II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3705 

To establish a commission to develop a national strategy and recommendations 

for reducing fatalities resulting from child abuse and neglect. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 21, 2012 

Mr. BAUCUS (for himself, Mr. KERRY, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. CARDIN, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Ms. SNOWE, and Mr. CONRAD) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

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. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 of 2012’’. 

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 Child Maltreatment Report 

5 of 2011, in fiscal year 2011, 1,545 children in the 

6 United States are reported to have died from child 

7 abuse and neglect, and many experts believe that the 

8 actual number may be significantly more; 

9 (4) over 42 percent of the number of children 

10 in the United States who die from abuse are under 

11 the age of 1, and almost 82 percent are under the 

12 age of 4; 

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

14 70 percent suffered neglect either exclusively or in 

15 combination with another maltreatment type and 48 

16 percent suffered physical abuse either exclusively or 

17 in combination; 

18 (6) increased understanding of deaths from 

19 child abuse and neglect can lead to improvement in 

20 agency systems and practices to protect children and 

21 prevent child abuse and neglect; and 

22 (7) Congress in recent years has taken a num23 ber of steps to reduce child fatalities from abuse and 

24 neglect, such as— 


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1 (A) providing States with flexibility 

2 through the Child and Family Services Im3 provement and Innovation Act of 2011 to oper4 ate child welfare demonstration projects to test 

5 services focused on preventing abuse and ne6 glect and ensuring that children remain safely 

7 in their own homes; 

8 (B) providing funding through the Child 

9 and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006 

10 for services and activities to enhance the safety 

11 of children who are at risk of being placed in 

12 foster care as a result of a parent’s substance 

13 abuse; 

14 (C) providing funding through the Fos15 tering Connections to Success and Increasing 

16 Adoptions Act of 2008 for grants to facilitate 

17 activities such as family group decisionmaking 

18 meetings and residential family treatment pro19 grams to support parents in caring for their 

20 children; and 

21 (D) requiring States through the Child and 

22 Family Services Improvement and Innovation 

23 Act of 2011 to describe how they will improve 

24 the quality of data collected on fatalities from 

25 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) MEMBERS.—The Commission shall be 

8 composed of 12 members, of whom— 

9 (i) 6 shall be appointed by the Presi10 dent; 

11 (ii) 2 shall be appointed by the Speak12 er of the House of Representatives; 

13 (iii) 1 shall be appointed by the mi14 nority leader of the House of Representa15 tives; 

16 (iv) 2 shall be appointed by the major17 ity leader of the Senate; and 

18 (v) 1 shall be appointed by the minor19 ity leader of the Senate. 

20 (B) QUALIFICATIONS.—Each member ap21 pointed under subparagraph (A) shall have ex22 perience in one or more of the following areas: 

23 (i) child welfare administration; 

24 (ii) child welfare research; 

25 (iii) child development; 


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1 (iv) legislation, including legislation 

2 involving child welfare matters; 

3 (v) trauma and crisis intervention; 

4 (vi) pediatrics; 

5 (vii) psychology and mental health; 

6 (viii) emergency medicine; 

7 (ix) forensic pathology or medical in8 vestigation of injury and fatality; 

9 (x) social work with field experience; 

10 (xi) academia at an institution of 

11 higher education, as that term is defined in 

12 section 101 of the Higher Education Act 

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

14 one or more of the other areas listed under 

15 this subparagraph; 

16 (xii) law enforcement, with experience 

17 handling child abuse and neglect matters; 

18 (xiii) civil law, with experience han19 dling child abuse and neglect matters; 

20 (xiv) criminal law, with experience 

21 handling child abuse and neglect matters; 

22 (xv) substance abuse treatment; 

23 (xvi) education at an elementary 

24 school or secondary school, as those terms 

25 are defined in section 9101 of the ElemenVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:23 Dec 29, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3705.IS S3705

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1 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

2 (20 U.S.C. 7801); 

3 (xvii) epidemiology; and 

4 (xviii) computer science or software 

5 engineering with a background in inter6 operability standards. 

7 (C) DIVERSITY OF QUALIFICATIONS.—In 

8 making appointments to the Commission under 

9 subparagraph (A), the President and the con10 gressional leaders shall make every effort to se11 lect individuals whose qualifications are not al12 ready represented by other members of the 

13 Commission. 

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

15 of the Commission shall be made not later than 90 

16 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 

17 (c) PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT; VACANCIES.—Mem18 bers shall be appointed for the life of the Commission. Any 

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

20 shall be filled in the same manner as the original appoint21 ment. 

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

23 the date on which a majority of the members of the Com24 mission have been appointed, the Commission shall hold 

25 its first meeting. 


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

2 call of the Chairperson. 

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

4 Commission shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser num5 ber of members may hold hearings. 

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

7 Chairperson for the Commission from among its members. 

8 SEC. 4. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION. 

9 (a) STUDY.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall con11 duct a thorough study on the use of child protective 

12 services and child welfare services funded under title 

13 IV and subtitle A of title XX of the Social Security 

14 Act to reduce fatalities from child abuse and neglect. 

15 (2) MATTERS STUDIED.—The matters studied 

16 by the Commission shall include— 

17 (A) the effectiveness of the services de18 scribed in paragraph (1) and best practices in 

19 preventing child and youth fatalities that are 

20 intentionally caused or that occur due to neg21 ligence, neglect, or a failure to exercise proper 

22 care; 

23 (B) the effectiveness of Federal, State, and 

24 local policies and systems within such services 

25 aimed at collecting accurate, uniform data on 


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1 child fatalities in a coordinated fashion, includ2 ing the identification of the most and least ef3 fective policies and systems in practice; 

4 (C) the current (as of the date of the 

5 study) barriers to preventing fatalities from 

6 child abuse and neglect, and how to improve ef7 ficiency to improve child welfare outcomes; 

8 (D) trends in demographic and other risk 

9 factors that are predictive of or correlated with 

10 child maltreatment, such as age of the child, 

11 child behavior, family structure, parental stress, 

12 and poverty; 

13 (E) methods of prioritizing child abuse and 

14 neglect prevention within such services for fami15 lies with the highest need; and 

16 (F) methods of improving data collection 

17 and utilization, such as increasing interoper18 ability among State and local and other data 

19 systems. 

20 (3) MATERIALS STUDIED.—The Commission 

21 shall review— 

22 (A) all current (as of the date of the 

23 study) research and documentation, including 

24 the National Survey of Child and Adolescent 

25 Well-Being and research and recommendations 


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1 from the Government Accountability Office, to 

2 identify lessons, solutions, and needed improve3 ments related to reducing fatalities from child 

4 abuse and neglect; and 

5 (B) recommendations from the Advisory 

6 Board on Child Abuse and Neglect. 

7 (b) COORDINATION.—The Commission shall provide 

8 opportunities for graduate and doctoral students to coordi9 nate research with the Commission. 

10 (c) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Commission shall— 

11 (1) develop recommendations to reduce fatali12 ties from child abuse and neglect for Federal, State, 

13 and local agencies, and private sector and nonprofit 

14 organizations, including recommendations to imple15 ment a comprehensive national strategy for such 

16 purpose; and 

17 (2) develop guidelines for the type of informa18 tion that should be tracked to improve interventions 

19 to prevent fatalities from child abuse and neglect. 

20 (d) REPORT.— 

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

22 the date on which a majority of the members of the 

23 Commission have been appointed, the Commission 

24 shall submit a report to the President and Congress, 

25 which shall contain a detailed statement of the findVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:23 Dec 29, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3705.IS S3705

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1 ings and conclusions of the Commission, together 

2 with its recommendations for such legislation and 

3 administrative actions as it considers appropriate. 

4 (2) EXTENSION.—The President may extend 

5 the date on which the report described in paragraph 

6 (1) shall be submitted by an additional 1 year. 

7 (3) ONLINE ACCESS.—The Commission shall 

8 make the report under paragraph (1) available on 

9 the publicly available Internet Web site of the De10 partment of Health and Human Services. 

11 SEC. 5. POWERS OF THE COMMISSION. 

12 (a) HEARINGS.— 

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

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

15 take such testimony, and receive such evidence as 

16 the Commission considers advisable to carry out this 

17 Act. 

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

19 paragraph (1) shall include— 

20 (A) areas with high fatality rates from 

21 child abuse and neglect; and 

22 (B) areas that have shown a decrease in 

23 fatalities from child abuse and neglect. 

24 (3) SUBJECT.—The Commission shall hold 

25 hearings under paragraph (1)— 


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

2 local policies and available resources that affect 

3 fatalities from child abuse and neglect; and 

4 (B) to explore the matters studied under 

5 section 4(a)(2). 

6 (b) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.—The 

7 Commission may secure directly from any Federal depart8 ment or agency such information as the Commission con9 siders necessary to carry out this Act. Upon request of 

10 the Chairperson of the Commission, the head of such de11 partment or agency shall furnish such information to the 

12 Commission. 

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

14 the United States mails in the same manner and under 

15 the same conditions as other departments and agencies of 

16 the Federal Government. 

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

18 dispose of gifts or donations of services or property. 

19 SEC. 6. COMMISSION PERSONNEL MATTERS. 

20 (a) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—The members of the Com21 mission shall be allowed travel expenses, including per 

22 diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized for employ23 ees of agencies under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 

24 5, United States Code, while away from their homes or 


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1 regular places of business in the performance of services 

2 for the Commission. 

3 (b) STAFF.— 

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

5 Commission may, without regard to the civil service 

6 laws and regulations, appoint and terminate an exec7 utive director and such other additional personnel as 

8 may be necessary to enable the Commission to per9 form its duties. The employment of an executive di10 rector shall be subject to confirmation by the Com11 mission. 

12 (2) COMPENSATION.—The Chairperson of the 

13 Commission may fix the compensation of the execu14 tive director and other personnel without regard to 

15 chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of title 

16 5, United States Code, relating to classification of 

17 positions and General Schedule pay rates, except 

18 that the rate of pay for the executive director and 

19 other personnel may not exceed the rate payable for 

20 level V of the Executive Schedule under section 5316 

21 of such title. 

22 (c) DETAIL OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.—At the 

23 discretion of the relevant agency, any Federal Government 

24 employee may be detailed to the Commission without reimVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:23 Dec 29, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3705.IS S3705

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1 bursement, and such detail shall be without interruption 

2 or loss of civil service status or privilege. 

3 (d) PROCUREMENT OF TEMPORARY AND INTERMIT4 TENT SERVICES.—The Chairperson of the Commission 

5 may procure temporary and intermittent services under 

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

7 for individuals that do not exceed the daily equivalent of 

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

9 Executive Schedule under section 5316 of such title. 

10 SEC. 7. TERMINATION OF THE COMMISSION. 

11 The Commission shall terminate on the earlier of— 

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

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

14 (2) the date that is 3 years after the initial 

15 meeting under section 3(d). 

16 SEC. 8. FEDERAL AGENCY RESPONSE. 

17 Not later than 6 months after the submission of the 

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

19 that is affected by a recommendation described in the re20 port shall submit to Congress a report containing the re21 sponse of the Federal agency to the recommendation and 

22 the plans of the Federal agency to address the rec23 ommendation. 


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1 SEC. 9. ADJUSTMENT TO THE TANF CONTINGENCY FUND 

2 FOR STATE WELFARE PROGRAMS. 

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

4 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 603(b)(2)) is amended by striking 

5 ‘‘for fiscal years 2011 and 2012’’ and all that follows 

6 through the end of the paragraph and inserting ‘‘for fiscal 

7 years 2013 and 2014 such sums as are necessary for pay8 ment to the Fund in a total amount not to exceed 

9 $612,000,000 for each fiscal year, of which $2,000,000 

10 shall be reserved for carrying out the activities of the com11 mission established by the Protect our Kids Act of 2012 

12 to reduce fatalities resulting from child abuse and ne13 glect.’’ 

14 (b) PREVENTION OF DUPLICATE APPROPRIATIONS

15 FOR FISCAL YEAR 2013.—Expenditures made pursuant 

16 to section 148 of the Continuing Appropriations Resolu17 tion, 2013, for fiscal year 2013, shall be charged to the 

18 applicable appropriation provided by the amendments 

19 made by this section for such fiscal year. 

Æ 


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