HB271: AN ACT relating to child abuse.

Legislative Summary

Amends KRS 600.020 to define “safety plan” and “statewide reporting system”; amends KRS 620.023 to allow a court access to a child’s protection and permanency record; amends KRS 620.030 to allow a person to make a written report of dependency, neglect, or abuse of a child, to allow child dependency, neglect, or abuse reports to be submitted electronically, and to require that the Cabinet for Health and Family Services establish a statewide reporting system for making reports of child dependency, neglect, and abuse via phone call or written report available to the public; amends KRS 620.032 to require that the cabinet report monthly to the General Assembly on child protective services intakes; amends KRS 605.035 to establish requirements related to when a family accountability, intervention, and response team has to refer a case to the cabinet; amends KRS 620.040 to establish new requirements for the cabinet when it is making the initial determination as to the risk of harm and immediate safety of the child; amends KRS 620.050 to require that the cabinet refer families to community-based child and family service agencies for services when it determines that a report of dependency, abuse, or neglect does not meet criteria for an investigation; and creates a new section of KRS Chapter 620 to establish requirements for the cabinet related to when a safety plan is put in place for a child.