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 re-
ferred 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. COMMISSION. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect our Kids Act 
of 2011’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) deaths from child abuse and neglect are 
preventable; 
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(2) deaths from child abuse and neglect are sig-
nificantly underreported and there is no national 
standard for reporting such deaths; 
(3) according to the National Child Abuse and 
Neglect Data System, in fiscal year 2009 approxi-
mately 1,770 children in the United States are re-
ported to have died from child abuse and neglect, 
and many experts believe that the actual number 
may be significantly more; 
(4) nearly half of the number of children in the 
United States who die from abuse are under the age 
of 1, and more than 80 percent are under the age 
of 4; 
(5) in 2009, child neglect accounted for nearly 
36 percent of fatalities and physical abuse for 23 
percent, and over 36 percent of these fatalities were 
caused by multiple forms of maltreatment; 
(6) each year approximately 6,000,000 children 
in the United States are referred to child protective 
services because of allegations of potential abuse or 
neglect; and 
(7) 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. 
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SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Com-
mission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities 
(in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’). 
(b) MEMBERSHIP.— 
(1) COMPOSITION.— 
(A) NUMBER.—The Commission shall be 
composed of not fewer than 12 and not more 
than 15 members, all of whom shall be ap-
pointed by the President. 
(B) QUALIFICATIONS.—Each member ap-
pointed under subparagraph (A) shall have ex-
perience in 1 or more areas consisting of— 
(i) State child welfare agency adminis-
tration; 
(ii) child welfare advocacy; 
(iii) child development; 
(iv) trauma and crisis intervention; 
(v) pediatrics; 
(vi) child psychology and mental 
health; 
(vii) emergency medicine; 
(viii) forensic pathology or medical in-
vestigation of injury and fatality; 
(ix) social work with field experience; 
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(x) academia at an institution of high-
er 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 
1 or more of the other areas listed under 
this subparagraph; 
(xi) law enforcement, with experience 
handling child abuse and neglect matters; 
(xii) civil law, with experience han-
dling child abuse and neglect matters; 
(xiii) criminal law, with experience 
handling child abuse and neglect matters; 
(xiv) substance abuse treatment; 
(xv) education at an elementary school 
or secondary school, as those terms are de-
fined in section 9101 of the Elementary 
and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 7801); 
(xvi) epidemiology; and 
(xvii) computer science or software 
engineering with a background in inter-
operability standards. 
(C) EXPERIENCE.—The Commission shall 
have 1 or more members with experience in 
each of the areas listed in subparagraph (B). 
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(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.—Mem-
bers 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 appoint-
ment. 
(d) INITIAL MEETING.—Not later than 30 days after 
the date on which all members of the Commission have 
been appointed, the Commission shall hold its first meet-
ing. 
(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 num-
ber 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 con-
duct a thorough study on reducing fatalities from 
child abuse and neglect. 
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(2) MATTERS STUDIED.—The matters studied 
by the Commission shall include— 
(A) the incidence of fatalities from child 
abuse and neglect in the United States and 
whether that incidence has been increasing over 
time; 
(B) the feasibility of establishing a system 
that accurately records incidents of child abuse 
and neglect; 
(C) practices that can prevent fatalities 
from child abuse and neglect; 
(D) the role of parental substance abuse, 
parental mental health issues, and domestic vio-
lence in increasing the incidence of child abuse 
and neglect; 
(E) the adequacy and effectiveness of pro-
grams, including child health services, mental 
health services, child protective services, child 
welfare services, education, child care, juvenile 
justice services, and law enforcement activities, 
designed to identify and prevent child (includes 
youth) fatalities that are intentionally caused or 
that occur due to negligence, neglect, or a fail-
ure to exercise proper care; 
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(F) the effectiveness of Federal, State, and 
local policies and systems aimed at appro-
priately identifying and collecting accurate, uni-
form data on child fatalities in a coordinated 
fashion, including the identification of the most 
and least effective policies and systems in prac-
tice; 
(G) the adequacy of Federal, State, and 
local efforts to obtain an appropriate distribu-
tion of properly trained child health services, 
mental health services, child protective services, 
child welfare services, education, child care, ju-
venile justice services, and law enforcement per-
sonnel to identify and prevent child fatalities; 
(H) the current (as of the date of the 
study) resource limitations and barriers to pre-
venting fatalities from child abuse and neglect, 
and how to improve efficiency of use of those 
current resources to improve child welfare out-
comes; 
(I) identification of best practices in evalu-
ating programs for effectiveness in preventing 
child abuse and neglect and fatalities from child 
abuse and neglect; 
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(J) methods of prioritizing child abuse and 
neglect prevention services for families with the 
highest need, including exploring prioritization 
based on risk factors beyond poverty; 
(K) the correlation between animal abuse 
and child abuse, including whether additional 
research and policy changes could better ad-
dress that correlation and whether there are 
warning signs that animal abuse may escalate 
to child abuse; 
(L) methods of improving data collection 
and utilization, such as increasing interoper-
ability among State and local systems and using 
other effective and financially feasible ap-
proaches; 
(M) identification of best practices and 
models for promoting child welfare, specifically 
addressing child abuse and neglect; 
(N) identification of requirements and na-
tional standards for training and education for 
child welfare workers; 
(O) the potential impact of a Federal law 
mandating the review of fatalities of children; 
(P) the development of a model protocol 
for assuring that civil and criminal legal pro-
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ceedings are closely coordinated between child 
protection and law enforcement agencies, in-
cluding coordination between law enforcement 
personnel, child protection services personnel, 
prosecutors, medical providers, victim advo-
cates, and mental health professionals; 
(Q) the potential effectiveness of a tar-
geted public education campaign focused on 
community involvement to reduce child abuse 
and neglect; 
(R) possible modifications to confidentiality 
laws that would increase access to information 
and better protect child victims; 
(S) examination of public and private mod-
els for improving child welfare outcomes, in-
cluding suggestions for expanding the most ef-
fective approaches; 
(T) examination of sources for available 
data beyond fatalities, such as data on serious 
injuries and ‘‘near misses’’; 
(U) development of guidelines for the type 
of instances that should be tracked to improve 
child welfare response and interventions to pre-
vent fatalities from child abuse and neglect; and 
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(V) consideration of past recommendations 
from the Advisory Board on Child Abuse and 
Neglect, including updates on those rec-
ommendations. 
(3) MATERIALS
STUDIED.—The Commission 
shall review all current (as of the date of the study) 
research and documentation, including the National 
Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being and re-
search and recommendations from Government Ac-
countability Office, to identify lessons, solutions, and 
needed improvements related to reducing fatalities 
from child abuse and neglect. 
(b) COORDINATION.—The Commission shall— 
(1) provide opportunities for graduate and doc-
toral students to coordinate research with the Com-
mission; and 
(2) coordinate with institutions of higher edu-
cation, as defined in section 101 of the Higher Edu-
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001), interested in 
supporting the work of the Commission. 
(c) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Commission shall de-
velop recommendations for Federal, State, and local agen-
cies, and private sector and nonprofit organizations to im-
plement a comprehensive national strategy that reduces 
fatalities from child abuse and neglect. 
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(d) REPORT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commis-
sion shall submit a report to the President and Con-
gress, which shall contain a detailed statement of 
the findings and conclusions of the Commission, to-
gether with its recommendations for such legislation 
and administrative actions as it considers appro-
priate. 
(2) ONLINE
ACCESS.—The Commission shall 
make the report under paragraph (1) available on 
the publicly available Internet website of the Depart-
ment 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 
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(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 
(B) to explore the matters studied under 
section 4(a)(2). 
(b) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.—The 
Commission may secure directly from any Federal depart-
ment or agency such information as the Commission con-
siders necessary to carry out this Act. Upon request of 
the Chairperson of the Commission, the head of such de-
partment 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) COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS.—Each member of 
the Commission who is not an officer or employee of the 
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Federal Government shall be compensated at a rate equal 
to the daily equivalent of the annual rate of basic pay pre-
scribed for level IV of the Executive Schedule under sec-
tion 5315 of title 5, United States Code, for each day (in-
cluding travel time) during which such member is engaged 
in the performance of the duties of the Commission. All 
members of the Commission who are officers or employees 
of the United States shall serve without compensation in 
addition to that received for their services as officers or 
employees of the United States. 
(b) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—The members of the Com-
mission shall be allowed travel expenses, including per 
diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized for employ-
ees 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. 
(c) STAFF.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Chairperson of the 
Commission may, without regard to the civil service 
laws and regulations, appoint and terminate an exec-
utive director and such other additional personnel as 
may be necessary to enable the Commission to per-
form its duties. The employment of an executive di-
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rector shall be subject to confirmation by the Com-
mission. 
(2) COMPENSATION.—The Chairperson of the 
Commission may fix the compensation of the execu-
tive 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. 
(d) DETAIL
OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.—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. 
(e) PROCUREMENT OF TEMPORARY AND INTERMIT-
TENT 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. 
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SEC. 7. TERMINATION OF THE COMMISSION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall terminate 
on the earlier of— 
(1) the 90th day after the date on which the 
Commission submits its report under section 4(d); or 
(2) the day that is 3 years after the initial 
meeting under section 3(d). 
(b) EXCEPTION.—The President may extend the ter-
mination date under subsection (a)(2) by an additional 1 
year. 
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 by a recommendation described in the re-
port shall submit to Congress a report containing the re-
sponse of the Federal agency to the recommendation and 
the plans of the Federal agency to address the rec-
ommendation. 
SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro-
priated $2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2012 through 
2014 to the Commission to carry out this Act. 
(b) AVAILABILITY.—Any sums appropriated under 
the authorization contained in this section shall remain 
available, without fiscal year limitation, until expended. 
Æ 
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