HF 2572

1st Engrossment - 89th Legislature (2015 - 2016) Posted on 06/08/2016 12:08pm

A bill for an act
relating to child protection; providing for children's advocacy center membership
on multidisciplinary child protection teams; amending Minnesota Statutes 2014,
section 626.558, subdivisions 1, 2, by adding a subdivision.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 626.558, subdivision 1, is amended to read:

Subdivision 1.

Establishment of team.

A county shall establish a multidisciplinary
child protection team that may include, but not be limited to, the director of the local
welfare agency or designees, the county attorney or designees, the county sheriff or
designees, representatives of health and education, representatives of mental health or
other appropriate human service or community-based agencies, and parent groups. As
used in this section, a "community-based agency" may include, but is not limited to,
schools, social service agencies, family service and mental health collaboratives, new text begin children's
advocacy centers, new text end early childhood and family education programs, Head Start, or other
agencies serving children and families. A member of the team must be designated as the
lead person of the team responsible for the planning process to develop standards for its
activities with battered women's and domestic abuse programs and services.

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 626.558, subdivision 2, is amended to read:

Subd. 2.

Duties of team.

A multidisciplinary child protection team may provide
public and professional education, develop resources for prevention, intervention, and
treatment, and provide case consultation to the local welfare agency or other interested
community-based agencies. The community-based agencies may request case consultation
from the multidisciplinary child protection team regarding a child or family for whom the
community-based agency is providing services. As used in this section, "case consultation"
means a case review process in which recommendations are made concerning services to
be provided to the identified children and family. Case consultation may be performed by
a committee or subcommittee of members representing human services, including mental
health and chemical dependency; law enforcement, including probation and parole; the
county attorney; new text begin a children's advocacy center; new text end health care; education; community-based
agencies and other necessary agencies; and persons directly involved in an individual case
as designated by other members performing case consultation.

Sec. 3.

Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 626.558, is amended by adding a subdivision
to read:

new text begin Subd. 4. new text end

new text begin Children's advocacy center; definition. new text end

new text begin (a) For purposes of this section,
"children's advocacy center" means an organization, using a multidisciplinary team
approach, whose primary purpose is to provide children who have been the victims of
abuse and their nonoffending family members with:
new text end

new text begin (1) support and advocacy;
new text end

new text begin (2) specialized medical evaluation;
new text end

new text begin (3) trauma-focused mental health services; and
new text end

new text begin (4) forensic interviews.
new text end

new text begin (b) Children's advocacy centers provide multidisciplinary case review and the
tracking and monitoring of case progress.
new text end