SF 1145 Senate Long Description
E Relating to child protection, establishing procedures to deal with child maltreatment in facilities; requiring the commissioner of human services to establish a panel to review investigating agency final determinations relating to child maltreatment, panel to consist of the commissioners of health, human services and children, families and learning and the crime victims and mental health and mental retardation ombudsmen or designees, granting the panel certain data access authority; prescribing the review procedure; requiring annual panel reports to the legislature relating to the number of requests for review, the number of cases reconsidered and with final determination changes and recommendations to improve the review or investigative process; classifying review panel data; defining maltreatment of a child in a facility under the child abuse reporting law; requiring facilities to establish and enforce ongoing written procedures in compliance with applicable licensing rules to ensure the reporting of all cases of suspected maltreatment, specifying certain procedures content and orientation requirements, authorizing the use of internal reporting procedures, prohibiting facilities from prohibiting mandated reporters from reporting externally and from retaliating against mandated reporters reporting incidents to the agencies responsible for assessing or investigating maltreatment; clarifying medical records access authority for maltreatment investigation purposes; expanding the responsibilities of the commissioners of human services, health and children, families and learning relating to neglect or abuse in facilities to child victims of maltreatment, requiring written memoranda to parents, guardians or legal custodians of children receiving services in facilities of maltreatment occurrence; providing additional appeal or review rights for interested persons acting on behalf of a child; requiring facility operators to inform mandated reporters employed by or associated with the facility of required maltreatment reporting duties and the prohibition against retaliation for good faith reporting; requiring training for child abuse services professionals to include appropriate methods for interviewing alleged victims of child abuse and for conducting investigations in developmentally, physically or mentally disabled victims cases (ra, ja)