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California Law (Last Updated: March 4, 2014) |
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Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC |
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Division 9. PUBLIC SOCIAL SERVICES |
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Part 6. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS |
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Chapter 11. The Office of Child Abuse Prevention |
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ARTICLE 4. Child Abuse Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment Projects |
Section 18961.5.
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(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any county may establish a computerized database system within that county to allow provider agencies, as defined in subdivision (h), to share identifying information, as specified in subdivision (c), regarding families at risk for child abuse or neglect for the purposes of forming a multidisciplinary personnel team, as defined in either subdivision (d) of Section 18951 or paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 18961.7, for the prevention, identification, management, or treatment of child abuse or neglect, or for the provision of child welfare services to a child or child's family.
(b) Each county shall develop its own standards for defining "at risk" before establishing this system. Only information about children, the families of children, and persons living in the child's home, at risk for child abuse or neglect may be entered into a computerized database system established pursuant to this section.
(c) With regard to a case in which a child or family has been identified as at risk for child abuse or neglect under this section, only the following information shall be entered into the system:
(1) The name, address, telephone number, and date and place of birth of family members and persons living in the child's home.
(2) The number assigned to the case by each provider agency.
(3) The name and telephone number of each employee assigned to the case, or a contact person, from each provider agency.
(4) The date or dates of contact between each provider agency and a family member or a person living in the child's home.
(d) The information may only be entered into the system by, or disclosed to, provider agency employees designated by the director of each participating provider agency. Members of the multidisciplinary personnel teams shall be drawn from these designated employees, or other persons, as specified in Section 18961. The heads of provider agencies shall establish a system by which unauthorized personnel cannot access the data contained in the system.
(e) The information obtained pursuant to this section shall be kept confidential and shall be used solely for the prevention, identification, management, or treatment of child abuse, child neglect, or both, or for the provision of child welfare services. Any person knowingly and intentionally violating this subdivision shall be subject to any administrative or civil penalties set forth in the respective statutes governing the confidentiality of the records maintained by the provider agencies.
(f) This section shall not supplant any duties required by the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 11164) of Chapter 2 of Title 1 of Part 3 of the Penal Code).
(g) No employee of a provider agency which serves children and their families shall be civilly or criminally liable for furnishing or sharing information as authorized by this section.
(h) For the purposes of this section, "provider agency" means any governmental or other agency which has as one of its purposes the prevention, identification, management, or treatment of child abuse or neglect. The provider agencies serving children and their families which may share information under this section shall include, but not be limited to, the following entities or service agencies:
(1) Social services.
(2) Children's services.
(3) Health services.
(4) Mental health services.
(5) Probation.
(6) Law enforcement.
(7) Schools.
(i) A county that establishes a computerized database system pursuant to this section shall install system controls to monitor system use and to detect any violations of the system controls.