I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3653 

To establish a commission to develop a national strategy and recommendations 

for reducing fatalities resulting from child abuse and neglect. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 13, 2011 

Mr. DOGGETT (for himself, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. STARK, 

Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. NEAL, Mr. 

RANGEL, and Mr. BECERRA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To establish a commission to develop a national strategy 

and recommendations for reducing fatalities resulting 

from child abuse and neglect. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. COMMISSION. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect our Kids Act 

5 of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) deaths from child abuse and neglect are 

9 preventable; 


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1 (2) deaths from child abuse and neglect are sig2 nificantly underreported and there is no national 

3 standard for reporting such deaths; 

4 (3) according to the National Child Abuse and 

5 Neglect Data System, in fiscal year 2009 approxi6 mately 1,770 children in the United States are re7 ported to have died from child abuse and neglect, 

8 and many experts believe that the actual number 

9 may be significantly more; 

10 (4) nearly half of the number of children in the 

11 United States who die from abuse are under the age 

12 of 1, and more than 80 percent are under the age 

13 of 4; 

14 (5) in 2009, child neglect accounted for nearly 

15 36 percent of fatalities and physical abuse for 23 

16 percent, and over 36 percent of these fatalities were 

17 caused by multiple forms of maltreatment; 

18 (6) each year approximately 6,000,000 children 

19 in the United States are referred to child protective 

20 services because of allegations of potential abuse or 

21 neglect; and 

22 (7) increased understanding of deaths from 

23 child abuse and neglect can lead to improvement in 

24 agency systems and practices to protect children and 

25 prevent child abuse and neglect. 


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1 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION. 

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Com3 mission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities 

4 (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’). 

5 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 

6 (1) COMPOSITION.— 

7 (A) NUMBER.—The Commission shall be 

8 composed of not fewer than 12 and not more 

9 than 15 members, all of whom shall be ap10 pointed by the President. 

11 (B) QUALIFICATIONS.—Each member ap12 pointed under subparagraph (A) shall have ex13 perience in 1 or more areas consisting of— 

14 (i) State child welfare agency adminis15 tration; 

16 (ii) child welfare advocacy; 

17 (iii) child development; 

18 (iv) trauma and crisis intervention; 

19 (v) pediatrics; 

20 (vi) child psychology and mental 

21 health; 

22 (vii) emergency medicine; 

23 (viii) forensic pathology or medical in24 vestigation of injury and fatality; 

25 (ix) social work with field experience; 


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1 (x) academia at an institution of high2 er education, as that term is defined in 

3 section 101 of the Higher Education Act 

4 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001), with a focus on 

5 1 or more of the other areas listed under 

6 this subparagraph; 

7 (xi) law enforcement, with experience 

8 handling child abuse and neglect matters; 

9 (xii) civil law, with experience han10 dling child abuse and neglect matters; 

11 (xiii) criminal law, with experience 

12 handling child abuse and neglect matters; 

13 (xiv) substance abuse treatment; 

14 (xv) education at an elementary school 

15 or secondary school, as those terms are de16 fined in section 9101 of the Elementary 

17 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

18 U.S.C. 7801); 

19 (xvi) epidemiology; and 

20 (xvii) computer science or software 

21 engineering with a background in inter22 operability standards. 

23 (C) EXPERIENCE.—The Commission shall 

24 have 1 or more members with experience in 

25 each of the areas listed in subparagraph (B). 


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1 (2) DATE.—The appointments of the members 

2 of the Commission shall be made not later than 90 

3 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 

4 (c) PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT; VACANCIES.—Mem5 bers shall be appointed for the life of the Commission. Any 

6 vacancy in the Commission shall not affect its powers, but 

7 shall be filled in the same manner as the original appoint8 ment. 

9 (d) INITIAL MEETING.—Not later than 30 days after 

10 the date on which all members of the Commission have 

11 been appointed, the Commission shall hold its first meet12 ing. 

13 (e) MEETINGS.—The Commission shall meet at the 

14 call of the Chairperson. 

15 (f) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of the 

16 Commission shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser num17 ber of members may hold hearings. 

18 (g) CHAIRPERSON.—The President shall select a 

19 Chairperson for the Commission from among its members. 

20 SEC. 4. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION. 

21 (a) STUDY.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall con23 duct a thorough study on reducing fatalities from 

24 child abuse and neglect. 


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1 (2) MATTERS STUDIED.—The matters studied 

2 by the Commission shall include— 

3 (A) the incidence of fatalities from child 

4 abuse and neglect in the United States and 

5 whether that incidence has been increasing over 

6 time; 

7 (B) the feasibility of establishing a system 

8 that accurately records incidents of child abuse 

9 and neglect; 

10 (C) practices that can prevent fatalities 

11 from child abuse and neglect; 

12 (D) the role of parental substance abuse, 

13 parental mental health issues, and domestic vio14 lence in increasing the incidence of child abuse 

15 and neglect; 

16 (E) the adequacy and effectiveness of pro17 grams, including child health services, mental 

18 health services, child protective services, child 

19 welfare services, education, child care, juvenile 

20 justice services, and law enforcement activities, 

21 designed to identify and prevent child (includes 

22 youth) fatalities that are intentionally caused or 

23 that occur due to negligence, neglect, or a fail24 ure to exercise proper care; 


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1 (F) the effectiveness of Federal, State, and 

2 local policies and systems aimed at appro3 priately identifying and collecting accurate, uni4 form data on child fatalities in a coordinated 

5 fashion, including the identification of the most 

6 and least effective policies and systems in prac7 tice; 

8 (G) the adequacy of Federal, State, and 

9 local efforts to obtain an appropriate distribu10 tion of properly trained child health services, 

11 mental health services, child protective services, 

12 child welfare services, education, child care, ju13 venile justice services, and law enforcement per14 sonnel to identify and prevent child fatalities; 

15 (H) the current (as of the date of the 

16 study) resource limitations and barriers to pre17 venting fatalities from child abuse and neglect, 

18 and how to improve efficiency of use of those 

19 current resources to improve child welfare out20 comes; 

21 (I) identification of best practices in evalu22 ating programs for effectiveness in preventing 

23 child abuse and neglect and fatalities from child 

24 abuse and neglect; 


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1 (J) methods of prioritizing child abuse and 

2 neglect prevention services for families with the 

3 highest need, including exploring prioritization 

4 based on risk factors beyond poverty; 

5 (K) the correlation between animal abuse 

6 and child abuse, including whether additional 

7 research and policy changes could better ad8 dress that correlation and whether there are 

9 warning signs that animal abuse may escalate 

10 to child abuse; 

11 (L) methods of improving data collection 

12 and utilization, such as increasing interoper13 ability among State and local systems and using 

14 other effective and financially feasible ap15 proaches; 

16 (M) identification of best practices and 

17 models for promoting child welfare, specifically 

18 addressing child abuse and neglect; 

19 (N) identification of requirements and na20 tional standards for training and education for 

21 child welfare workers; 

22 (O) the potential impact of a Federal law 

23 mandating the review of fatalities of children; 

24 (P) the development of a model protocol 

25 for assuring that civil and criminal legal proVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:06 Dec 20, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3653.IH H3653

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1 ceedings are closely coordinated between child 

2 protection and law enforcement agencies, in3 cluding coordination between law enforcement 

4 personnel, child protection services personnel, 

5 prosecutors, medical providers, victim advo6 cates, and mental health professionals; 

7 (Q) the potential effectiveness of a tar8 geted public education campaign focused on 

9 community involvement to reduce child abuse 

10 and neglect; 

11 (R) possible modifications to confidentiality 

12 laws that would increase access to information 

13 and better protect child victims; 

14 (S) examination of public and private mod15 els for improving child welfare outcomes, in16 cluding suggestions for expanding the most ef17 fective approaches; 

18 (T) examination of sources for available 

19 data beyond fatalities, such as data on serious 

20 injuries and ‘‘near misses’’; 

21 (U) development of guidelines for the type 

22 of instances that should be tracked to improve 

23 child welfare response and interventions to pre24 vent fatalities from child abuse and neglect; and 


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1 (V) consideration of past recommendations 

2 from the Advisory Board on Child Abuse and 

3 Neglect, including updates on those rec4 ommendations. 

5 (3) MATERIALS STUDIED.—The Commission 

6 shall review all current (as of the date of the study) 

7 research and documentation, including the National 

8 Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being and re9 search and recommendations from Government Ac10 countability Office, to identify lessons, solutions, and 

11 needed improvements related to reducing fatalities 

12 from child abuse and neglect. 

13 (b) COORDINATION.—The Commission shall— 

14 (1) provide opportunities for graduate and doc15 toral students to coordinate research with the Com16 mission; and 

17 (2) coordinate with institutions of higher edu18 cation, as defined in section 101 of the Higher Edu19 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001), interested in 

20 supporting the work of the Commission. 

21 (c) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Commission shall de22 velop recommendations for Federal, State, and local agen23 cies, and private sector and nonprofit organizations to im24 plement a comprehensive national strategy that reduces 

25 fatalities from child abuse and neglect. 


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1 (d) REPORT.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after 

3 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commis4 sion shall submit a report to the President and Con5 gress, which shall contain a detailed statement of 

6 the findings and conclusions of the Commission, to7 gether with its recommendations for such legislation 

8 and administrative actions as it considers appro9 priate. 

10 (2) ONLINE ACCESS.—The Commission shall 

11 make the report under paragraph (1) available on 

12 the publicly available Internet website of the Depart13 ment of Health and Human Services. 

14 SEC. 5. POWERS OF THE COMMISSION. 

15 (a) HEARINGS.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission may hold 

17 such hearings, sit and act at such times and places, 

18 take such testimony, and receive such evidence as 

19 the Commission considers advisable to carry out this 

20 Act. 

21 (2) LOCATION.—The location of hearings under 

22 paragraph (1) shall include— 

23 (A) areas with high fatality rates from 

24 child abuse and neglect; and 


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1 (B) areas that have shown a decrease in 

2 fatalities from child abuse and neglect. 

3 (3) SUBJECT.—The Commission shall hold 

4 hearings under paragraph (1)— 

5 (A) to examine the Federal, State, and 

6 local policies and available resources that affect 

7 fatalities from child abuse and neglect; and 

8 (B) to explore the matters studied under 

9 section 4(a)(2). 

10 (b) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.—The 

11 Commission may secure directly from any Federal depart12 ment or agency such information as the Commission con13 siders necessary to carry out this Act. Upon request of 

14 the Chairperson of the Commission, the head of such de15 partment or agency shall furnish such information to the 

16 Commission. 

17 (c) POSTAL SERVICES.—The Commission may use 

18 the United States mails in the same manner and under 

19 the same conditions as other departments and agencies of 

20 the Federal Government. 

21 (d) GIFTS.—The Commission may accept, use, and 

22 dispose of gifts or donations of services or property. 

23 SEC. 6. COMMISSION PERSONNEL MATTERS. 

24 (a) COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS.—Each member of 

25 the Commission who is not an officer or employee of the 


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1 Federal Government shall be compensated at a rate equal 

2 to the daily equivalent of the annual rate of basic pay pre3 scribed for level IV of the Executive Schedule under sec4 tion 5315 of title 5, United States Code, for each day (in5 cluding travel time) during which such member is engaged 

6 in the performance of the duties of the Commission. All 

7 members of the Commission who are officers or employees 

8 of the United States shall serve without compensation in 

9 addition to that received for their services as officers or 

10 employees of the United States. 

11 (b) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—The members of the Com12 mission shall be allowed travel expenses, including per 

13 diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized for employ14 ees of agencies under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 

15 5, United States Code, while away from their homes or 

16 regular places of business in the performance of services 

17 for the Commission. 

18 (c) STAFF.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Chairperson of the 

20 Commission may, without regard to the civil service 

21 laws and regulations, appoint and terminate an exec22 utive director and such other additional personnel as 

23 may be necessary to enable the Commission to per24 form its duties. The employment of an executive diVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:06 Dec 20, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3653.IH H3653

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1 rector shall be subject to confirmation by the Com2 mission. 

3 (2) COMPENSATION.—The Chairperson of the 

4 Commission may fix the compensation of the execu5 tive director and other personnel without regard to 

6 chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of title 

7 5, United States Code, relating to classification of 

8 positions and General Schedule pay rates, except 

9 that the rate of pay for the executive director and 

10 other personnel may not exceed the rate payable for 

11 level V of the Executive Schedule under section 5316 

12 of such title. 

13 (d) DETAIL OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.—Any 

14 Federal Government employee may be detailed to the 

15 Commission without reimbursement, and such detail shall 

16 be without interruption or loss of civil service status or 

17 privilege. 

18 (e) PROCUREMENT OF TEMPORARY AND INTERMIT19 TENT SERVICES.—The Chairperson of the Commission 

20 may procure temporary and intermittent services under 

21 section 3109(b) of title 5, United States Code, at rates 

22 for individuals that do not exceed the daily equivalent of 

23 the annual rate of basic pay prescribed for level V of the 

24 Executive Schedule under section 5316 of such title. 


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1 SEC. 7. TERMINATION OF THE COMMISSION. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall terminate 

3 on the earlier of— 

4 (1) the 90th day after the date on which the 

5 Commission submits its report under section 4(d); or 

6 (2) the day that is 3 years after the initial 

7 meeting under section 3(d). 

8 (b) EXCEPTION.—The President may extend the ter9 mination date under subsection (a)(2) by an additional 1 

10 year. 

11 SEC. 8. FEDERAL AGENCY RESPONSE. 

12 Not later than 6 months after the submission of the 

13 report required under section 4(d), any Federal agency 

14 that is affected by a recommendation described in the re15 port shall submit to Congress a report containing the re16 sponse of the Federal agency to the recommendation and 

17 the plans of the Federal agency to address the rec18 ommendation. 

19 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro21 priated $2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2012 through 

22 2014 to the Commission to carry out this Act. 

23 (b) AVAILABILITY.—Any sums appropriated under 

24 the authorization contained in this section shall remain 

25 available, without fiscal year limitation, until expended. 

Æ 


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