Protecting Our Children from Violence Act of 2005

H.R. 1223, the Protecting Our Children from Violence Act of 2005, aims to improve the safety of children by granting state social services officers direct access to national criminal databases during abuse and neglect investigations. This access would allow caseworkers to quickly check the criminal histories of individuals living in a home where a child may be at risk, as well as track information regarding missing children and active warrants.

For citizens, this bill is designed to speed up child protective investigations by removing administrative hurdles between social workers and vital law enforcement information. To protect individual privacy, the bill limits data access strictly to active investigations and establishes criminal penalties for any government official who misuses or illegally releases the information obtained from these federal databases.