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1 | AN ACT concerning children.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | Section 5. The Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act is | |||||||||||||||||||
5 | amended by changing Section 4.2 as follows:
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6 | (325 ILCS 5/4.2)
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7 | Sec. 4.2. Departmental report on death or serious | |||||||||||||||||||
8 | life-threatening injury of child.
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9 | (a) In the case of the death or serious life-threatening | |||||||||||||||||||
10 | injury of a child whose care and custody or custody
and | |||||||||||||||||||
11 | guardianship has been transferred to the Department, or in the | |||||||||||||||||||
12 | case
of a child abuse or neglect report made to the central | |||||||||||||||||||
13 | register involving the
death of a child, the
Department shall | |||||||||||||||||||
14 | (i) investigate or provide for an investigation of the cause
of | |||||||||||||||||||
15 | and circumstances surrounding the death or serious | |||||||||||||||||||
16 | life-threatening injury, (ii) review the investigation,
and | |||||||||||||||||||
17 | (iii) prepare and issue a report on the death or serious | |||||||||||||||||||
18 | life-threatening injury.
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19 | (b) The report shall include (i) the cause of death or | |||||||||||||||||||
20 | serious life-threatening injury, whether from natural
or other | |||||||||||||||||||
21 | causes, (ii) any
extraordinary or pertinent information | |||||||||||||||||||
22 | concerning the circumstances of the
child's death or serious | |||||||||||||||||||
23 | life-threatening injury, (iii) identification of child |
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1 | protective or other social services provided or actions taken | ||||||
2 | regarding the child or his or her family at the time of the | ||||||
3 | death or serious life-threatening injury or within the | ||||||
4 | preceding 5 years, (iv) any action or further investigation | ||||||
5 | undertaken by the
Department since the death or serious | ||||||
6 | life-threatening injury of the
child, (v) as appropriate, | ||||||
7 | recommendations for State
administrative or policy changes, | ||||||
8 | and (vi) whether the alleged perpetrator of the abuse or | ||||||
9 | neglect has been charged with committing a crime related to the | ||||||
10 | report and allegation of abuse or neglect , and (vii) a copy of | ||||||
11 | any documents, files, records, books, and papers created or | ||||||
12 | used in connection with the Department's investigation of the | ||||||
13 | death or serious life-threatening injury of the child . In any | ||||||
14 | case involving the death or near death of a child, when a | ||||||
15 | person responsible for the child has been charged with | ||||||
16 | committing a crime that results in the child's death or near | ||||||
17 | death, there shall be a presumption that the best interest of | ||||||
18 | the public will be served by public disclosure of certain | ||||||
19 | information concerning the circumstances of the investigations | ||||||
20 | of the death or near death of the child and any other | ||||||
21 | investigations concerning that child or other children living | ||||||
22 | in the same household.
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23 | If the Department receives from the public a request for | ||||||
24 | information relating to a case of child abuse or neglect | ||||||
25 | involving the death or serious life-threatening injury of a | ||||||
26 | child, the Director shall consult with the State's Attorney in |
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1 | the county of venue and release the report related to the case, | ||||||
2 | except for the following, which may be redacted from the | ||||||
3 | information disclosed to the public: any mental health or | ||||||
4 | psychological information that is confidential as otherwise | ||||||
5 | provided in State law; privileged communications of an | ||||||
6 | attorney; the identity of the individual or individuals, if | ||||||
7 | known, who made the report; information that may cause mental | ||||||
8 | or physical harm to a sibling or another child living in the | ||||||
9 | household; information that may undermine an ongoing criminal | ||||||
10 | investigation; and any information prohibited from disclosure | ||||||
11 | by federal law or regulation. Any information provided by an | ||||||
12 | adult subject of a report that is released about the case in a | ||||||
13 | public forum shall be subject to disclosure upon a public | ||||||
14 | information request. Information about the case shall also be | ||||||
15 | subject to disclosure upon consent of an adult subject. | ||||||
16 | Information about the case shall also be subject to disclosure | ||||||
17 | if it has been publicly disclosed in a report by a law | ||||||
18 | enforcement agency or official, a State's Attorney, a judge, or | ||||||
19 | any other State or local investigative agency or official. | ||||||
20 | Except as it may apply directly to the cause of the death or | ||||||
21 | serious life-threatening injury of the
child, nothing
in this | ||||||
22 | Section shall be deemed to authorize the release or disclosure | ||||||
23 | to the
public of
the substance or content of any psychological, | ||||||
24 | psychiatric, therapeutic,
clinical, or medical reports, | ||||||
25 | evaluation, or like materials or information
pertaining to the | ||||||
26 | child or the child's family.
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1 | (c) No later than 6 months after the date of the death or | ||||||
2 | serious life-threatening injury of the child, the
Department | ||||||
3 | shall notify the President of the Senate, the Minority Leader | ||||||
4 | of
the Senate, the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, the | ||||||
5 | Minority Leader of the House of
Representatives, and the | ||||||
6 | members of the Senate and the House of Representatives
in whose | ||||||
7 | district the child's death or serious life-threatening injury | ||||||
8 | occurred upon the completion of each report
and
shall submit an | ||||||
9 | annual cumulative report to the Governor and the General
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10 | Assembly incorporating cumulative data about the above reports | ||||||
11 | and including appropriate
findings
and recommendations. The | ||||||
12 | reports required by this subsection (c) shall be made available | ||||||
13 | to the public
after completion or submittal.
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14 | (d) To enable the Department to prepare the report, the | ||||||
15 | Department may
request and shall timely receive from | ||||||
16 | departments, boards, bureaus, or other
agencies of the State, | ||||||
17 | or any of its political subdivisions, or any duly
authorized | ||||||
18 | agency, or any other agency which provided assistance, care, or
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19 | services to the deceased or injured child any information they | ||||||
20 | are authorized to
provide.
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21 | (Source: P.A. 95-405, eff. 6-1-08 .)
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