2017 -- H 5819

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LC001332

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2017

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO HUMAN SERVICES - ABUSED AND NEGLECTED CHILDREN

     

     Introduced By: Representatives Serpa, and Fellela

     Date Introduced: March 02, 2017

     Referred To: House Health, Education & Welfare

     (DCYF)

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

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     SECTION 1. Sections 40-11-2 and 40-11-6 of the General Laws in Chapter 40-11

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entitled "Abused and Neglected Children" are hereby amended to read as follows:

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     40-11-2. Definitions.

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     When used in this chapter and unless the specific context indicates otherwise:

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     (1) "Abused and/or neglected child" means a child whose physical or mental health or

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welfare is harmed, or threatened with harm, when his or her parent or other person responsible for

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his or her welfare:

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     (i) Inflicts, or allows to be inflicted, upon the child physical or mental injury, including

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excessive corporal punishment; or

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     (ii) Creates, or allows to be created, a substantial risk of physical or mental injury to the

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child, including excessive corporal punishment; or

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     (iii) Commits, or allows to be committed, against the child, an act of sexual abuse; or

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     (iv) Fails to supply the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical care,

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though financially able to do so or offered financial or other reasonable means to do so; or

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     (v) Fails to provide the child with a minimum degree of care or proper supervision or

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guardianship because of his or her unwillingness or inability to do so by situations or conditions

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such as, but not limited to: social problems, mental incompetency, or the use of a drug, drugs, or

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alcohol to the extent that the parent or other person responsible for the child's welfare loses his or

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her ability or is unwilling to properly care for the child; or

 

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     (vi) Abandons or deserts the child; or

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     (vii) Sexually exploits the child in that the person allows, permits, or encourages the child

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to engage in prostitution as defined by the provisions in § 11-34.1-1 et seq., entitled "Commercial

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Sexual Activity"; or

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     (viii) Sexually exploits the child in that the person allows, permits, encourages, or

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engages in the obscene or pornographic photographing, filming, or depiction of the child in a

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setting that taken as a whole, suggests to the average person that the child is about to engage in,

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or has engaged in, any sexual act, or that depicts any such child under eighteen (18) years of age

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performing sodomy, oral copulation, sexual intercourse, masturbation, or bestiality; or

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     (ix) Commits, or allows to be committed, any sexual offense against the child as such

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sexual offenses are defined by the provisions of chapter 37 of title 11, entitled "Sexual Assault",

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as amended; or

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     (x) Commits, or allows to be committed, against any child an act involving sexual

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penetration or sexual contact if the child is under fifteen (15) years of age; or if the child is fifteen

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(15) years or older, and (1) force or coercion is used by the perpetrator, or (2) the perpetrator

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knows, or has reason to know, that the victim is a severely impaired person as defined by the

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provisions of § 11-5-11, or physically helpless as defined by the provisions of § 11-37-6.

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     (2) "Child" means a person under the age of eighteen (18).

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     (3) "Child protective investigator" means an employee of the department charged with

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responsibility for investigating complaints and/or referrals of child abuse and/or neglect and

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institutional child abuse and/or neglect.

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     (4) "Department" means department of children, youth and families.

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     (5) "Educational program" means any public or private school, including boarding

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schools, or any home-schooling program.

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     (6) "Health care provider" means any provider of health care services involved in the

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delivery or care of infants and/or care of children.

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     (6)(7) "Institution" means any private or public hospital or other facility providing

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medical and/or psychiatric diagnosis, treatment, and care.

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     (7)(8) "Institutional child abuse and neglect" means situations of known or suspected

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child abuse or neglect where the person allegedly responsible for the abuse or neglect is a foster

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parent or the employee of a public or private residential child-care institution or agency; or any

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staff person providing out-of-home care or situations where the suspected abuse or neglect occurs

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as a result of the institution's practices, policies, or conditions.

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     (8)(9) "Law-enforcement agency" means the police department in any city or town and/or

 

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the state police.

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     (9)(10) "Mental injury" includes a state of substantially diminished psychological or

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intellectual functioning in relation to, but not limited to, such factors as: failure to thrive; ability

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to think or reason; control of aggressive or self-destructive impulses; acting-out or misbehavior,

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including incorrigibility, ungovernability, or habitual truancy; provided, however, that the injury

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must be clearly attributable to the unwillingness or inability of the parent or other person

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responsible for the child's welfare to exercise a minimum degree of care toward the child.

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     (10)(11) "Person responsible for child's welfare" means the child's parent; guardian; any

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individual, eighteen (18) years of age or older, who resides in the home of a parent or guardian

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and has unsupervised access to a child; foster parent; an employee of a public or private

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residential home or facility; or any staff person providing out-of-home care (out-of-home care

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means child day care to include family day care, group day care, and center-based day care).

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Provided, further, that an individual, eighteen (18) years of age or older, who resides in the home

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of a parent or guardian and has unsupervised access to the child, shall not have the right to

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consent to the removal and examination of the child for the purposes of § 40-11-6.

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     (11)(12) "Physician" means any licensed doctor of medicine, licensed osteopathic

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physician, and any physician, intern, or resident of an institution as defined in subdivision (6).

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     (12)(13) "Probable cause" means facts and circumstances based upon as accurate and

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reliable information as possible that would justify a reasonable person to suspect that a child is

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abused or neglected. The facts and circumstances may include evidence of an injury, or injuries,

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and the statements of a person worthy of belief, even if there is no present evidence of injury.

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     (13)(14) "Shaken-baby syndrome" means a form of abusive head trauma, characterized

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by a constellation of symptoms caused by other than accidental traumatic injury resulting from

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the violent shaking of and/or impact upon an infant or young child's head.

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     40-11-6. Report by physicians of abuse or neglect. Report by physicians and health

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care providers of abuse or neglect.

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     (a) When any physician, or duly certified registered nurse practitioner, or other health

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care provider is involved in the delivery or care of infants born with or identified as being

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affected by substance abuse or withdrawal symptoms resulting from prenatal drug exposure, or a

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fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, or has cause to suspect that a child brought to him or her or

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coming to him or her for examination, care, or treatment, is an abused or neglected child as

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defined in this chapter, or when he or she determines that a child under the age of twelve (12)

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years is suffering from any sexually transmitted disease, he or she shall report the incident or

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cause a report thereof to be made to the department as provided in subsection (b).

 

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     (b) An immediate oral report shall be made by telephone or otherwise, to both the

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department and law enforcement agency, and shall be followed by a report, in writing, to the

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department and law enforcement agency explaining the extent and nature of the abuse or neglect

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the child is alleged to have suffered.

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     (c) The department, upon receipt of such a report by a person other than a physician or

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duly certified registered nurse practitioner alleging that a child has been physically abused, shall

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investigate the report, and if the investigation reveals evidence of injury or that the child has been

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the victim of sexual abuse, the department shall have the child examined by a licensed physician

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or duly certified registered nurse practitioner. Any child protective investigator shall, with or

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without the consent of the parent or other person responsible for the child's welfare, have the right

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to remove the child from the place where the child may be to secure the examination required by

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this subsection. Upon completion of the examination, it shall be mandatory for the physician or

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duly certified registered nurse practitioner to make a written report of his or her findings to the

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department.

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     (d) The department shall promulgate rules and regulations to implement the provisions of

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this section.

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     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO HUMAN SERVICES - ABUSED AND NEGLECTED CHILDREN

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     This act would require health care providers involved in the delivery and care of infants

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to report cases of infants born with or affected by substance abuse.

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     This act would take effect upon passage.

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