Senate Bill 2957

(As Passed the Senate)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 43-1-55, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DELETE THE REPEALERS ON VARIOUS OTHER SECTIONS OF LAW, INCLUDING SECTION 43-21-261, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDES FOR CONFIDENTIALITY OF THE RECORDS OF THE YOUTH COURT; SECTION 43-21-353, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH IMPOSES A DUTY TO REPORT A REASONABLE SUSPICION OF CHILD ABUSE OR NEGLECT; SECTION 43-21-355, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDES IMMUNITY TO ANYONE WHO REPORTS IN GOOD FAITH SUSPECTED CHILD ABUSE OR NEGLECT; SECTION 43-21-603, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH CREATES THE DISPOSITION HEARING PROCEDURES FOR YOUTH COURT; SECTION 93-21-23, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDES GOOD FAITH IMMUNITY TO ANYONE REPORTING DOMESTIC ABUSE; AND SECTION 93-3-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH IS THE CRIMINAL STATUTE CREATING AS OFFENSES THE CRIMES OF SIMPLE AND AGGRAVATED ASSAULT AND DOMESTIC ABUSE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 43-1-55, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

43-1-55. (1) The Office of Family and Children's Services shall devise formal social worker standards for employment and service delivery designed to measure the quality of services delivered to clients, as well as the timeliness of services. Each social worker shall be assessed annually by a supervisor who is knowledgeable in the standards promulgated. The standards shall be applicable to all social workers working under the office.

(2) The Office of Family and Children's Services shall devise formal standards for child protection specialists of the Department of Human Services who are not licensed social workers. Those standards shall require that:

(a) In order to be employed as a child protection specialist, a person must have a bachelor's degree in either psychology, sociology, nursing, criminal justice or a related field, or a graduate degree in either law, psychology, sociology, nursing, criminal justice or a related field. The determination of what is a related field shall be made by certification of the State Personnel Board; and

(b) Before a person may provide services as a child protection specialist, the person shall complete four (4) weeks of intensive training provided by the training unit of the Office of Family and Children's Services, and shall take and receive a passing score on the certification test administered by the training unit upon completion of the four-week training. Upon receiving a passing score on the certification test, the person shall be certified as a child protection specialist by the Department of Human Services. Any person who does not receive a passing score on the certification test shall not be employed or maintain employment as a child protection specialist for the department. Further, a person, qualified as a child protection specialist through the procedures set forth above, shall not conduct forensic interviews of children until the specialist receives additional specialized training in child forensic interview protocols and techniques by a course or curriculum approved by the Department of Human Services to be not less than forty (40) hours.

(3) For the purpose of providing services in child abuse or neglect cases, youth court proceedings, vulnerable adults cases, and such other cases as designated by the Executive Director of Human Services, the caseworker or service provider may be a child protection specialist whose work is overseen by a licensed social worker.

(4) The Department of Human Services and the Office of Family and Children's Services shall seek to employ and use licensed social workers to provide the services of the office, and may employ and use child protection specialists to provide those services only in counties in which there is not a sufficient number of licensed social workers to adequately provide those services in the county.

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SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.