HOUSE BILL REPORT

SSB 6174

BYSenate Committee on Children & Family Services (originally sponsored by Senators Kiskaddon, Stratton, Bailey, Pullen and Garrett)

Requiring abuse and neglect to be reported both to law enforcement agencies and to the department of social and health services.

House Committe on Human Services

Majority Report:  Do pass.  (9)

      Signed by Representatives Brekke, Chair; Scott, Vice Chair; Anderson, Leonard, Moyer, Padden, H. Sommers, Sutherland and Winsley.

House Staff:Jean Wessman (786-7132)

AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES FEBRUARY 26, 1988

BACKGROUND:

Current law states that when someone has reasonable cause to believe that a child, dependent adult or developmentally disabled person has been abused or neglected, he or she can report it to either a law enforcement agency or the Department of Social and Health Services.  The Department and law enforcement are then required to notify each other of the report.

Concern has been raised that if the Department of Social and Health Services does not contact law enforcement in a short period of time, valuable physical evidence of the abuse or neglect can be lost, interfering with the state's ability to prosecute.

SUMMARY:

The Department must report incidents of abuse or neglect in which a child, dependent adult or developmentally disabled person has died, been physically injured or sexually abused to the appropriate law enforcement agency as soon as possible after the Department receives the report.  In no case shall the Department wait longer than twenty-four hours after it receives the report to report the incident to the appropriate law enforcement agency. If the Department's initial report to law enforcement is oral,it shall provide law enforcement with a written report within five days of making the oral report.

Law enforcement agencies must notify the Department of all reports of abuse or neglect in which a child, dependent adult or developmentally disabled person has died, been physically injured or sexually abused and the agency's disposition of those reports as soon as possible after receiving the report.  In no case can the agency wait longer than twenty-four hours after receiving the report to notify the Department.

Fiscal Note:      Available.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Senator Bill Kiskaddon, Original Sponsor; Dick Anderson, Department of Social and Health Services; and Lawrence Daly, King County Police.

House Committee - Testified Against:      None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:    Cases have taken as long as two hundred fifty-nine days to be reported to law enforcement by the Department of Social and Health Services.  The reciprocal time must be shortened to assist in services to the children and families involved and the ability to prosecute criminal cases.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None Presented.