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As Passed by the Senate
122nd General Assembly
Regular Session
1997-1998 | Am. S. B. No. 212 |
SENATORS NEIN-KEARNS-LATTA-SWEENEY-CARNES-McLIN-GAETH-
HERINGTON-DRAKE-GARDNER-FINAN-DIX-MUMPER-WHITE
A BILL
To amend sections 2151.011 and 2151.421 of the Revised Code to require an
administrator or employee of a residential camp or a child day camp to report
known or suspected child abuse to the public children services agency or a
municipal or county peace officer.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That sections 2151.011 and 2151.421 of the Revised Code be amended
to read as follows:
Sec. 2151.011. (A) As used in the Revised Code:
(1) "Juvenile court" means the division of the court of
common pleas or a juvenile court separately and independently
created having jurisdiction under this chapter.
(2) "Juvenile judge" means a judge of a court having
jurisdiction under this chapter.
(3) "Private child placing agency" means any association,
as defined in section 5103.02 of the Revised Code, that is
certified pursuant to sections 5103.03 to 5103.05 of the Revised Code
to accept temporary, permanent, or legal custody of children
and place the children for either foster care or adoption.
(4) "Private noncustodial agency" means any person,
organization, association, or society certified by the department
of human services that does not accept temporary or permanent
legal custody of children, that is privately operated in this
state, and that does one or more of the following:
(a) Receives and cares for children for two or more
consecutive weeks;
(b) Participates in the placement of children in family
foster homes;
(c) Provides adoption services in conjunction with a
public children services agency or private child placing agency.
(B) As used in this chapter:
(1) "Adequate parental care" means the provision by a
child's parent or parents, guardian, or custodian of adequate
food, clothing, and shelter to ensure the child's health and
physical safety and the provision by a child's parent or parents
of specialized services warranted by the child's physical or
mental needs.
(2) "Adult" means an individual who is eighteen years of age or
older.
(3) "Agreement for temporary custody" means a voluntary
agreement authorized by section 5103.15 of the Revised Code
that transfers the temporary custody of a child to a
public children services agency or a private child placing
agency.
(4) "Babysitting care" means care provided for a child
while the parents, guardian, or legal custodian of the child are
temporarily away.
(5) "Certified family foster home" means a family foster home
operated by persons holding a certificate in force, issued under
section 5103.03 of the Revised Code.
(6)(a) "Child" means a person who is under
eighteen years of age, except as otherwise provided in
divisions (B)(6)(b) to (f) of this
section.
(b) Subject to division (B)(6)(c) of
this section, any person who violates a federal or state law or
municipal ordinance prior to attaining eighteen years of age shall be deemed a
"child" irrespective of that person's age at the time the complaint is filed
or the hearing on the complaint is held.
(c) Any person who, while under
eighteen years of age, commits an act that would be a felony if committed by
an adult and who is not taken into custody or apprehended for that act until
after the person attains twenty-one years of age is not a child in relation to
that act.
(d) Any person whose case is transferred for criminal prosecution
pursuant to division (B) or (C) of section 2151.26 of the
Revised Code shall after the transfer be deemed not to be a
child in the transferred case.
(e) Subject to division (B)(6)(f) of
this section, any person whose case is transferred for
criminal prosecution pursuant to division (B) or (C) of section 2151.26 of
the Revised
Code and who subsequently is convicted of or pleads guilty to a
felony in that case shall after the
transfer be deemed not to be a child in any
case in which the person is
alleged to have committed prior to
or subsequent
to the transfer an act that would be an offense if committed by an adult.
Division (B)(6)(e)
of this section applies to a case regardless of
whether the
prior or subsequent act that is alleged in the case and that would be
an offense if committed by an adult allegedly was committed in the same county
in which
the case was transferred or in another county and regardless of whether the
complaint in the case involved was filed in the same county in which the
case was transferred or in another county. Division
(B)(6)(e) of this section applies to a
case that involves an act committed prior to the transfer only when the
prior act alleged in the case has not been disposed of by a juvenile court or
trial court.
(f) Notwithstanding division (B)(6)(e)
of this section, if a person's case is transferred for criminal prosecution
pursuant to division (B) or (C) of section 2151.26 of the
Revised Code and if the person subsequently is convicted of
or pleads guilty to a felony in that case, thereafter, the person shall be
considered a child solely for the following purposes in relation to any act
the person subsequently commits that would be an offense if committed by an
adult:
(i) For purposes of the filing of a complaint alleging that the
child is a delinquent child for committing the act that would be an offense if
committed by an adult;
(ii) For purposes of the juvenile court conducting a hearing
under division (B) of section 2151.26 of the Revised
Code relative to the complaint described in division
(B)(6)(f)(i) of this section to determine
whether division (B)(1) of section
2151.26 of the Revised Code applies and requires that the
case be transferred for criminal prosecution to the
appropriate court having jurisdiction of the offense.
(7) "Child day camp," "child day-care," "child day-care
center,"
"part-time
child day-care center," "type A family day-care home," "certified
type B family day-care home," "type B home," "administrator
of a
child day-care center," "administrator of a type A family
day-care home," "in-home aide," and "authorized provider" have
the same meanings as in section 5104.01 of the Revised Code.
(8) "Child day-care provider" means an individual who is
a child-care staff member or administrator of a child day-care
center, a type A family day-care home, or a type B family
day-care home, or an in-home aide or an individual who is
licensed, is regulated, is approved, operates under the direction
of, or otherwise is certified by the department of human
services, department of mental retardation and developmental
disabilities, or the early childhood programs of the department
of education.
(9) "Commit" means to vest custody as ordered by the
court.
(10) "Counseling" includes both of the following:
(a) General counseling services performed
by a public children services agency or shelter
for victims of domestic violence to assist a child, a child's
parents, and a child's siblings in alleviating identified problems
that may
cause or have caused the child to be an abused, neglected, or
dependent child.
(b) Psychiatric or
psychological therapeutic counseling services
provided to correct or alleviate any mental or
emotional illness or disorder and performed by a licensed psychiatrist,
licensed psychologist, or a person licensed under Chapter 4757. of the Revised Code
to engage in social work or professional counseling.
(11) "Custodian" means a person who has legal custody of a
child or a public children services agency or private child
placing agency that has permanent, temporary, or legal custody of
a child.
(12) "Detention" means the temporary care of children
pending court adjudication or disposition, or execution of a court order, in a
public or private facility designed to physically restrict the movement and
activities of children.
(13) "Developmental disability" has the same meaning as
in
section 5123.01 of the Revised Code.
(14) "Family foster home" means a private residence in
which children are received apart from their parents, guardian,
or legal custodian by an individual for hire, gain, or reward for
nonsecure care, supervision, or training twenty-four hours a day.
"Family foster home" does not include babysitting care provided
for a child in the home of a person other than the home of the
parents, guardian, or legal custodian of the child.
(15) "Foster home" means a family home in which any child
is received apart from the child's parents for care, supervision,
or
training.
(16) "Guardian" means a person, association, or
corporation that is granted authority by a probate court pursuant
to Chapter 2111. of the Revised Code to exercise parental rights
over a child to the extent provided in the court's order and
subject to the residual parental rights of the child's parents.
(17) "Legal custody" means a legal status that vests in
the custodian the right to have physical care and control of the
child and to determine where and with whom the child shall live, and
the
right and duty to protect, train, and discipline the child and to
provide the child with food, shelter, education, and medical care,
all
subject to any residual parental rights, privileges, and
responsibilities. An individual granted legal custody shall
exercise the rights and responsibilities personally unless
otherwise authorized by any section of the Revised Code or by the
court.
(18) "Long-term foster care" means an order of a juvenile
court pursuant to which both of the following apply:
(a) Legal custody of a child is given to a public children
services agency or a private child placing agency without the
termination of parental rights.
(b) The agency is permitted to make an appropriate
placement of the child and to enter into a written long-term
foster care agreement with a foster care provider or with another person or
agency with whom the child is placed.
(19) "Mental illness" and "mental MENTALLY ill person subject
to
hospitalization by court order" have the same meanings as in
section 5122.01 of the Revised Code.
(20) "Mental injury" means any behavioral, cognitive,
emotional, or mental disorder in a child caused by an act or omission that
is described in section 2919.22 of the Revised Code and is
committed by the parent or other person
responsible for the child's care.
(21) "Mentally retarded person" has the same meaning as in
section 5123.01 of the Revised Code.
(22) "Nonsecure care, supervision, or training" means
care, supervision, or training of a child in a facility that does
not confine or prevent movement of the child within the facility
or from the facility.
(23) "Organization" means any institution, public,
semipublic, or private, and any private association, society, or
agency located or operating in the state, incorporated or
unincorporated, having among its functions the furnishing of
protective services or care for children, or the placement of
children in foster homes or elsewhere.
(24) "Out-of-home care" means detention facilities,
shelter facilities, foster homes, certified foster homes,
placement in a prospective adoptive home prior to the issuance of
a final decree of adoption, organizations, certified
organizations, child day-care centers, type A family day-care
homes, child day-care provided by type B family day-care home
providers and by in-home aides, group home providers, group
homes, institutions, state institutions, residential facilities,
residential care facilities, residential camps, day camps,
hospitals, and medical clinics that are responsible for the care,
physical custody, or control of children.
(25) "Out-of-home care child abuse" means any of the
following when committed by a person responsible for the care of
a child in out-of-home care:
(a) Engaging in sexual activity with a child in the person's
care;
(b) Denial to a child, as a means of punishment, of proper
or necessary subsistence, education, medical care, or other care
necessary for a child's health;
(c) Use of restraint procedures on a child that cause
injury or pain;
(d) Administration of prescription drugs or psychotropic
medication to the child without the written approval and ongoing
supervision of a licensed physician;
(e) Commission of any act, other than by accidental means,
that results in any injury to or death of the child in out-of-home
care or commission of any act by accidental means that results in
an injury to or death of a child in out-of-home care and that is
at variance with the history given of the injury or death.
(26) "Out-of-home care child neglect" means any of the
following when committed by a person responsible for the care of
a child in out-of-home care:
(a) Failure to provide reasonable supervision according to
the standards of care appropriate to the age, mental and physical
condition, or other special needs of the child;
(b) Failure to provide reasonable supervision according to
the standards of care appropriate to the age, mental and physical
condition, or other special needs of the child, that results in sexual or
physical abuse of the child by any person;
(c) Failure to develop a process for all of the following:
(i) Administration of prescription drugs or psychotropic
drugs for the child;
(ii) Assuring that the instructions of the licensed
physician who prescribed a drug for the child are followed;
(iii) Reporting to the licensed physician who prescribed
the drug all unfavorable or dangerous side effects from the use
of the drug.
(d) Failure to provide proper or necessary subsistence,
education, medical care, or other individualized care necessary
for the health or well-being of the child;
(e) Confinement of the child to a locked room without
monitoring by staff;
(f) Failure to provide ongoing security for all
prescription and nonprescription medication;
(g) Isolation of a child for a period of time when there
is substantial risk that the isolation, if continued, will impair
or retard the mental health or physical well-being of the child.
(27) "Permanent custody" means a legal status that vests
in a public children services agency or a private child placing
agency, all parental rights, duties, and obligations, including
the right to consent to adoption, and divests the natural parents
or adoptive parents of all parental rights, privileges,
and obligations, including all residual rights and obligations.
(28) "Permanent surrender" means the act of the parents
or, if a child has only one parent, of the parent of a child, by
a voluntary agreement authorized by section 5103.15
of the Revised Code, to transfer the permanent custody of the child to a
public children services agency or a private child placing
agency.
(29) "Person responsible for a child's care in out-of-home
care" means any of the following:
(a) Any foster parent, in-home aide, or provider;
(b) Any administrator, employee, or agent of any of the
following: a public or private detention facility; shelter
facility; organization; certified organization; child day-care
center; type A family day-care home; certified type B family
day-care home; group home; institution; state institution;
residential facility; residential care facility; residential
camp; day camp; hospital; or medical clinic;
(c) Any other person who performs a similar function with
respect to, or has a similar relationship to, children.
(30) "Physically impaired" means having one or more of
the following conditions that substantially limit one or more of
an individual's major life activities, including self-care,
receptive and expressive language, learning, mobility, and self-direction:
(a) A substantial impairment of vision, speech, or hearing;
(b) A congenital orthopedic impairment;
(c) An orthopedic impairment caused by disease,
rheumatic fever or any other similar chronic or acute health
problem, or amputation or another similar cause.
(31) "Placement for adoption" means the arrangement by a
public children services agency or a private child placing agency
with a person for the care and adoption by that person of a child
of whom the agency has permanent custody.
(32) "Placement for adoption IN FOSTER CARE" means the
arrangement by a public children services agency or a private child placing
agency for the out-of-home care of a child of whom the agency has
temporary custody or permanent custody.
(33) "Practice of social work" and "practice of professional
counseling" have the same meanings as in section 4757.01
of the Revised Code.
(34) "Probation" means a legal status created by court
order following an adjudication that a child is a delinquent child, a
juvenile traffic offender, or an unruly child, whereby the child is
permitted to remain in the parent's, guardian's, or custodian's
home subject to supervision, or under the supervision of any
agency designated by the court and returned to the court for
violation of probation at any time during the period of
probation.
(35) "Protective supervision" means an order of
disposition pursuant to which the court permits an abused,
neglected, dependent, unruly, or delinquent child or a juvenile
traffic offender to remain in the custody of the child's parents,
guardian, or custodian and stay in the child's home, subject to any
conditions and limitations upon the child, the
child's parents,
guardian,
or custodian, or any other person that the court prescribes,
including supervision as directed by the court for the protection
of the child.
(36) "Psychiatrist" has the same meaning as in section
5122.01 of the Revised Code.
(37) "Psychologist" has the same meaning as in section
4732.01 of the Revised Code.
(38) "Residential camp" means a public or private facility
that engages or accepts PROGRAM IN WHICH the care, physical
custody, or control of
children during summer months andthat is
licensed, regulated,
approved, operated under the direction of, or otherwise certified
by the department of health or the American camping
association IS ACCEPTED OVERNIGHT FOR RECREATIONAL OR RECREATIONAL AND
EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES.
(39) "Residential care facility" means an institution,
residence, or facility that is licensed by the department of
mental health under section 5119.22 of the Revised Code and that
provides care for a child.
(40) "Residential facility" means a home or facility that
is licensed by the department of mental retardation and
developmental disabilities under section 5123.19 of the Revised Code
and in which a child with a developmental disability
resides.
(41) "Residual parental rights, privileges, and
responsibilities" means those rights, privileges, and
responsibilities remaining with the natural parent after the
transfer of legal custody of the child, including, but not
necessarily limited to, the privilege of reasonable visitation,
consent to adoption, the privilege to determine the child's
religious affiliation, and the responsibility for support.
(42) "Secure correctional facility" means a facility
under the direction of the department of youth services that is designed to
physically restrict the movement and activities of children and used for the
placement of children after adjudication and disposition.
(43) "Sexual activity" has the same meaning as in section
2907.01 of the Revised Code.
(44) "Shelter" means the temporary care of children in
physically unrestricted facilities pending court adjudication or
disposition.
(45) "Shelter for victims of domestic violence" has the
same meaning as in section 3113.33 of the Revised Code.
(46) "Temporary custody" means legal custody of a child
who is removed from the child's home, which custody may be
terminated at
any time at the discretion of the court or, if the legal custody
is granted in an agreement for temporary custody, by the person
who executed the agreement.
Sec. 2151.421. (A)(1)(a) No person described listed in division
(A)(1)(b) of this section who is acting in an
official or
professional capacity and knows or suspects that a child under
eighteen years of age or a mentally
retarded, developmentally disabled, or physically impaired child under
twenty-one years of age has suffered or faces a
threat of suffering any physical or mental wound, injury,
disability, or condition of a nature that reasonably indicates
abuse or neglect of the child, shall fail to immediately report
that knowledge or suspicion to the public
children services agency or a municipal or
county peace officer in the county in which the child resides or
in which the abuse or neglect is occurring or has occurred.
(b) Division
(A)(1)(a)
of this section applies to any person who is an attorney;
physician, including a hospital intern or resident; dentist;
podiatrist; practitioner of a limited branch of medicine or
surgery as defined in section 4731.15 of the
Revised
Code; registered nurse;
licensed practical nurse; visiting nurse; other health care
professional; licensed psychologist; licensed school
psychologist; speech pathologist or audiologist; coroner;
administrator or employee of a child day-care center; ADMINISTRATOR OR
EMPLOYEE OF A RESIDENTIAL CAMP OR CHILD DAY CAMP;
administrator or employee of a certified child care agency or
other public or private children services agency; school
teacher; school employee; school authority; person engaged in
social work or the practice of professional counseling; or a
person rendering spiritual treatment through prayer in
accordance with the tenets of a well-recognized religion.
(2) An attorney or a physician is not required to make a report
pursuant
to division (A)(1) of this section concerning any communication
the attorney or physician
receives from a
client or patient in an attorney-client or physician-patient
relationship, if, in accordance with division (A) or (B)
of section
2317.02 of the Revised Code, the attorney or physician could not
testify with
respect to that communication in a civil or criminal proceeding,
except that the client or patient is deemed to have waived any
testimonial
privilege under division (A) or (B) of section 2317.02 of the
Revised
Code with respect to that communication and the attorney or physician
shall
make a report pursuant to division (A)(1) of this section with
respect to that communication, if all of the following apply:
(a) The client or patient, at the time of the communication, is
either a child under eighteen years of age or a
mentally retarded, developmentally disabled, or
physically impaired person under twenty-one
years of age.
(b) The attorney of OR physician knows or suspects, as a result
of the
communication or any observations made during that communication,
that the client or patient has suffered or faces a threat of suffering
any
physical or mental wound, injury, disability, or condition of a
nature that reasonably indicates abuse or neglect of the client or
patient.
(c) The attorney-client or physician-patient relationship does not
arise out of
the client's or patient's attempt to have an abortion without the
notification
of her parents, guardian, or custodian in accordance with section
2151.85 of the Revised Code.
(B) Anyone, who knows or suspects that a child under
eighteen years of age or a mentally
retarded, developmentally disabled, or physically impaired person
under twenty-one years of age has suffered or faces a
threat of suffering any physical or mental wound, injury,
disability, or other condition of a nature that reasonably
indicates abuse or neglect of the child, may report or cause
reports to be made of that knowledge or suspicion to the public
children services agency or to a municipal
or
county peace officer.
(C) Any report made pursuant to division (A) or (B) of
this section shall be made forthwith either by telephone or in person
and shall be followed by a written report, if requested
by the receiving agency or officer. The written report shall
contain:
(1) The names and addresses of the child and the child's parents
or the person or persons having custody of the child, if known;
(2) The child's age and the nature and extent of the
child's known or suspected injuries, abuse, or neglect or of the
known or suspected threat of injury, abuse, or neglect, including
any evidence of previous injuries, abuse, or neglect;
(3) Any other information that might be helpful in
establishing the cause of the known or suspected injury, abuse,
or neglect or of the known or suspected threat of injury, abuse,
or neglect.
Any person, who is required by division (A) of this section
to report known or suspected child abuse or child neglect, may
take or cause to be taken color photographs of areas of trauma
visible on a child and, if medically indicated, cause to be
performed radiological examinations of the child.
(D)(1) Upon the receipt of a report concerning the possible
abuse or neglect of a child or the possible threat of abuse or
neglect of a child, the municipal or county peace officer who
receives the report shall refer the report to the appropriate
public children services
agency.
(2) On receipt of a report pursuant to this
division or division (A) or
(B) of this section, the public
children services agency shall comply with section 2151.422 of
the Revised
Code.
(E) No township, municipal, or county peace officer shall remove a child
about whom a report is made pursuant to this section from the child's parents,
stepparents, or guardian or any other persons having custody of the child
without consultation with the
public children services agency, unless,
in
the judgment of the officer, and, if the
report was made by physician, the physician,
immediate removal is considered essential to protect the child
from further abuse or neglect.
The agency that
must be consulted shall be the agency conducting the
investigation of the report as determined pursuant to section
2151.422 of the Revised
Code.
(F)(1) Except as
provided in section 2151.422 of the Revised Code, the public
children
services agency shall investigate, within twenty-four
hours, each
report of known or suspected child abuse or child neglect and of
a known or suspected threat of child abuse or child neglect that
is referred to it under this section to determine the
circumstances surrounding the injuries, abuse, or neglect or the
threat of injury, abuse, or neglect, the cause of the injuries,
abuse, neglect, or threat, and the person or persons responsible.
The investigation shall be made in cooperation with the law
enforcement agency and in accordance with the memorandum of understanding
prepared under
division (J) of this section. A
failure to make the investigation in accordance with the memorandum is
not grounds for, and shall not result in,
the
dismissal of any charges or complaint arising from the report or
the suppression of any evidence obtained as a result of the
report and does not give, and shall not be construed as giving,
any rights or any grounds for appeal or post-conviction relief to
any person. The public
children
services agency shall report each case to a central
registry which
the state department of human services shall maintain in order to
determine whether prior reports have been made in other counties
concerning the child or other principals in the case. The
public children services agency shall submit a report of its
investigation,
in writing to the law enforcement agency.
(2) The public children
services agency shall make any recommendations to the
county
prosecuting attorney or city director of law that it considers
necessary to protect any children that are brought to its
attention.
(G)(1) Except as provided in division (H)(3) of this
section, anyone or any hospital, institution, school, health
department, or agency participating in the making of reports
under division (A) of this section, anyone or any hospital,
institution, school, health department, or agency participating
in good faith in the making of reports under division (B) of this
section, and anyone participating in good faith in a judicial
proceeding resulting from the reports, shall be immune from any
civil or criminal liability for injury, death, or loss to person
or property that otherwise might be incurred or imposed as a
result of the making of the reports or the participation in the
judicial proceeding. Notwithstanding section 4731.22 of the
Revised Code, the physician-patient privilege shall not be a
ground for excluding evidence regarding a child's injuries,
abuse, or neglect, or the cause of the injuries, abuse, or
neglect in any judicial proceeding resulting from a report
submitted pursuant to this section.
(2) In any civil or criminal action or proceeding in which
it is alleged and proved that participation in the making of a
report under this section was not in good faith or participation
in a judicial proceeding resulting from a report made under this
section was not in good faith, the court shall award the
prevailing party reasonable attorney's fees and costs and, if a
civil action or proceeding is voluntarily dismissed, may award
reasonable attorney's fees and costs to the party against whom
the civil action or proceeding is brought.
(H)(1) Except as provided in divisions (H)(4),
(M), and (N) of this
section, a report made under this section is confidential.
The information provided in a report made pursuant to this
section and the name of the person who made the report shall not
be released for use, and shall not be used, as evidence in any
civil action or proceeding brought against the person who made
the report. In a criminal proceeding, the report is admissible
in evidence in accordance with the Rules of Evidence and is
subject to discovery in accordance with the Rules of Criminal
Procedure.
(2) No person shall permit or encourage the unauthorized
dissemination of the contents of any report made under this
section.
(3) A person who knowingly makes or causes another person
to make a false report under division (B) of this section that
alleges that any person has committed an act or omission that
resulted in a child being an abused child or a neglected child is
guilty of a violation of section 2921.14 of the Revised Code.
(4) A public children services agency shall advise
a person alleged to have inflicted abuse or neglect on a child
who is the subject of a report made pursuant to this section of the
disposition of the investigation. The agency shall not provide to the person
any information that identifies the
person who made the report, statements of witnesses, or police or other
investigative reports.
(I) Any report that is required by this section shall
result in protective services and emergency supportive services
being made available by the public children services
agency on behalf of
the children about whom
the report is made, in an effort to prevent further neglect or
abuse, to enhance their welfare, and, whenever possible, to
preserve the family unit intact.
The agency
required to provide the services shall be the agency conducting
the investigation of the report pursuant to section 2151.422 of
the Revised
Code.
(J)(1) Each public children services agency shall prepare
a
memorandum of understanding that is signed by all of the following:
(a) If there is
only one juvenile judge in the county, the juvenile judge of the
county or the juvenile judge's representative;
(b) If there is more than
one juvenile
judge in the county, a juvenile judge or the
juvenile judges' representative selected by the juvenile judges
or, if they are unable to do so for any reason, the juvenile judge who is
senior in point of
service or the senior juvenile judge's representative;
(c) The county
peace officer;
(d) All
chief municipal peace officers within the county;
(e) Other law enforcement officers handling child abuse and
neglect cases in the county;
(f) The prosecuting
attorney of the county; public
(g) If the public children services agency is not the county
department of
human services agency, the county department of human
services.
(2) A memorandum of understanding shall set forth the normal
operating procedure to be employed by
all concerned officials in the execution of their respective
responsibilities under this section and division (C) of section
2919.21, division (B)(1) of section 2919.22, division (B) of
section 2919.23, and section 2919.24 of the Revised Code and
shall have as two of its primary goals the elimination of all
unnecessary interviews of children who are the subject of reports
made pursuant to division (A) or (B) of this section and, when
feasible, providing for only one interview of a child who is the
subject of any report made pursuant to division (A) or (B) of
this section. A failure to follow the procedure set forth in the
memorandum by
the concerned
officials is not grounds for, and shall not result in, the
dismissal of any charges or complaint arising from any reported
case of abuse or neglect or the suppression of any evidence
obtained as a result of any reported child abuse or child neglect
and does not give, and shall not be construed as giving, any
rights or any grounds for appeal or post-conviction relief to any
person.
(3) A memorandum of understanding shall include all of the
following:
(a) The roles
and responsibilities for handling emergency and non-emergency cases of
abuse
and neglect;
(b) Standards and procedures to be used in handling and
coordinating investigations of reported cases of child abuse and
reported cases of child neglect, methods to be used in
interviewing the child who is the subject of the report and who
allegedly was abused or neglected, and standards and procedures
addressing the categories of persons who may interview the child
who is the subject of the report and who allegedly was abused or
neglected.
(K)(1) Except as provided in division
(K)(4) of this section, a person who is required to make
a report pursuant to division (A) of this section may
make a reasonable number of requests of the public children services
agency that receives or is
referred the report to be provided with
the following information:
(a) Whether the agency has initiated an
investigation of the report;
(b) Whether the agency is continuing to
investigate the report;
(c) Whether the agency is otherwise
involved
with the child who is the subject of the report;
(d) The general status of the health and safety of the
child who is the subject of the report;
(e) Whether the report has resulted in the filing of a
complaint in juvenile court or of criminal charges in another
court.
(2) A person may request the information specified in division (K)(1) of this
section only if, at the time the report is made, the person's name, address,
and telephone number are provided to the person who receives the report.
When a municipal or county peace officer or employee of a
public children services
agency
receives a report pursuant to division (A) or
(B) of this section the recipient of the report shall inform the person of the
right to request the
information described in division (K)(1) of this section. The recipient of
the report shall include in the initial child abuse or child neglect
report that the person making the report was so informed and, if
provided at the time of the making of the report, shall include
the person's name, address, and telephone number in the report.
Each request is subject to verification of the identity of the person making
the
report. If that person's
identity is verified, the agency shall
provide the person with
the information described in division (K)(1) of this section
a reasonable number of times, except that the agency shall not disclose
any confidential information
regarding the child who is the subject of the report other than
the information described in those divisions.
(3) A request made pursuant to division (K)(1) of this section is not a
substitute for any report required to be made pursuant to division (A) of this
section.
(4) If an agency other than the agency that
received or was referred the report is conducting the
investigation of the report pursuant to section 2151.422 of the
Revised
Code, the agency conducting the
investigation shall comply with the requirements of division
(K) OF THIS SECTION.
(L) The department of human services shall adopt rules in accordance
with Chapter
119. of the Revised Code to
implement this section.
The department may enter into a
plan of cooperation with
any other governmental entity to aid in ensuring that children
are protected from abuse and neglect. The department shall make
recommendations to the attorney general that the department
determines are necessary to protect children from child abuse and
child neglect.
(M) No later than the end of the day
following the day on which a public children services agency
receives a report of alleged child abuse or child
neglect, or a report of an alleged threat of child abuse or child
neglect, that allegedly occurred in or involved an out-of-home
care entity, the agency shall provide
written notice
of the allegations contained in and the person named as the alleged
perpetrator in the report to the administrator, director, or other chief
administrative officer of the out-of-home care entity that is the
subject of the report unless the administrator, director, or
other chief administrative officer is named as an alleged
perpetrator in the report. If the administrator, director, or
other chief administrative officer of an out-of-home care entity
is named as an alleged perpetrator in a report of alleged child
abuse or child neglect, or a report of an alleged threat of child
abuse or child neglect, that allegedly occurred in or involved
the out-of-home care entity, the agency shall provide the written notice
to
the owner or governing board of the out-of-home care entity that
is the subject of the report. The agency
shall not provide
witness statements or police or other investigative reports.
(N) No later than three days after the day on
which a public children services agency that
conducted the investigation as determined pursuant to section 2151.422
of the Revised Code makes a
disposition of an investigation involving a report of alleged
child abuse or child neglect, or a report of an alleged threat of
child abuse or child neglect, that allegedly occurred in or
involved an out-of-home care entity, the
agency
shall send written notice of the disposition of the
investigation to the administrator, director, or other chief
administrative officer and the owner or governing board of the
out-of-home care entity. The agency shall
not provide witness
statements or police or other investigative reports.
Section 2. That existing sections 2151.011 and 2151.421 of the Revised Code
are hereby repealed.
Section 3. Section 2151.421 of the Revised Code is presented in this
act
as a composite of the section as amended by both
Am. Sub. H.B. 215 and Sub. H.B. 408 of the 122nd General Assembly, with the
new language of
neither of the acts shown in capital letters. This is in
recognition of the principle stated in division (B) of section
1.52 of the Revised Code that such amendments are to be
harmonized where not substantively irreconcilable and constitutes
a legislative finding that such is the resulting version in
effect prior to the effective date of this act.
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