March 21, 2013, Introduced by Reps. Kesto, McCready, Dillon, LaVoy, Bumstead, Haines, Crawford, Johnson, Callton, VerHeulen, Outman, Daley, Hooker, McCann, Yonker, Schmidt, Olumba, Zemke and Ananich and referred to the Committee on Families, Children, and Seniors.
A bill to amend 1975 PA 238, entitled
"Child protection law,"
by amending sections 2 and 3 (MCL 722.622 and 722.623), section 2
as amended by 2004 PA 563 and section 3 as amended by 2008 PA 510.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 2. As used in this act:
(a) "Adult foster care location authorized to care for a
child" means an adult foster care family home or adult foster care
small group home as defined in section 3 of the adult foster care
facility licensing act, 1979 PA 218, MCL 400.703, in which a child
is placed in accordance with section 5 of 1973 PA 116, MCL 722.115.
(b) "Attorney" means, if appointed to represent a child under
the provisions referenced in section 10, an attorney serving as the
child's legal advocate in the manner defined and described in
section 13a of chapter XIIA of the probate code of 1939, 1939 PA
288, MCL 712A.13a.
(c) "Central registry" means the system maintained at the
department that is used to keep a record of all reports filed with
the department under this act in which relevant and accurate
evidence of child abuse or child neglect is found to exist.
(d) "Central registry case" means a child protective services
case that the department classifies under sections 8 and 8d as
category I or category II. For a child protective services case
that was investigated before July 1, 1999, central registry case
means an allegation of child abuse or child neglect that the
department substantiated.
(e) "Child" means a person under 18 years of age.
(f) "Child abuse" means harm or threatened harm to a child's
health or welfare that occurs through nonaccidental physical or
mental injury, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, or maltreatment,
by a parent, a legal guardian, or any other person responsible for
the
child's health or welfare or by a teacher, a teacher's aide, or
another person employed in a public or nonpublic school, a member
of the clergy, or an individual who holds himself or herself out as
a member of the clergy.
(g) "Child care organization" means that term as defined in
section 1 of 1973 PA 116, MCL 722.111.
(h) "Child care provider" means an owner, operator, employee,
or volunteer of a child care organization or of an adult foster
care location authorized to care for a child.
(i)
"Child care regulatory agency" means the department of
consumer
and industry services or a
successor state department that
is responsible for the licensing or registration of child care
organizations or the licensing of adult foster care locations
authorized to care for a child.
(j) "Child neglect" means harm or threatened harm to a child's
health or welfare by a parent, legal guardian, or any other person
responsible for the child's health or welfare that occurs through
either of the following:
(i) Negligent treatment, including the failure to provide
adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical care.
(ii) Placing a child at an unreasonable risk to the child's
health or welfare by failure of the parent, legal guardian, or
other person responsible for the child's health or welfare to
intervene to eliminate that risk when that person is able to do so
and has, or should have, knowledge of the risk.
(k) "Citizen review panel" means a panel established as
required by section 106 of title I of the child abuse prevention
and
treatment act, Public Law 93-247, 42 U.S.C. 5106a.42 USC 5106a.
(l) "Member of the clergy" means a priest, minister, rabbi,
Christian science practitioner, or other religious practitioner, or
similar functionary of a church, temple, or recognized religious
body, denomination, or organization.
(m) "Controlled substance" means that term as defined in
section 7104 of the public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.7104.
(n) "CPSI system" means the child protective service
information system, which is an internal data system maintained
within and by the department, and which is separate from the
central registry and not subject to section 7.
(o)
"Department" means the family independence
agency.department of human services.
(p) "Director" means the director of the department.
(q) "Expunge" means to physically remove or eliminate and
destroy a record or report.
(r) "Lawyer-guardian ad litem" means an attorney appointed
under section 10 who has the powers and duties referenced by
section 10.
(s) "Local office file" means the system used to keep a record
of a written report, document, or photograph filed with and
maintained by a county or a regionally based office of the
department.
(t) "Nonparent adult" means a person who is 18 years of age or
older and who, regardless of the person's domicile, meets all of
the following criteria in relation to a child:
(i) Has substantial and regular contact with the child.
(ii) Has a close personal relationship with the child's parent
or with a person responsible for the child's health or welfare.
(iii) Is not the child's parent or a person otherwise related to
the child by blood or affinity to the third degree.
(u) "Person responsible for the child's health or welfare"
means a parent, legal guardian, person 18 years of age or older who
resides for any length of time in the same home in which the child
resides, or, except when used in section 7(2)(e) or 8(8), nonparent
adult; or an owner, operator, volunteer, or employee of 1 or more
of the following:
(i) A licensed or registered child care organization.
(ii) A licensed or unlicensed adult foster care family home or
adult foster care small group home as defined in section 3 of the
adult foster care facility licensing act, 1979 PA 218, MCL 400.703.
(v) "Relevant evidence" means evidence having a tendency to
make the existence of a fact that is at issue more probable than it
would be without the evidence.
(w) "Sexual abuse" means engaging in sexual contact or sexual
penetration as those terms are defined in section 520a of the
Michigan penal code, 1931 PA 328, MCL 750.520a, with a child.
(x) "Sexual exploitation" includes allowing, permitting, or
encouraging a child to engage in prostitution, or allowing,
permitting, encouraging, or engaging in the photographing, filming,
or depicting of a child engaged in a listed sexual act as defined
in section 145c of the Michigan penal code, 1931 PA 328, MCL
750.145c.
(y) "Specified information" means information in a children's
protective services case record related specifically to the
department's actions in responding to a complaint of child abuse or
neglect. Specified information does not include any of the
following:
(i) Except as provided in this subparagraph regarding a
perpetrator of child abuse or child neglect, personal
identification information for any individual identified in a child
protective services record. The exclusion of personal
identification information as specified information prescribed by
this subparagraph does not include personal identification
information identifying an individual alleged to have perpetrated
child abuse or neglect, which allegation has been classified as a
central registry case.
(ii) Information in a law enforcement report as provided in
section 7(8).
(iii) Any other information that is specifically designated as
confidential under other law.
(iv) Any information not related to the department's actions in
responding to a report of child abuse or child neglect.
(z) "Structured decision-making tool" means the department
document labeled "DSS-4752 (P3) (3-95)" or a revision of that
document that better measures the risk of future harm to a child.
(aa) "Substantiated" means a child protective services case
classified as a central registry case.
(bb) "Unsubstantiated" means a child protective services case
the department classifies under sections 8 and 8d as category III,
category IV, or category V.
Sec. 3. (1) An individual is required to report under this act
as follows:
(a) A physician, dentist, physician's assistant, registered
dental hygienist, medical examiner, nurse, person licensed to
provide emergency medical care, audiologist, psychologist, marriage
and family therapist, licensed professional counselor, social
worker, licensed master's social worker, licensed bachelor's social
worker, registered social service technician, social service
technician, a person employed in a professional capacity in any
office of the friend of the court, school administrator, school
counselor, or
teacher, or other person
employed in a public or
nonpublic school, law enforcement officer, member of the clergy, or
an individual who holds himself or herself out as a member of the
clergy, or regulated child care provider who has reasonable cause
to suspect child abuse or child neglect shall make immediately, by
telephone or otherwise, an oral report, or cause an oral report to
be made, of the suspected child abuse or child neglect to the
department. Within 72 hours after making the oral report, the
reporting person shall file a written report as required in this
act. If the reporting person is a member of the staff of a
hospital, agency, or school, the reporting person shall notify the
person in charge of the hospital, agency, or school of his or her
finding and that the report has been made, and shall make a copy of
the written report available to the person in charge. A
notification to the person in charge of a hospital, agency, or
school does not relieve the member of the staff of the hospital,
agency, or school of the obligation of reporting to the department
as required by this section. One report from a hospital, agency, or
school is adequate to meet the reporting requirement. A member of
the staff of a hospital, agency, or school shall not be dismissed
or otherwise penalized for making a report required by this act or
for cooperating in an investigation.
(b) A department employee who is 1 of the following and has
reasonable cause to suspect child abuse or child neglect shall make
a report of suspected child abuse or child neglect to the
department in the same manner as required under subdivision (a):
(i) Eligibility specialist.
(ii) Family independence manager.
(iii) Family independence specialist.
(iv) Social services specialist.
(v) Social work specialist.
(vi) Social work specialist manager.
(vii) Welfare services specialist.
(c) Any employee of an organization or entity that, as a
result of federal funding statutes, regulations, or contracts,
would be prohibited from reporting in the absence of a state
mandate or court order. A person required to report under this
subdivision shall report in the same manner as required under
subdivision (a).
(2) The written report shall contain the name of the child and
a description of the abuse or neglect. If possible, the report
shall contain the names and addresses of the child's parents, the
child's guardian, the persons with whom the child resides, and the
child's age. The report shall contain other information available
to the reporting person that might establish the cause of the abuse
or neglect, and the manner in which the abuse or neglect occurred.
(3) The department shall inform the reporting person of the
required contents of the written report at the time the oral report
is made by the reporting person.
(4) The written report required in this section shall be
mailed or otherwise transmitted to the county department of the
county in which the child suspected of being abused or neglected is
found.
(5) Upon receipt of a written report of suspected child abuse
or neglect, the department may provide copies to the prosecuting
attorney and the probate court of the counties in which the child
suspected of being abused or neglected resides and is found.
(6) If an allegation, written report, or subsequent
investigation of suspected child abuse or child neglect indicates a
violation of sections 136b and 145c, sections 520b to 520g of the
Michigan penal code, 1931 PA 328, MCL 750.136b, 750.145c, and
750.520b to 750.520g, or section 7401c of the public health code,
1978 PA 368, MCL 333.7401c, involving methamphetamine has occurred,
or if the allegation, written report, or subsequent investigation
indicates that the suspected child abuse or child neglect was
committed by an individual who is not a person responsible for the
child's health or welfare, including, but not limited to, a member
of the clergy, an individual who holds himself or herself out as a
member
of the clergy, a teacher, or a
teacher's aide, or another
person employed in a public or nonpublic school, the department
shall transmit a copy of the allegation or written report and the
results of any investigation to a law enforcement agency in the
county in which the incident occurred. If an allegation, written
report, or subsequent investigation indicates that the individual
who committed the suspected abuse or neglect is a child care
provider and the department believes that the report has basis in
fact, the department shall, within 24 hours of completion, transmit
a copy of the written report or the results of the investigation to
the child care regulatory agency with authority over the child care
provider's child care organization or adult foster care location
authorized to care for a child.
(7) If a local law enforcement agency receives an allegation
or written report of suspected child abuse or child neglect or
discovers evidence of or receives a report of an individual
allowing a child to be exposed to or to have contact with
methamphetamine production, and the allegation, written report, or
subsequent investigation indicates that the child abuse or child
neglect or allowing a child to be exposed to or to have contact
with methamphetamine production, was committed by a person
responsible for the child's health or welfare, the local law
enforcement agency shall refer the allegation or provide a copy of
the written report and the results of any investigation to the
county department of the county in which the abused or neglected
child is found, as required by subsection (1)(a). If an allegation,
written report, or subsequent investigation indicates that the
individual who committed the suspected abuse or neglect or allowed
a child to be exposed to or to have contact with methamphetamine
production, is a child care provider and the local law enforcement
agency believes that the report has basis in fact, the local law
enforcement agency shall transmit a copy of the written report or
the results of the investigation to the child care regulatory
agency with authority over the child care provider's child care
organization or adult foster care location authorized to care for a
child. Nothing in this subsection or subsection (1) shall be
construed to relieve the department of its responsibilities to
investigate reports of suspected child abuse or child neglect under
this act.
(8) For purposes of this act, the pregnancy of a child less
than 12 years of age or the presence of a venereal disease in a
child who is over 1 month of age but less than 12 years of age is
reasonable
cause to suspect child abuse and or child neglect have
occurred.
(9) In conducting an investigation of child abuse or child
neglect, if the department suspects that a child has been exposed
to or has had contact with methamphetamine production, the
department shall immediately contact the law enforcement agency in
the county in which the incident occurred.