; and (2) rely on evidence-based, efficient, and effective interventions in strategies and programs to support vulnerable children, promote permanent family care, and protect children from violence, exploitation, and abuse. 4. Assistance for children in adversity Section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 ( 22 U.S.C. 2152f ) is amended— (1) by adding at the end of subsection (a) the following: (10) Exposure to sexual, physical, and emotional violence, particularly when such exposure is repeated or chronic, can significantly affect a child’s brain development and function and cause life-long consequences, including poor mental health, hindered neurological development, slowed physical development, reduced learning, and risky health behavior, continuing cycles of poverty, and epigenetic consequences. (11) Child protection interventions can be lifesaving, especially in such critical circumstances as humanitarian responses, regions experiencing fragility, and conflict areas. (12) The Violence Against Children Surveys are critical tools in partnering with foreign governments to analyze violence against children and in creating action plans to address this violence and protect vulnerable children. ; (2) by adding at the end of subsection (b) the following: (6) Vulnerable children The term vulnerable children means children who are experiencing conditions of serious deprivation and danger, including those who— (A) are living outside of family care; (B) have been trafficked; (C) are experiencing violence; (D) are experiencing labor or sexual exploitation; (E) are affected by, or are emerging from, armed conflict or humanitarian crises; (F) have disabilities; (G) are orphans; or (H) are otherwise vulnerable, including because of HIV/AIDS, acute illness, or having been born prematurely. ; and (3) in subsection (c)— (A) in paragraph (6), by striking ; and and inserting a semicolon; (B) in paragraph (7), by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon