PUBLIC LAW 112–275—JAN. 14, 2013 

PROTECT OUR KIDS ACT OF 2012 


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126 STAT. 2460 PUBLIC LAW 112–275—JAN. 14, 2013 

Public Law 112–275 

112th Congress 

An Act 

To establish a commission to develop a national strategy and recommendations 

for reducing fatalities resulting from child abuse and neglect. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. COMMISSION. 

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect our Kids Act of 2012’’. 

SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

Congress finds that— 

(1) deaths from child abuse and neglect are preventable; 

(2) deaths from child abuse and neglect are significantly 

underreported and there is no national standard for reporting 

such deaths; 

(3) according to the Child Maltreatment Report of 2011, 

in fiscal year 2011, 1,545 children in the United States are 

reported to have died from child abuse and neglect, and many 

experts believe that the actual number may be significantly 

more; 

(4) over 42 percent of the number of children in the United 

States who die from abuse are under the age of 1, and almost 

82 percent are under the age of 4; 

(5) of the children who died in fiscal year 2011, 70 percent 

suffered neglect either exclusively or in combination with 

another maltreatment type and 48 percent suffered physical 

abuse either exclusively or in combination; 

(6) increased understanding of deaths from child abuse 

and neglect can lead to improvement in agency systems and 

practices to protect children and prevent child abuse and 

neglect; and 

(7) Congress in recent years has taken a number of steps 

to reduce child fatalities from abuse and neglect, such as— 

(A) providing States with flexibility through the Child 

and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act of 

2011 to operate child welfare demonstration projects to 

test services focused on preventing abuse and neglect and 

ensuring that children remain safely in their own homes; 

(B) providing funding through the Child and Family 

Services Improvement Act of 2006 for services and activities 

to enhance the safety of children who are at risk of being 

placed in foster care as a result of a parent’s substance 

abuse; 

(C) providing funding through the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 

Protect our Kids 

Act of 2012. 

42 USC 1305 

note. 

Jan. 14, 2013 

[H.R. 6655] 


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PUBLIC LAW 112–275—JAN. 14, 2013 126 STAT. 2461 

for grants to facilitate activities such as family group 

decisionmaking meetings and residential family treatment 

programs to support parents in caring for their children; 

and 

(D) requiring States through the Child and Family 

Services Improvement and Innovation Act of 2011 to 

describe how they will improve the quality of data collected 

on fatalities from child abuse and neglect. 

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION. 

(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Commission to 

Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities (in this Act referred 

to as the ‘‘Commission’’). 

(b) MEMBERSHIP.— (1) COMPOSITION.— (A) MEMBERS.—The Commission shall be composed of 

12 members, of whom— 

(i) 6 shall be appointed by the President; 

(ii) 2 shall be appointed by the Speaker of the 

House of Representatives; 

(iii) 1 shall be appointed by the minority leader 

of the House of Representatives; 

(iv) 2 shall be appointed by the majority leader 

of the Senate; and 

(v) 1 shall be appointed by the minority leader 

of the Senate. 

(B) QUALIFICATIONS.—Each member appointed under 

subparagraph (A) shall have experience in one or more 

of the following areas: 

(i) child welfare administration; 

(ii) child welfare research; 

(iii) child development; 

(iv) legislation, including legislation involving child 

welfare matters; 

(v) trauma and crisis intervention; 

(vi) pediatrics; 

(vii) psychology and mental health; 

(viii) emergency medicine; 

(ix) forensic pathology or medical investigation of 

injury and fatality; 

(x) social work with field experience; 

(xi) academia at an institution of higher education, 

as that term is defined in section 101 of the Higher 

Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001), with a focus 

on one or more of the other areas listed under this 

subparagraph; 

(xii) law enforcement, with experience handling 

child abuse and neglect matters; 

(xiii) civil law, with experience handling child 

abuse and neglect matters; 

(xiv) criminal law, with experience handling child 

abuse and neglect matters; 

(xv) substance abuse treatment; 

(xvi) education at an elementary school or secondary school, as those terms are defined in section 

9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801); 

President. 

Appointments. 


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126 STAT. 2462 PUBLIC LAW 112–275—JAN. 14, 2013 

(xvii) epidemiology; and 

(xviii) computer science or software engineering 

with a background in interoperability standards. 

(C) DIVERSITY OF QUALIFICATIONS.—In making appointments to the Commission under subparagraph (A), the 

President and the congressional leaders shall make every 

effort to select individuals whose qualifications are not 

already represented by other members of the Commission. 

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

Commission shall be made not later than 90 days after the 

date of enactment of this Act. 

(c) PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT; VACANCIES.—Members shall be 

appointed for the life of the Commission. Any vacancy in the 

Commission shall not affect its powers, but shall be filled in the 

same manner as the original appointment. 

(d) INITIAL MEETING.—Not later than 60 days after the date 

on which a majority of the members of the Commission have been 

appointed, the Commission shall hold its first meeting. 

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

Chairperson. 

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

shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser number of members may 

hold hearings. 

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

for the Commission from among its members. 

SEC. 4. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION. 

(a) STUDY.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall conduct a thorough 

study on the use of child protective services and child welfare 

services funded under title IV and subtitle A of title XX of 

the Social Security Act to reduce fatalities from child abuse 

and neglect. 

(2) MATTERS STUDIED.—The matters studied by the 

Commission shall include— 

(A) the effectiveness of the services described in paragraph (1) and best practices in preventing child and youth 

fatalities that are intentionally caused or that occur due 

to negligence, neglect, or a failure to exercise proper care; 

(B) the effectiveness of Federal, State, and local policies 

and systems within such services aimed at collecting 

accurate, uniform data on child fatalities in a coordinated 

fashion, including the identification of the most and least 

effective policies and systems in practice; 

(C) the current (as of the date of the study) barriers 

to preventing fatalities from child abuse and neglect, and 

how to improve efficiency to improve child welfare outcomes; 

(D) trends in demographic and other risk factors that 

are predictive of or correlated with child maltreatment, 

such as age of the child, child behavior, family structure, 

parental stress, and poverty; 

(E) methods of prioritizing child abuse and neglect 

prevention within such services for families with the 

highest need; and 

President. 

Deadline. 

Deadline. 

President. 

Congress. 


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PUBLIC LAW 112–275—JAN. 14, 2013 126 STAT. 2463 

(F) methods of improving data collection and utilization, such as increasing interoperability among State and 

local and other data systems. 

(3) MATERIALS STUDIED.—The Commission shall review— 

(A) all current (as of the date of the study) research 

and documentation, including the National Survey of Child 

and Adolescent Well-Being and research and recommendations from the Government Accountability Office, to identify 

lessons, solutions, and needed improvements related to 

reducing fatalities from child abuse and neglect; and 

(B) recommendations from the Advisory Board on Child 

Abuse and Neglect. 

(b) COORDINATION.—The Commission shall provide opportunities for graduate and doctoral students to coordinate research with 

the Commission. 

(c) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Commission shall— 

(1) develop recommendations to reduce fatalities from child 

abuse and neglect for Federal, State, and local agencies, and 

private sector and nonprofit organizations, including recommendations to implement a comprehensive national strategy 

for such purpose; and 

(2) develop guidelines for the type of information that 

should be tracked to improve interventions to prevent fatalities 

from child abuse and neglect. 

(d) REPORT.— 

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

on which a majority of the members of the Commission have 

been appointed, the Commission shall submit a report to the 

President and Congress, which shall contain a detailed statement of the findings and conclusions of the Commission, 

together with its recommendations for such legislation and 

administrative actions as it considers appropriate. 

(2) EXTENSION.—The President may extend the date on 

which the report described in paragraph (1) shall be submitted 

by an additional 1 year. 

(3) ONLINE ACCESS.—The Commission shall make the 

report under paragraph (1) available on the publicly available 

Internet Web site of the Department of Health and Human 

Services. 

SEC. 5. POWERS OF THE COMMISSION. 

(a) HEARINGS.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission may hold such hearings, 

sit and act at such times and places, take such testimony, 

and receive such evidence as the Commission considers advisable to carry out this Act. 

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

(1) shall include— 

(A) areas with high fatality rates from child abuse 

and neglect; and 

(B) areas that have shown a decrease in fatalities 

from child abuse and neglect. 

(3) SUBJECT.—The Commission shall hold hearings under 

paragraph (1)— 

(A) to examine the Federal, State, and local policies 

and available resources that affect fatalities from child 

abuse and neglect; and 

Public 

information. 

Web posting. 

Guidelines. 

Review. 


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126 STAT. 2464 PUBLIC LAW 112–275—JAN. 14, 2013 

(B) to explore the matters studied under section 4(a)(2). 

(b) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.—The Commission 

may secure directly from any Federal department or agency such 

information as the Commission considers necessary to carry out 

this Act. Upon request of the Chairperson of the Commission, 

the head of such department or agency shall furnish such information to the Commission. 

(c) POSTAL SERVICES.—The Commission may use the United 

States mails in the same manner and under the same conditions 

as other departments and agencies of the Federal Government. 

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

gifts or donations of services or property. 

SEC. 6. COMMISSION PERSONNEL MATTERS. 

(a) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—The members of the Commission shall 

be allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, 

at rates authorized for employees of agencies under subchapter 

I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code, while away from 

their homes or regular places of business in the performance of 

services for the Commission. 

(b) STAFF.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—The Chairperson of the Commission may, 

without regard to the civil service laws and regulations, appoint 

and terminate an executive director and such other additional 

personnel as may be necessary to enable the Commission to 

perform its duties. The employment of an executive director 

shall be subject to confirmation by the Commission. 

(2) COMPENSATION.—The Chairperson of the Commission 

may fix the compensation of the executive director and other 

personnel without regard to chapter 51 and subchapter III 

of chapter 53 of title 5, United States Code, relating to classification of positions and General Schedule pay rates, except 

that the rate of pay for the executive director and other personnel may not exceed the rate payable for level V of the 

Executive Schedule under section 5316 of such title. 

(c) DETAIL OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.—At the discretion of 

the relevant agency, any Federal Government employee may be 

detailed to the Commission without reimbursement, and such detail 

shall be without interruption or loss of civil service status or privilege. 

(d) PROCUREMENT OF TEMPORARY AND INTERMITTENT SERVICES.—The Chairperson of the Commission may procure temporary 

and intermittent services under section 3109(b) of title 5, United 

States Code, at rates for individuals that do not exceed the daily 

equivalent of the annual rate of basic pay prescribed for level 

V of the Executive Schedule under section 5316 of such title. 

SEC. 7. TERMINATION OF THE COMMISSION. 

The Commission shall terminate on the earlier of— 

(1) the 30th day after the date on which the Commission 

submits its report under section 4(d); or 

(2) the date that is 3 years after the initial meeting under 

section 3(d). 

SEC. 8. FEDERAL AGENCY RESPONSE. 

Not later than 6 months after the submission of the report 

required under section 4(d), any Federal agency that is affected 

Deadline. 

Reports. 


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PUBLIC LAW 112–275—JAN. 14, 2013 126 STAT. 2465 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—H.R. 6655: 

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD: 

Vol. 158 (2012): Dec. 19, considered and passed House. 

Vol. 158 (2013): Jan. 2, considered and passed Senate. 

Æ 

by a recommendation described in the report shall submit to Congress a report containing the response of the Federal agency to 

the recommendation and the plans of the Federal agency to address 

the recommendation. 

SEC. 9. ADJUSTMENT TO THE TANF CONTINGENCY FUND FOR STATE 

WELFARE PROGRAMS. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 403(b)(2) of the Social Security Act 

(42 U.S.C. 603(b)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘for fiscal years 2011 

and 2012’’ and all that follows through the end of the paragraph 

and inserting ‘‘for fiscal years 2013 and 2014 such sums as are 

necessary for payment to the Fund in a total amount not to exceed 

$612,000,000 for each fiscal year, of which $2,000,000 shall be 

reserved for carrying out the activities of the commission established 

by the Protect our Kids Act of 2012 to reduce fatalities resulting 

from child abuse and neglect.’’ 

(b) PREVENTION OF DUPLICATE APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL

YEAR 2013.—Expenditures made pursuant to section 148 of the 

Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013, for fiscal year 2013, 

shall be charged to the applicable appropriation provided by the 

amendments made by this section for such fiscal year. 

Approved January 14, 2013. 


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