(a) A reportable incident is the following:
- (1) A death of a child.
- (2) A physical act by a child to commit suicide.
- (3) An injury, trauma or illness of a child requiring inpatient treatment at a hospital.
- (4) A serious injury or trauma of a child requiring outpatient treatment at a hospital, not to include minor injuries such as sprains or cuts.
- (5) A violation of a child’s rights.
- (6) Intimate sexual contact between children, consensual or otherwise.
- (7) A child absence from the premises for 4 hours or more without the approval of staff persons, or for 30 minutes or more without the approval of staff persons if the child may be in immediate jeopardy.
- (8) Abuse or misuse of a child’s funds.
- (9) An outbreak of a serious communicable disease as defined in 28 Pa. Code § 27.2 (relating to specific identified reportable diseases, infections and conditions).
- (10) An incident requiring the services of the fire or police departments.
- (11) Any condition which results in closure of the facility.
- (b) The facility shall develop written policies and procedures on the prevention, reporting, investigation and management of reportable incidents.
- (c) The facility shall complete a written reportable incident report, on a form prescribed by the Department, and send it to the appropriate Departmental regional office and the contracting agency, within 24 hours.
- (d) The facility shall orally report to the appropriate Departmental regional office and the contracting agency within 12 hours, a fire requiring the relocation of children, an unexpected death of a child and a child who is missing from the facility if police have been notified.
- (e) The facility shall initiate an investigation of a reportable incident immediately following the report of the incident and shall complete the investigation within a reasonable time.
- (f) The facility shall submit a final reportable incident report to the agencies specified in subsection (c) immediately following the conclusion of the investigation.
- (g) A copy of reportable incident reports shall be kept.
- (h) The facility shall notify the child’s parent and, if applicable, a guardian or custodian, immediately following a reportable incident relating to a specific child, unless restricted by applicable confidentiality statutes, regulations or an individual child’s court order.
Cross References
This section cited in 55 Pa. Code § 3800.17 (relating to recordable incidents); 55 Pa. Code § 3800.274 (relating to additional requirements); and 55 Pa. Code § 3800.311 (relating to exceptions for day treatment).