H. R. 6655 
One Hundred Twelfth Congress 
of the 
United States of America 
AT THE SECOND SESSION 
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday, 
the third day of January, two thousand and twelve 
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 Connec-
tions to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008
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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 sec-
ondary school, as those terms are defined in section 
9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801);
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(xvii) epidemiology; and 
(xviii) computer science or software engineering 
with a background in interoperability standards. 
(C) DIVERSITY OF QUALIFICATIONS.—In making appoint-
ments 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 para-
graph (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 out-
comes; 
(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
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(F) methods of improving data collection and utiliza-
tion, 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 recommenda-
tions 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 opportuni-
ties 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 rec-
ommendations 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 state-
ment 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 advis-
able 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
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(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 informa-
tion 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 classi-
fication of positions and General Schedule pay rates, except 
that the rate of pay for the executive director and other per-
sonnel 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 privi-
lege. 
(d) PROCUREMENT
OF TEMPORARY
AND INTERMITTENT SERV-
ICES.—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
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by a recommendation described in the report shall submit to Con-
gress 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. 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.