Legislative Session number- 82

Bill Name: SF1145

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)