Late in 2012 the House and Senate passed H.R. 6655, the 2012 Protect Our Kids Act. On Wednesday January 9th, 2013 President Obama signed it into law. We wanted to share a brief overview of the bill and some additional reading you may find interesting.
Protect Our Kids Act of 2012 – Establishes the Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities to: (1) study the use of child protective services and child welfare services under titles IV and XX (Block Grants to States for Social Services) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to reduce fatalities from child abuse and neglect; (2) develop recommendations to reduce such fatalities for federal, state, and local agencies, and private sector and nonprofit organizations, including recommendations to implement a comprehensive national strategy for such purpose; and (3) develop guidelines for the type of information that should be tracked to improve interventions to prevent such fatalities.
Requires any federal agency affected by a recommendation to report to Congress its response and plans to address it.
Amends SSA title IV part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) to make an adjustment to the Contingency Fund for State Welfare Programs with respect to deposits for FY2013-FY2014, reserving a specified amount for Commission activities.
The full text of the bill can be found here.
