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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 as follows:
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6 | (325 ILCS 5/4)
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7 | Sec. 4. Persons required to report; privileged | |||||||||||||||||||
8 | communications;
transmitting false report. | |||||||||||||||||||
9 | (a) The following persons are required to immediately | |||||||||||||||||||
10 | report to the Department when they have reasonable cause to | |||||||||||||||||||
11 | believe that a child known to them in their professional or | |||||||||||||||||||
12 | official capacities may be an abused child or a neglected | |||||||||||||||||||
13 | child: | |||||||||||||||||||
14 | (1) Medical personnel, including any: physician | |||||||||||||||||||
15 | licensed to practice medicine in any of its branches | |||||||||||||||||||
16 | (medical doctor or doctor of osteopathy); resident; | |||||||||||||||||||
17 | intern; medical administrator or personnel engaged in the | |||||||||||||||||||
18 | examination, care, and treatment of persons; psychiatrist; | |||||||||||||||||||
19 | surgeon; dentist; dental hygienist; chiropractic | |||||||||||||||||||
20 | physician; podiatric physician; physician assistant; | |||||||||||||||||||
21 | emergency medical technician; acupuncturist; registered | |||||||||||||||||||
22 | nurse; licensed practical nurse; advanced practice | |||||||||||||||||||
23 | registered nurse; genetic counselor; respiratory care |
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1 | practitioner; home health aide; or certified nursing | ||||||
2 | assistant. | ||||||
3 | (2) Social services and mental health personnel, | ||||||
4 | including any: licensed professional counselor; licensed | ||||||
5 | clinical professional counselor; licensed social worker; | ||||||
6 | licensed clinical social worker; licensed psychologist or | ||||||
7 | assistant working under the direct supervision of a | ||||||
8 | psychologist; associate licensed marriage and family | ||||||
9 | therapist; licensed marriage and family therapist; field | ||||||
10 | personnel of the Departments of Healthcare and Family | ||||||
11 | Services, Public Health, Human Services, Human Rights, or | ||||||
12 | Children and Family Services; supervisor or administrator | ||||||
13 | of the General Assistance program established under | ||||||
14 | Article VI of the Illinois Public Aid Code; social services | ||||||
15 | administrator; or substance abuse treatment personnel. | ||||||
16 | (3) Crisis intervention personnel, including any: | ||||||
17 | crisis line or hotline personnel; or domestic violence | ||||||
18 | program personnel. | ||||||
19 | (4)
Education personnel, including any: school | ||||||
20 | personnel (including administrators and certified and | ||||||
21 | non-certified school employees); personnel of institutions | ||||||
22 | of higher education; educational advocate assigned to a | ||||||
23 | child in accordance with the School Code; member of a | ||||||
24 | school board or the Chicago Board of Education or the | ||||||
25 | governing body of a private school (but only to the extent | ||||||
26 | required under subsection (d)); or truant officer. |
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1 | (5)
Recreation or athletic program or facility | ||||||
2 | personnel. | ||||||
3 | (6)
Child care personnel, including any: early | ||||||
4 | intervention provider as defined in the Early Intervention | ||||||
5 | Services System Act; director or staff assistant of a | ||||||
6 | nursery school or a child day care center; or foster | ||||||
7 | parent, homemaker, or child care worker. | ||||||
8 | (7)
Law enforcement personnel, including any: law | ||||||
9 | enforcement officer; field personnel of the Department of | ||||||
10 | Juvenile Justice; field personnel of the Department of | ||||||
11 | Corrections; probation officer; or animal control officer | ||||||
12 | or field investigator of the Department of Agriculture's | ||||||
13 | Bureau of Animal Health and Welfare. | ||||||
14 | (8)
Any funeral home director; funeral home director | ||||||
15 | and embalmer; funeral home employee; coroner; or medical | ||||||
16 | examiner. | ||||||
17 | (9)
Any member of the clergy. | ||||||
18 | (10) Any physician, physician assistant, registered | ||||||
19 | nurse, licensed practical nurse, medical technician, | ||||||
20 | certified nursing assistant, licensed social worker, | ||||||
21 | licensed clinical social worker, or licensed professional | ||||||
22 | counselor of any office, clinic, or any other physical | ||||||
23 | location that provides abortions, abortion referrals, or | ||||||
24 | contraceptives. | ||||||
25 | (b) When 2 or more persons who work within the same | ||||||
26 | workplace and are required to report under this Act share a |
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1 | reasonable cause to believe that a child may be an abused or | ||||||
2 | neglected child, one of those reporters may be designated to | ||||||
3 | make a single report. The report shall include the names and | ||||||
4 | contact information for the other mandated reporters sharing | ||||||
5 | the reasonable cause to believe that a child may be an abused | ||||||
6 | or neglected child. The designated reporter must provide | ||||||
7 | written confirmation of the report to those mandated reporters | ||||||
8 | within 48 hours. If confirmation is not provided, those | ||||||
9 | mandated reporters are individually responsible for | ||||||
10 | immediately ensuring a report is made. Nothing in this Section | ||||||
11 | precludes or may be used to preclude any person from reporting | ||||||
12 | child abuse or child neglect. | ||||||
13 | (c)(1) As used in this Section, "a child known to them in | ||||||
14 | their professional or official capacities" means: | ||||||
15 | (A) the mandated reporter comes into contact with the | ||||||
16 | child in the course of the reporter's employment or | ||||||
17 | practice of a profession, or through a regularly scheduled | ||||||
18 | program, activity, or service; | ||||||
19 | (B) the mandated reporter is affiliated with an agency, | ||||||
20 | institution, organization, school, school district, | ||||||
21 | regularly established church or religious organization, or | ||||||
22 | other entity that is directly responsible for the care, | ||||||
23 | supervision, guidance, or training of the child; or | ||||||
24 | (C) a person makes a specific disclosure to the | ||||||
25 | mandated reporter that an identifiable child is the victim | ||||||
26 | of child abuse or child neglect, and the disclosure happens |
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1 | while the mandated reporter is engaged in his or her | ||||||
2 | employment or practice of a profession, or in a regularly | ||||||
3 | scheduled program, activity, or service. | ||||||
4 | (2) Nothing in this Section requires a child to come before | ||||||
5 | the mandated reporter in order for the reporter to make a | ||||||
6 | report of suspected child abuse or child neglect.
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7 | (d) If an allegation is raised to a school board member | ||||||
8 | during the course of an open or closed school board meeting | ||||||
9 | that a child who is enrolled in the school district of which he | ||||||
10 | or she is a board member is an abused child as defined in | ||||||
11 | Section 3 of this Act, the member shall direct or cause the | ||||||
12 | school board to direct the superintendent of the school | ||||||
13 | district , or other equivalent school administrator , or the | ||||||
14 | principal of the school attended by the child to comply with | ||||||
15 | the requirements of this Act concerning the reporting of child | ||||||
16 | abuse. For purposes of this paragraph, a school board member is | ||||||
17 | granted the authority in his or her individual capacity to | ||||||
18 | direct the superintendent of the school district or other | ||||||
19 | equivalent school administrator to comply with the | ||||||
20 | requirements of this Act concerning the reporting of child | ||||||
21 | abuse.
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22 | Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, if an | ||||||
23 | employee of a school district has made a report or caused a | ||||||
24 | report to be made to the Department under this Act involving | ||||||
25 | the conduct of a current or former employee of the school | ||||||
26 | district and a request is made by another school district for |
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1 | the provision of information concerning the job performance or | ||||||
2 | qualifications of the current or former employee because he or | ||||||
3 | she is an applicant for employment with the requesting school | ||||||
4 | district, the general superintendent of the school district to | ||||||
5 | which the request is being made must disclose to the requesting | ||||||
6 | school district the fact that an employee of the school | ||||||
7 | district has made a report involving the conduct of the | ||||||
8 | applicant or caused a report to be made to the Department, as | ||||||
9 | required under this Act. Only the fact that an employee of the | ||||||
10 | school district has made a report involving the conduct of the | ||||||
11 | applicant or caused a report to be made to the Department may | ||||||
12 | be disclosed by the general superintendent of the school | ||||||
13 | district to which the request for information concerning the | ||||||
14 | applicant is made, and this fact may be disclosed only in cases | ||||||
15 | where the employee and the general superintendent have not been | ||||||
16 | informed by the Department that the allegations were unfounded. | ||||||
17 | An employee of a school district who is or has been the subject | ||||||
18 | of a report made pursuant to this Act during his or her | ||||||
19 | employment with the school district must be informed by that | ||||||
20 | school district that if he or she applies for employment with | ||||||
21 | another school district, the general superintendent of the | ||||||
22 | former school district, upon the request of the school district | ||||||
23 | to which the employee applies, shall notify that requesting | ||||||
24 | school district that the employee is or was the subject of such | ||||||
25 | a report.
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26 | (e) Whenever
such person is required to report under this |
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1 | Act in his capacity as a member of
the staff of a medical or | ||||||
2 | other public or private institution, school, facility
or | ||||||
3 | agency, or as a member of the clergy, he shall
make report | ||||||
4 | immediately to the Department in accordance
with the provisions | ||||||
5 | of this Act and may also notify the person in charge of
such | ||||||
6 | institution, school, facility or agency, or church, synagogue, | ||||||
7 | temple,
mosque, or other religious institution, or his
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8 | designated agent that such
report has been made. Under no | ||||||
9 | circumstances shall any person in charge of
such institution, | ||||||
10 | school, facility or agency, or church, synagogue, temple,
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11 | mosque, or other religious institution, or his
designated agent | ||||||
12 | to whom
such notification has been made, exercise any control, | ||||||
13 | restraint, modification
or other change in the report or the | ||||||
14 | forwarding of such report to the
Department.
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15 | (f) In addition to the persons required to report suspected | ||||||
16 | cases of child abuse or child neglect under this Section, any | ||||||
17 | other person may make a report if such person has reasonable | ||||||
18 | cause to believe a child may be an abused child or a neglected | ||||||
19 | child. | ||||||
20 | (g) The privileged quality of communication between any | ||||||
21 | professional
person required to report
and his patient or | ||||||
22 | client shall not apply to situations involving abused or
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23 | neglected children and shall not constitute grounds for failure | ||||||
24 | to report
as required by this Act or constitute grounds for | ||||||
25 | failure to share information or documents with the Department | ||||||
26 | during the course of a child abuse or neglect investigation. If |
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1 | requested by the professional, the Department shall confirm in | ||||||
2 | writing that the information or documents disclosed by the | ||||||
3 | professional were gathered in the course of a child abuse or | ||||||
4 | neglect investigation.
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5 | The reporting requirements of this Act shall not apply to | ||||||
6 | the contents of a privileged communication between an attorney | ||||||
7 | and his or her client or to confidential information within the | ||||||
8 | meaning of Rule 1.6 of the Illinois Rules of Professional | ||||||
9 | Conduct relating to the legal representation of an individual | ||||||
10 | client. | ||||||
11 | A member of the clergy may claim the privilege under | ||||||
12 | Section 8-803 of the
Code of Civil Procedure.
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13 | (h) Any office, clinic, or any other physical location that | ||||||
14 | provides abortions, abortion referrals, or contraceptives | ||||||
15 | shall provide to all office personnel copies of written | ||||||
16 | information and training materials about abuse and neglect and | ||||||
17 | the requirements of this Act that are provided to employees of | ||||||
18 | the office, clinic, or physical location who are required to | ||||||
19 | make reports to the Department under this Act, and instruct | ||||||
20 | such office personnel to bring to the attention of an employee | ||||||
21 | of the office, clinic, or physical location who is required to | ||||||
22 | make reports to the Department under this Act any reasonable | ||||||
23 | suspicion that a child known to him or her in his or her | ||||||
24 | professional or official capacity may be an abused child or a | ||||||
25 | neglected child.
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26 | (i) Any person who enters into
employment on and after July |
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1 | 1, 1986 and is mandated by virtue of that
employment to report | ||||||
2 | under this Act, shall sign a statement on a form
prescribed by | ||||||
3 | the Department, to the effect that the employee has knowledge
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4 | and understanding of the reporting requirements of this Act. On | ||||||
5 | and after January 1, 2019, the statement
shall also include | ||||||
6 | information about available mandated reporter training | ||||||
7 | provided by the Department. The statement
shall be signed prior | ||||||
8 | to commencement of the employment. The signed
statement shall | ||||||
9 | be retained by the employer. The cost of printing,
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10 | distribution, and filing of the statement shall be borne by the | ||||||
11 | employer.
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12 | (j) Persons required to report child abuse or child neglect | ||||||
13 | as provided under this Section must complete an initial | ||||||
14 | mandated reporter training within 3 months of their date of | ||||||
15 | engagement in a professional or official capacity as a mandated | ||||||
16 | reporter, or within the time frame of any other applicable | ||||||
17 | State law that governs training requirements for a specific | ||||||
18 | profession, and at least every 3 years thereafter. The initial | ||||||
19 | requirement only applies to the first time they engage in their | ||||||
20 | professional or official capacity. In lieu of training every 3 | ||||||
21 | years, medical personnel, as listed in paragraph (1) of | ||||||
22 | subsection (a), must meet the requirements described in | ||||||
23 | subsection (k). | ||||||
24 | The trainings shall be in-person or web-based, and shall | ||||||
25 | include, at a minimum, information on the following topics: (i) | ||||||
26 | indicators for recognizing child abuse and child neglect, as |
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1 | defined under this Act; (ii) the process for reporting | ||||||
2 | suspected child abuse and child neglect in Illinois as required | ||||||
3 | by this Act and the required documentation; (iii) responding to | ||||||
4 | a child in a trauma-informed manner; and (iv) understanding the | ||||||
5 | response of child protective services and the role of the | ||||||
6 | reporter after a call has been made. Child-serving | ||||||
7 | organizations are encouraged to provide in-person annual | ||||||
8 | trainings. | ||||||
9 | The mandated reporter training shall be provided through | ||||||
10 | the Department, through an entity authorized to provide | ||||||
11 | continuing education for professionals licensed through the | ||||||
12 | Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, the State | ||||||
13 | Board of Education, the Illinois Law Enforcement Training | ||||||
14 | Standards Board, or the Department of State Police, or through | ||||||
15 | an organization approved by the Department to provide mandated | ||||||
16 | reporter training. The Department must make available a free | ||||||
17 | web-based training for reporters. | ||||||
18 | Each mandated reporter shall report to his or her employer | ||||||
19 | and, when applicable, to his or her licensing or certification | ||||||
20 | board that he or she received the mandated reporter training. | ||||||
21 | The mandated reporter shall maintain records of completion. | ||||||
22 | Beginning January 1, 2021, if a mandated reporter receives | ||||||
23 | licensure from the Department of Financial and Professional | ||||||
24 | Regulation or the State Board of Education, and his or her | ||||||
25 | profession has continuing education requirements, the training | ||||||
26 | mandated under this Section shall count toward meeting the |
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1 | licensee's required continuing education hours. | ||||||
2 | (k)(1) Medical personnel, as listed in paragraph (1) of | ||||||
3 | subsection (a), who work with children in their professional or | ||||||
4 | official capacity, must complete mandated reporter training at | ||||||
5 | least every 6 years. Such medical personnel, if licensed, must | ||||||
6 | attest at each time of licensure renewal on their renewal form | ||||||
7 | that they understand they are a mandated reporter of child | ||||||
8 | abuse and neglect, that they are aware of the process for | ||||||
9 | making a report, that they know how to respond to a child in a | ||||||
10 | trauma-informed manner, and that they are aware of the role of | ||||||
11 | child protective services and the role of a reporter after a | ||||||
12 | call has been made. | ||||||
13 | (2) In lieu of repeated training, medical personnel, as | ||||||
14 | listed in paragraph (1) of subsection (a), who do not work with | ||||||
15 | children in their professional or official capacity, may | ||||||
16 | instead attest each time at licensure renewal on their renewal | ||||||
17 | form that they understand they are a mandated reporter of child | ||||||
18 | abuse and neglect, that they are aware of the process for | ||||||
19 | making a report, that they know how to respond to a child in a | ||||||
20 | trauma-informed manner, and that they are aware of the role of | ||||||
21 | child protective services and the role of a reporter after a | ||||||
22 | call has been made. Nothing in this paragraph precludes medical | ||||||
23 | personnel from completing mandated reporter training and | ||||||
24 | receiving continuing education credits for that training. | ||||||
25 | (l) The Department shall provide copies of this Act, upon | ||||||
26 | request, to all
employers employing persons who shall be |
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1 | required under the provisions of
this Section to report under | ||||||
2 | this Act.
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3 | (m) Any person who knowingly transmits a false report to | ||||||
4 | the Department
commits the offense of disorderly conduct under | ||||||
5 | subsection (a)(7) of
Section 26-1 of the Criminal Code of 2012. | ||||||
6 | A violation of this provision is a Class 4 felony.
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7 | Any person who knowingly and willfully violates any | ||||||
8 | provision of this
Section other than a second or subsequent | ||||||
9 | violation of transmitting a
false report as described in the
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10 | preceding paragraph, is guilty of a
Class A misdemeanor for
a | ||||||
11 | first violation and a Class
4 felony for a
second or subsequent | ||||||
12 | violation; except that if the person acted as part
of a plan or | ||||||
13 | scheme having as its object the
prevention of discovery of an | ||||||
14 | abused or neglected child by lawful authorities
for the
purpose | ||||||
15 | of protecting or insulating any person or entity from arrest or
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16 | prosecution, the
person is guilty of a Class 4 felony for a | ||||||
17 | first offense and a Class 3 felony
for a second or
subsequent | ||||||
18 | offense (regardless of whether the second or subsequent offense
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19 | involves any
of the same facts or persons as the first or other | ||||||
20 | prior offense).
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21 | (n) A child whose parent, guardian or custodian in good | ||||||
22 | faith selects and depends
upon spiritual means through prayer | ||||||
23 | alone for the treatment or cure of
disease or remedial care may | ||||||
24 | be considered neglected or abused, but not for
the sole reason | ||||||
25 | that his parent, guardian or custodian accepts and
practices | ||||||
26 | such beliefs.
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1 | (o) A child shall not be considered neglected or abused | ||||||
2 | solely because the
child is not attending school in accordance | ||||||
3 | with the requirements of
Article 26 of the School Code, as | ||||||
4 | amended.
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5 | (p) Nothing in this Act prohibits a mandated reporter who | ||||||
6 | reasonably believes that an animal is being abused or neglected | ||||||
7 | in violation of the Humane Care for Animals Act from reporting | ||||||
8 | animal abuse or neglect to the Department of Agriculture's | ||||||
9 | Bureau of Animal Health and Welfare. | ||||||
10 | (q) A home rule unit may not regulate the reporting of | ||||||
11 | child abuse or neglect in a manner inconsistent with the | ||||||
12 | provisions of this Section. This Section is a limitation under | ||||||
13 | subsection (i) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois | ||||||
14 | Constitution on the concurrent exercise by home rule units of | ||||||
15 | powers and functions exercised by the State. | ||||||
16 | (r) For purposes of this Section "child abuse or neglect" | ||||||
17 | includes abuse or neglect of an adult resident as defined in | ||||||
18 | this Act. | ||||||
19 | (Source: P.A. 100-513, eff. 1-1-18; 100-1071, eff. 1-1-19; | ||||||
20 | 101-564, eff. 1-1-20 .)
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21 | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | ||||||
22 | becoming law.
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