DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION.

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 (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.