Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 15 - Mississippi Department of Health › Part 11 - Bureau of Child Care Facilities › Subpart 55 - Child Care Facilities Licensure › Chapter 4 - REGULATIONS GOVERNING LICENSURE OF YOUTH CAMPS › Appendix 15-11-55-4-A

Current through June 25, 2024
§
										43-21-353.
					 Duty to inform state agencies and officials; duty to inform individual about
					 whom report has been made of specific allegations.
(1) Any attorney, physician, dentist, intern,
				  resident, nurse, psychologist, social worker, family protection worker, family
				  protection specialist, child caregiver, 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 youth court intake unit, which unit shall promptly comply with
				  Section
				  43-21-357. In
				  the course of an investigation, at the initial time of contact with the
				  individual(s) about whom a report has been made under this Youth Court Act or
				  with the individual(s) responsible for the health or welfare of a child about
				  whom a report has been made under this chapter, the Department of Human
				  Services shall inform the individual of the specific complaints or allegations
				  made against the individual. Consistent with subsection (4), the identity of
				  the person who reported his or her suspicion shall not be disclosed. Where
				  appropriate, the Department of Human Services shall additionally make a
				  referral to the youth court prosecutor.
Upon receiving a report that a child has been sexually
					 abused, or burned, tortured, mutilated or otherwise physically abused in such a
					 manner as to cause serious bodily harm, or upon receiving any report of abuse
					 that would be a felony under state or federal law, the Department of Human
					 Services shall immediately notify the law enforcement agency in whose
					 jurisdiction the abuse occurred and shall notify the appropriate prosecutor
					 within forty-eight (48) hours, and the Department of Human Services shall have
					 the duty to provide the law enforcement agency all the names and facts known at
					 the time of the report; this duty shall be of a continuing nature. The law
					 enforcement agency and the Department of Human Services shall investigate the
					 reported abuse immediately and shall file a preliminary report with the
					 appropriate prosecutor's office within twenty-four (24) hours and shall make
					 additional reports as new or additional information or evidence becomes
					 available. The Department of Human Services shall advise the clerk of the youth
					 court and the youth court prosecutor of all cases of abuse reported to the
					 department within seventy-two (72) hours and shall update such report as
					 information becomes available.
(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, family protection worker, family protection
				  specialist, child caregiver, 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
				  or when the identity of the reporter is released to law enforcement agencies
				  and the appropriate prosecutor pursuant to subsection (1). Reports made under
				  this section to any law enforcement agency or prosecutorial officer are for the
				  purpose of criminal investigation and prosecution only and no information from
				  these reports may be released to the public except as provided by Section
				  43-21-261.
				  Disclosure of any information by the prosecutor shall be according to the
				  Mississippi Uniform Rules of Circuit and County Court Procedure. The identity
				  of the reporting party shall not be disclosed to anyone other than law
				  enforcement officers or prosecutors without an order from the appropriate youth
				  court. Any person disclosing any reports made under this section in a manner
				  not expressly provided for in this section or Section
				  43-21-261,
				  shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to the penalties prescribed by
				  Section
				  43-21-267.
(5) All final dispositions of law enforcement
				  investigations described in subsection (1) of this section shall be determined
				  only by the appropriate prosecutor or court. All final dispositions of
				  investigations by the Department of Human Services as described in subsection
				  (1) of this section shall be determined only by the youth court. 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 family protection
				  worker or family protection specialist 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.