Delaware House Bill 371 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 14-2)
Status: Enrolled on June 28 2012 - 75% progression, died in chamber
Action: 2012-06-28 - HS 1 for HB 371 - Passed by Senate. Votes: Passed 21 YES 0 NO 0 NOT VOTING 0 ABSENT 0 VACANT
Text: Latest bill text (Draft #1) [HTML]

This Act ensures that the investigation and disposition of cases of child abuse or neglect are conducted in a comprehensive, integrated and multi-disciplinary manner, thereby significantly reducing existing communication and coordination gaps in the investigation and disposition of such cases. In order to accomplish the foregoing, the Act does the following: 1. Uses the case management system of the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families ("DSCYF") to track every case of child abuse and neglect from inception to final disposition; 2. Establishes investigatory timelines and codifies best practices for the consistent and prompt investigation of child abuse cases, including the assignment of a multi-disciplinary team to every case of child abuse involving allegations of serious physical injury or sexual abuse; 3. Strengthens and codifies multidisciplinary collaboration and coordination to ensure the best outcomes for children both civilly and criminally; 4. Establishes an Investigation Coordinator within DSCYF to oversee the coordination and collaboration on every case of serious physical injury or sexual abuse of a child, whether that case is intrafamilial or extrafamilial, and provides a system communication and facilitation tool to the multidisciplinary team; 5. Ensures the reporting of every death and near death case due to child abuse or neglect by the Child Death, Near Death and Stillbirth Commission; 6. Reinforces the duties to report suspected perpetrators to the Division of Professional Regulation as well as to other regulatory agencies; and 7. Requires the reporting of status, trends and civil and criminal outcomes of these cases to the Child Protection Accountability Commission.

An Act To Amend Title 16 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Investigating The Abuse Of Children.

Sen. Patricia Blevins [D]	Rep. Stephanie Bolden [D]	Sen. Bruce Ennis [D]	Rep. Robert Gilligan [D]
Rep. Debra Heffernan [D]	Sen. Margaret Henry [D]	Rep. Earl Jaques [D]	Rep. John Kowalko [D]
Rep. Teresa Schooley [D]	Rep. Bryon Short [D]	Rep. Melanie Smith [D]	Sen. David Sokola [D]
Sen. Robert Venables [D]	Rep. Rebecca Walker [D]	Rep. Lincoln Willis [R]	Sen. David Wilson [R]

Date	Chamber	Action
2012-06-28		HS 1 for HB 371 - Passed by Senate. Votes: Passed 21 YES 0 NO 0 NOT VOTING 0 ABSENT 0 VACANT
2012-06-28		HS 1 for HB 371 - Necessary rules are suspended in Senate
2012-06-21		HS 1 for HB 371 - Passed by House of Representatives. Votes: Passed 40 YES 0 NO 0 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT 0 VACANT
2012-06-13		HS 1 for HB 371 - Reported Out of Committee (JUDICIARY) in House with 7 On Its Merits
2012-06-12		HS 1 for HB 371 - Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House
2012-06-05		Re-Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House
2012-06-05		Introduced and Assigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House

Type	Source
Summary	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis146.nsf/2bede841c6272c888025698400433a04/1a22568e10d9c77c85257a130053810f?OpenDocument
Text	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis146.nsf/vwLegislation/HB+371/$file/legis.html?open