MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Public Health and Welfare

By: Senator(s) White (29th)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 43-21-353, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES SHALL NOTIFY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES AND THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE OF REPORTS OF SUSPECTED CHILD ABUSE OR NEGLECT WITHIN 24 HOURS AND PROVIDE ALL NAMES AND FACTS KNOWN AT THE TIME OF REPORT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 43-21-353, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

43-21-353. (1) Any attorney, physician, dentist, intern, resident, nurse, psychologist, social worker, child care giver, minister, law enforcement officer, public or private school employee or any other person having reasonable cause to suspect that a child is a neglected child or an abused child, shall cause an oral report to be made immediately by telephone or otherwise and followed as soon thereafter as possible by a report in writing to the Department of Human Services, and immediately a referral shall be made by the Department of Human Services to the intake unit and where appropriate to the youth court prosecutor. Upon receiving a report that a child has been abused and that the abusive act would be a felony under state law, the Department of Human Services shall promptly notify the law enforcement agency in whose jurisdiction the abuse occurred and shall notify the district attorney's office within twenty-four (24) hours and shall have the duty to provide the law enforcement agency all names and facts known at the time, said duty to be of a continuing nature. The law enforcement agency shall investigate the reported abuse immediately and shall file a preliminary report with the district attorney's office within twenty-four (24) hours and shall file a final report with the district attorney's office within seventy-two (72) hours.

(2) Any report to the Department of Human Services shall contain the names and addresses of the child and his parents or other persons responsible for his care, if known, the child's age, the nature and extent of the child's injuries, including any evidence of previous injuries and any other information that might be helpful in establishing the cause of the injury and the identity of the perpetrator.

(3) The Department of Human Services shall maintain a statewide incoming wide-area telephone service or similar service for the purpose of receiving reports of suspected cases of child abuse; provided that any attorney, physician, dentist, intern, resident, nurse, psychologist, social worker, child care giver, minister, law enforcement officer or public or private school employee who is required to report under subsection (1) of this section shall report in the manner required in subsection (1).

(4) Reports of abuse and neglect made under this chapter and the identity of the reporter are confidential except when the court in which the investigation report is filed, in its discretion, determines the testimony of the person reporting to be material to a judicial proceeding.

(5) Reports made under subsection (1) of this section by the Department of Human Services to the law enforcement agency and to the district attorney's office shall include the following, if known to the department:

(a) The name and address of the child;

(b) The names and addresses of the parents;

(c) The name and address of the suspected perpetrator;

(d) The names and addresses of all witnesses, including the reporting party if a material witness to the abuse;

(e) A brief statement of the facts indicating that the child has been abused and any other information from the agency files or known to the social worker making the investigation, including medical records or other records, which may assist law enforcement or the district attorney in investigating and/or prosecuting the case; and

(f) What, if any, action is being taken by the Department of Human Services.

(6) In any investigation of a report made under this chapter of the abuse or neglect of a child as defined in Section 43-21-105(m), the Department of Human Services may request the appropriate law enforcement officer with jurisdiction to accompany the department in its investigation, and in such cases the law enforcement officer shall comply with such request.

(7) Anyone who willfully violates any provision of this section shall be, upon being found guilty, punished by a fine not to exceed Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or by imprisonment in jail not to exceed one (1) year, or both.

(8) If a report is made directly to the Department of Human Services that a child has been abused or neglected in an out-of-home setting, a referral shall be made immediately to the law enforcement agency in whose jurisdiction the abuse occurred and the department shall notify the district attorney's office within seventy-two (72) hours. The law enforcement agency shall investigate the reported abuse immediately and shall file a preliminary report with the district attorney's office within twenty-four (24) hours and shall file a final report with the district attorney's office within seventy-two (72) hours. If the out-of-home setting is a licensed facility, an additional referral shall be made by the Department of Human Services to the licensing agency.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1997.