reporting and investigations, expand due process protections for those wrongly accused, share information to increase protection and strengthen prevention efforts.

Included in the package of new laws is one to strengthen the regulations regarding child abuse background clearance requirements in the commonwealth.

Under the new parameters, someone whose profession involves direct contact with children will be required to obtain both criminal background check clearances and child abuse clearances and to have those clearances recertified every three years.

These new background check clearance requirements for all employees went into effect Dec. 31, 2014.

If an existing employee already has obtained the required clearances prior to Dec. 31, 2014, then those clearances will be valid for three years from the time they were most recently certified.

If an existing employee's clearances are older than three years old, or if they never before obtained clearances but now will be required to get them, they have until Dec. 31, 2015, to obtain the clearances.

Volunteers who have resided in the commonwealth continuously for at least the past 10 years will be required to obtain only the state police criminal background check and the child abuse clearance.

In addition to these two clearances, volunteers residing in Pennsylvania for less than 10 years would also need to obtain an FBI criminal background check.

These requirements for volunteers will go into effect July 1, 2015. If these clearances were obtained prior to July 1, 2015, they will be valid for three years from the time they were most recently certified.

The new laws do not subject one-time volunteers, such as parents who visit school for a career day or as a guest reader, to these requirements.

To help individuals navigate the new rules, the Department of Human Services has launched a new website, KeepKidsSafe.pa.gov, with all the information clearly outlined.

The website also includes information about online training and providers, changes to the Child Protective Services Law and online ChildLine clearances with links to state police and FBI clearance applications, along with electronic reporting of child abuse suspicions.

Anyone with suspicions that a child is being abused should call the statewide ChildLine hotline at 1-800-932-0313.