2009 Iowa Code
Title 6 - Human Services
Subtitle 5 - Juveniles
CHAPTER 232 - JUVENILE JUSTICE
232.71B - DUTIES OF THE DEPARTMENT UPON RECEIPT OF REPORT.

        232.71B  DUTIES OF THE DEPARTMENT UPON RECEIPT OF
      REPORT.
         1.  Commencement of assessment -- purpose.
         a.  If the department determines a report constitutes a child
      abuse allegation, the department shall promptly commence an
      appropriate assessment within twenty-four hours of receiving the
      report.
         b.  The primary purpose of the assessment shall be the
      protection of the child named in the report.  The secondary purpose
      of the assessment shall be to engage the child's family in services
      to enhance family strengths and to address needs.
         2.  Notification of parents.  The department, within five
      working days of commencing the assessment, shall provide written
      notification of the assessment to the child's parents.  If a parent
      is alleged to have committed the child abuse, the notice shall inform
      the parents regarding the complaint or allegation made regarding the
      parent.  The parents shall be informed in a manner that protects the
      confidentiality rights of an individual who reported the child abuse
      or provided information as part of the assessment process.  However,
      if the department shows the court to the court's satisfaction that
      notification is likely to endanger the child or other persons, the
      court shall orally direct the department to withhold notification.
      Within one working day of issuing an oral directive, the court shall
      issue a written order restraining the notification.  The department
      shall not reveal in the written notification to the parents or
      otherwise the identity of the reporter of child abuse to a subject of
      a child abuse report listed in section 235A.15, subsection 2,
      paragraph "a".
         3.  Involvement of law enforcement.  The department shall
      apply protocols, developed with the local child protection assistance
      team established pursuant to section 915.35, to prioritize the
      actions taken in response to child abuse reports and to work jointly
      with child protection assistance teams and law enforcement agencies
      in performing assessment and investigative processes for child abuse
      reports in which a criminal act harming a child is alleged.  The
      county attorney and appropriate law enforcement agencies shall also
      take any other lawful action which may be necessary or advisable for
      the protection of the child.  If a report is determined not to
      constitute a child abuse allegation, but a criminal act harming a
      child is alleged, the department shall immediately refer the matter
      to the appropriate law enforcement agency.
         4.  Assessment process.  The assessment is subject to all of
      the following:
         a.  Identification of the nature, extent, and cause of the
      injuries, if any, to the child named in the report.
         b.  Identification of the person or persons responsible for
      the alleged child abuse.
         c.  A description of the name, age, and condition of other
      children in the same home as the child named in the report.
         d.  An evaluation of the home environment.  If concerns
      regarding protection of children are identified by the child
      protection worker, the child protection worker shall evaluate the
      child named in the report and any other children in the same home as
      the parents or other persons responsible for their care.
         e.  An interview of the person alleged to have committed the
      child abuse, if the person's identity and location are known.  The
      offer of an interview shall be made to the person prior to any
      consideration or determination being made that the person committed
      the alleged abuse.  The person shall be informed of the complaint or
      allegation made regarding the person.  The person shall be informed
      in a manner that protects the confidentiality rights of the
      individual who reported the child abuse or provided information as
      part of the assessment process.  The purpose of the interview shall
      be to provide the person with the opportunity to explain or rebut the
      allegations of the child abuse report or other allegations made
      during the assessment.  The court may waive the requirement to offer
      the interview only for good cause.  The person offered an interview,
      or the person's attorney on the person's behalf, may decline the
      offer of an interview of the person.
         f.  Unless otherwise prohibited under section 234.40 or
      280.21, the use of corporal punishment by the person responsible for
      the care of a child which does not result in a physical injury to the
      child shall not be considered child abuse.
         5.  Home visit.  The assessment may, with the consent of the
      parent or guardian, include a visit to the home of the child named in
      the report and an interview or observation of the child may be
      conducted.  If permission to enter the home to interview or observe
      the child is refused, the juvenile court or district court upon a
      showing of probable cause may authorize the person making the
      assessment to enter the home and interview or observe the child.
         6.  Facility or school visit.  The assessment may include a
      visit to a facility providing care to the child named in the report
      or to any public or private school subject to the authority of the
      department of education where the child named in the report is
      located.  The administrator of a facility, or a public or private
      school shall cooperate with the child protection worker by providing
      confidential access to the child named in the report for the purpose
      of interviewing the child, and shall allow the child protection
      worker confidential access to other children for the purpose of
      conducting interviews in order to obtain relevant information.  The
      child protection worker may observe a child named in a report in
      accordance with the provisions of section 232.68, subsection 3,
      paragraph "b".  A witness shall be present during an observation
      of a child.  Any child aged ten years of age or older can terminate
      contact with the child protection worker by stating or indicating the
      child's wish to discontinue the contact.  The immunity granted by
      section 232.73 applies to acts or omissions in good faith of
      administrators and their facilities or school districts for
      cooperating in an assessment and allowing confidential access to a
      child.
         7.  Information requests.
         a.  The department may request information from any person
      believed to have knowledge of a child abuse case.  The county
      attorney, any law enforcement or social services agency in the state,
      and any mandatory reporter, whether or not the reporter made the
      specific child abuse report, shall cooperate and assist in the
      assessment upon the request of the department.
         b.  In performing an assessment, the department may request
      criminal history data from the department of public safety on any
      person believed to be responsible for an injury to a child which, if
      confirmed, would constitute child abuse.  The department shall
      establish procedures for determining when a criminal history records
      check is necessary.
         8.  Protective disclosure.  If the department determines that
      disclosure is necessary for the protection of a child, the department
      may disclose to a subject of a child abuse report referred to in
      section 235A.15, subsection 2, paragraph "a", that an individual
      is listed in the child or dependent adult abuse registry or is
      required to register with the sex offender registry in accordance
      with chapter 692A.
         9.  Physical examination.  If the department refers a child to
      a physician for a physical examination, the department shall contact
      the physician regarding the examination within twenty-four hours of
      making the referral.  If the physician who performs the examination
      upon referral by the department reasonably believes the child has
      been abused, the physician shall report to the department within
      twenty-four hours of performing the examination.
         10.  Multidisciplinary team.  In each county or multicounty
      area in which more than fifty child abuse reports are made per year,
      the department shall establish a multidisciplinary team, as defined
      in section 235A.13, subsection 8.  Upon the department's request, a
      multidisciplinary team shall assist the department in the assessment,
      diagnosis, and disposition of a child abuse report.
         11.  Facility protocol.
         a.  The department shall apply a protocol, developed in
      consultation with facilities providing care to children, for
      conducting an assessment of reports of abuse of children allegedly
      caused by employees of facilities providing care to children.  As
      part of such an assessment, the department shall notify the licensing
      authority for the facility, the governing body of the facility, and
      the administrator in charge of the facility of any of the following:
         (1)  A violation of facility policy noted in the assessment.
         (2)  An instance in which facility policy or lack of facility
      policy may have contributed to the reported incident of alleged child
      abuse.
         (3)  An instance in which general practice in the facility appears
      to differ from the facility's written policy.
         b.  The licensing authority, the governing body, and the
      administrator in charge of the facility shall take any lawful action
      which may be necessary or advisable to protect children receiving
      care.
         12.  Assessment report.  The department, upon completion of
      the assessment, shall make a written report of the assessment, in
      accordance with all of the following:
         a.  The written assessment shall incorporate the information
      required by subsection 4.
         b.  The written assessment shall be completed within twenty
      business days of the receipt of the report.
         c.  The written assessment shall include a description of the
      child's condition, identification of the injury or risk to which the
      child was exposed, the circumstances which led to the injury or risk
      to the child, and the identity of any person alleged to be
      responsible for the injury or risk to the child.
         d.  The written assessment shall identify the strengths and
      needs of the child, and of the child's parent, home, and family.
         e.  The written assessment shall identify services available
      from the department and informal and formal services and other
      support available in the community to address the strengths and needs
      identified in the assessment.
         f.  Upon completion of the assessment, the department shall
      consult with the child's family in offering services to the child and
      the child's family to address strengths and needs identified in the
      assessment.
         g.  The department shall notify each subject of the child
      abuse report, as identified in section 235A.15, subsection 2,
      paragraph "a", of the results of the assessment, of the subject's
      right, pursuant to section 235A.19, to correct the report data or
      disposition data which refers to the subject, and of the procedures
      to correct the data.
         h.  If after completing the assessment process the child
      protection worker determines, with the concurrence of the worker's
      supervisor and the department's area administrator, that a report is
      a spurious report or that protective concerns are not present, the
      portions of the assessment report described under paragraphs "d"
      and "e" shall not be required.
         13.  Court-ordered and voluntary services.  The department
      shall provide or arrange for and monitor services for abused children
      and their families on a voluntary basis or under a final or
      intermediate order of the juvenile court.
         14.  County attorney -- juvenile court.  The department shall
      provide the juvenile court and the county attorney with a copy of the
      portion of the written assessment pertaining to the child abuse
      report.  The juvenile court and the county attorney shall notify the
      department of any action taken concerning an assessment provided by
      the department.
         15.  False reports.  If a fourth report is received from the
      same person who made three earlier reports which identified the same
      child as a victim of child abuse and the same person responsible for
      the care of the child as the alleged abuser and which were determined
      by the department to be entirely false or without merit, the
      department may determine that the report is again false or without
      merit due to the report's spurious or frivolous nature and may in its
      discretion terminate its assessment of the report.  If the department
      receives more than three reports which identify the same child as a
      victim of child abuse or the same person as the alleged abuser of a
      child, or which were made by the same person, and the department
      determined the reports to be entirely false or without merit, the
      department shall provide information concerning the reports to the
      county attorney for consideration of criminal charges under section
      232.75, subsection 3.  

         Section History: Recent Form

         97 Acts, ch 35, §6, 25; 97 Acts, ch 176, §24, 43; 2001 Acts, ch
      122, §5; 2002 Acts, ch 1074, §1; 2003 Acts, ch 44, §50; 2003 Acts, ch
      47, §1; 2003 Acts, ch 107, §1; 2003 Acts, ch 123, §1; 2003 Acts, ch
      179, §68; 2004 Acts, ch 1152, §1, 2; 2009 Acts, ch 41, §239
         Referred to in § 135.43, 232.68, 232.71C, 232.71D, 232.72, 232.73,
      232.77, 232.78, 235A.15, 235A.19, 331.653, 915.35 

         Footnotes

         Written assessment made for a child abuse report shall include a
      determination as to whether or not substance abuse by the person
      responsible for the child's care was a factor in the report and
      finding of abuse; joint study by departments of public health and
      human services to collect related data and develop and implement a
      protocol on or before July 1, 2009, to jointly address child abuse
      cases wholly or partially caused by substance abuse; reports due on
      or before December 15, 2009, and December 15, 2010; 2008 Acts, ch
      1121, § 1