2006 Code of Virginia § 63.2-105 - Confidential records and information concerning social services; child-protective services and chil...

63.2-105. Confidential records and information concerning social services;child-protective services and child-placing agencies.

A. The local department may disclose the contents of records and informationlearned during the course of a child-protective services investigation orduring the provision of child-protective services to a family, without acourt order and without the consent of the family, to a person having alegitimate interest when in the judgment of the local department suchdisclosure is in the best interest of the child who is the subject of therecords. Persons having a legitimate interest in child-protective servicesrecords of local departments include, but are not limited to, (i) any personwho is responsible for investigating a report of known or suspected abuse orneglect or for providing services to a child or family that is the subject ofa report, including multidisciplinary teams and family assessment andplanning teams referenced in subsections J and K of 63.2-1503,law-enforcement agencies and attorneys for the Commonwealth; (ii) childwelfare or human services agencies of the Commonwealth or its politicalsubdivisions when those agencies request information to determine thecompliance of any person with a child-protective services plan or an order ofany court; (iii) personnel of the school or child day program as defined in 63.2-100 attended by the child so that the local department can receiveinformation from such personnel on an ongoing basis concerning the child'shealth and behavior, and the activities of the child's custodian; (iv) aparent, grandparent, or any other person when such parent, grandparent orother person would be considered by the local department as a potentialcaretaker of the child in the event the local department has to remove thechild from his custodian; and (v) the Commitment Review Committee and theOffice of the Attorney General for the purposes of sexually violent predatorcivil commitments pursuant to Chapter 9 ( 37.2-900 et seq.) of Title 37.2.

Whenever a local department exercises its discretion to release otherwiseconfidential information to any person who meets one or more of thesedescriptions, the local department shall be presumed to have exercised itsdiscretion in a reasonable and lawful manner.

B. Any person who has not been legally adopted in accordance with theprovisions of this title and who was a child for whom all parental rights andresponsibilities have been terminated, shall not have access to anyinformation from a child-placing agency with respect to the identity of thebiological family, except (i) upon application of the child who is 18 or moreyears of age, (ii) upon order of a circuit court entered upon good causeshown, and (iii) after notice to and opportunity for hearing by the applicantfor such order and the child-placing agency or local board that had custodyof the child.

An eligible person who is a resident of Virginia may apply for the courtorder provided for herein to (a) the circuit court of the county or citywhere the person resides or (b) the circuit court of the county or city wherethe principal office of the child-placing agency or local board that controlsthe information sought by the person is located. An eligible person who isnot a resident of Virginia shall apply for such a court order to the circuitcourt of the county or city where the principal office of the child-placingagency or local board that controls the information sought by the person islocated.

If the identity and whereabouts of the biological family are known to theagency or local board, the court may require the agency or local board toadvise the biological parents of the pendency of the application for suchorder. In determining good cause for the disclosure of such information, thecourt shall consider the relative effects of such action upon the applicantfor such order and upon the biological parents.

(2001, c. 518, 63.1-209.1; 2002, c. 747; 2004, cc. 114, 220; 2006, cc. 863,914.)