2006 Code of Virginia § 63.2-1505 - Investigations by local departments

63.2-1505. Investigations by local departments.

A. An investigation requires the collection of information necessary todetermine:

1. The immediate safety needs of the child;

2. The protective and rehabilitative services needs of the child and familythat will deter abuse or neglect;

3. Risk of future harm to the child;

4. Alternative plans for the child's safety if protective and rehabilitativeservices are indicated and the family is unable or unwilling to participatein services;

5. Whether abuse or neglect has occurred;

6. If abuse or neglect has occurred, who abused or neglected the child; and

7. A finding of either founded or unfounded based on the facts collectedduring the investigation.

B. If the local department responds to the report or complaint by conductingan investigation, the local department shall:

1. Make immediate investigation and, if the report or complaint was basedupon one of the factors specified in subsection B of 63.2-1509, the localdepartment may file a petition pursuant to 16.1-241.3;

2. Complete a report and transmit it forthwith to the Department, except thatno such report shall be transmitted in cases in which the cause to suspectabuse or neglect is one of the factors specified in subsection B of 63.2-1509 and the mother sought substance abuse counseling or treatment priorto the child's birth;

3. Consult with the family to arrange for necessary protective andrehabilitative services to be provided to the child and his family;

4. Petition the court for services deemed necessary including, but notlimited to, removal of the child or his siblings from their home;

5. Determine within forty-five days if a report of abuse or neglect isfounded or unfounded and transmit a report to such effect to the Departmentand to the person who is the subject of the investigation. However, uponwritten justification by the local department, such determination may beextended, not to exceed a total of sixty days. If through the exercise ofreasonable diligence the local department is unable to find the child who isthe subject of the report, the time the child cannot be found shall not becomputed as part of the forty-five-day or sixty-day period and documentationof such reasonable diligence shall be placed in the record; and

6. If a report of abuse or neglect is unfounded, transmit a report to sucheffect to the complainant and parent or guardian and the person responsiblefor the care of the child in those cases where such person was suspected ofabuse or neglect.

(2000, c. 500, 63.1-248.6:01; 2002, c. 747.)