1. (a) Information acquired by staff of the Child and Family Services Agency that identifies individual children reported as or found to be abused or neglected or which identifies other members of their families or other persons shall be considered confidential and may be released or divulged only for:

   1. (1) Purposes relating to the identification of abuse or neglect;
   2. (2) The identification of service needs or resources;
   3. (3) The securing or provision of treatment or direct services for the child or individual identified;
   4. (4) The investigation or review of child fatalities by representatives of the Child Fatality Review Committee, established pursuant to § 4-1371.03;
   5. (5) For the purposes of and in accordance with Chapter 2B of Title 7 [§ 7-241 et seq.]; or
   6. (6) The investigation or review of homicides or suicides, as that term is defined in § 5-1431.01(e), by representatives of the Violence Fatality Review Committee, established by § 5-1431.01.
   7. (7) An investigation by the Office of the Ombudsperson for Children established by Chapter 6C of this title, if the information is relevant to the investigation.
2. (b) Persons or agencies who are not covered by confidentiality requirements comparable to those in subsection (a) of this section, to whom information is released pursuant to this section, § 4-1302.03, or § 4-1302.04 must sign a statement that they will not divulge such confidential information for purposes unrelated to the purposes of treatment, identification or evaluation.
3. (c) Repealed.

History

Sept. 23, 1977, D.C. Law 2-22, title III, § 306

as added Oct. 18, 1979, D.C. Law 3-29, § 2, 26 DCR 678

June 27, 2000, D.C. Law 13-136, § 201(e), 47 DCR 2850

Oct. 3, 2001, D.C. Law 14-28, § 4618, 48 DCR 6981

Feb. 13, 2002, D.C. Law 14-69, § 2(a), 48 DCR 11072

Dec. 4, 2010, D.C. Law 18-273, § 202, 57 DCR 7171

Oct. 30, 2018, D.C. Law 22-168, § 3051

Apr. 5, 2021, D.C. Law 23-270, § 201(b)(3)

Emergency Legislation

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 202 of Data-Sharing and Information Coordination Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 2010 (D.C. Act 18-582, October 20, 2010, 57 DCR 10118).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 202 of Data-Sharing and Information Coordination Emergency Amendment Act of 2010 (D.C. Act 18-530, August 6, 2010, 57 DCR 8099).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 2(a) of Public Disclosure of Findings and Information in Cases of Child Fatality or Near Fatality Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 2002 (D.C. Act 14-286, February 25, 2002, 49 DCR 2317).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 2(a) of Public Disclosure of Findings and Information in Cases of Child Fatality or Near Fatality Second Emergency Amendment Act of 2001 (D.C. Act 14-191, November 29, 2001, 48 DCR 11233).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 18 of Child Fatality Review Committee Establishment Legislative Review Emergency Act of 2001 (D.C. Act 14-82, July 9, 2001, 48 DCR 6355).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 18 of Child Fatality Review Committee Establishment Emergency Act of 2001 (D.C. Act 14-40, April 25, 2001, 48 DCR 5917).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 2(a) of Public Disclosure of Findings and Information in Cases of Child Fatality or Near Fatality Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 2001 (D.C. Act 14-6, February 13, 2001, 48 DCR 2479).

For temporary (90 day) repeal of section, see § 2(a) of the Public Disclosure of Findings and Information in Cases of Child Fatality or Near Fatality Legislative Review Emergency Amendment Act of 2000 (D.C. Act 13-491, December 18, 2000, 48 DCR 57).

For temporary (90-day) amendment of section, see § 2(a) of the Public Disclosure of Findings and Information in Cases of Child Fatality or Near Fatality Emergency Amendment Act of 2000 (D.C. Act 13-428, August 14, 2000, 47 DCR 7451).

For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 3051 of Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2018 (D.C. Act 22-434, July 30, 2018, 65 DCR 8200).

For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 3051 of Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Support Congressional Review Emergency Act of 2018 (D.C. Act 22-458, Oct. 3, 2018, 65 DCR 11212).

Temporary Legislation

Temporary Repeal of Section For temporary (225 day) repeal of section, see § 2(a) of Public Disclosure of Findings and Information in Cases of Child Fatality or Near Fatality Temporary Amendment Act of 2000 (D.C. Law 13-215, April 3, 2001, law notification 38 DCR 3457).

For temporary (225 day) amendment of section, see § 18 of Child Fatality Review Committee Establishment Temporary Act of 2001 (D.C. Law 14-20, September 6, 2001, law notification 48 DCR 9090).

Effect of Amendments

D.C. Law 18-273 rewrote subsec. (a), which had read as follows: “(a) Information acquired by staff of the Social Rehabilitation Administration of the Department of Human Services which identifies individual children reported as or found to be abused or neglected or which identifies other members of their families or other persons or other individuals shall be considered confidential and may be released or divulged only for purposes relating to the identification of abuse or neglect, the identification of service needs or resources, the securing or provision of treatment or direct services for the child or individual identified, or the investigation or review of child fatalities by representatives of the Child Fatality Review Committee, established pursuant to § 4-1371.03.”

“(c) Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, the Mayor or the Director of the designated Child and Family Services Agency may disclose to the public the findings or information about a case of child abuse or neglect which has resulted in a child’s fatality or near fatality. Nothing may be disclosed that would likely endanger the life, safety, or physical or emotional well-being of a child or the life or safety of any other person or which may compromise the integrity of a Mayor’s investigation or a civil or criminal investigation or judicial proceeding. If the Mayor denies access to specific information on this basis, the requesting entity may seek disclosure of the information through the Superior Court. The name or any other information identifying the person or entity who referred the child to the Department of Human Services shall not be released to the public.”

D.C. Law 14-69 repealed subsec. (c) which had read:.

D.C. Law 14-28, in subsec. (a), inserted “or the investigation or review of child fatalities by representatives of the Child Fatality Review Committee, established pursuant to § 4-1317.03”.

D.C. Law 13-136 added subsec. (c).

Prior Codifications

1973 Ed., § 6-2136.

1981 Ed., § 6-2126.

Section References

This section is referenced in § 4-1303.35, § 4-1371.06, and § 16-1054.

Applicability

Applicability of D.C. Law 23-270: § 301 of D.C. Law 23-270 provided that the change made to this section by § 201(b)(3) of D.C. Law 23-270 is subject to the inclusion of the law’s fiscal effect in an approved budget and financial plan. Therefore that amendment has not been implemented.

Section 7208 of D.C. Act 24-159 repealed the applicability provision of section 301 of D.C. Law 23-270 that impacted this section. Therefore the amendment of this section by Law 23-270 has been implemented.

Section 7208 of D.C. Law 24-45 repealed the applicability provision of section 301 of D.C. Law 23-270 that impacted this section. Therefore the amendment of this section by Law 23-270 has been implemented.