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REFERENCE TITLE: missing children; reporting; pictures; records |
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State of Arizona Senate Fifty-fourth Legislature Second Regular Session 2020
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SB 1422 |
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Introduced by Senator Farnsworth D
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AN ACT
amending title 8, chapter 4, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding section 8‑467; relating to the department of child safety.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Title 4, chapter 4, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 8-467, to read:
8-467. Missing child; reporting; definitions
A. The department may not purge or dispose of records about a missing child, except as provided in this section.
B. The department shall report missing children using the department's current format and website. The department may add extra information that enhances functionality if the minimum standards prescribed in this section are met. If the department updates hardware or software, the look and function shall be essentially the same as the current department website.
c. The reporting format shall be the same as the current department website under the tab foster and adoption and the subcategory children's heart gallery.
D. The department shall create a new data set called missing children that is located in the DROP-DOWN menu for the current tab called report child abuse. The current tab report child abuse shall be modified by raising report child abuse slightly and placing missing children directly below to create a single unified tab. The department shall use the same type size and font.
E. The new missing children data set shall look nearly the same as the children's heart gallery except after the child's name the department shall place "went missing (mm/dd/year), from (location) (city or town) (county). The department may describe the term location, but the description may not OBSCURE multiple children missing from the same location.
F. The child safety worker who is responsible for a child shall obtain a photograph of the child within four days after the child is removed from the child's family. The child safety worker shall obtain a new photograph of the child at least once every nine months. The photograph shall include THE DATE the photograph was taken in clearly legible writing or type in the view of and the lower portion of the photograph.
G. Everyone is a mandated reporter when a child goes missing. A person who knows of a child who goes missing shall report this fact to the department's centralized intake hotline within THIRTY-SIX hours after the child is discovered to be missing. The department shall make a missing persons report to the appropriate law enforcement agency within thirty‑six hours after receiving the report that a child is missing.
H. If a missing child is located, the information prescribed by this section may be removed from the database of missing children. If a found child is deceased, the department shall report this information to the state child fatality review team.
I. The department's inspections bureau shall perform periodic checks to ensure compliance with this section. If the inspections bureau finds noncompliance, the inspections bureau shall increase the frequency of the periodic checks until compliance is reestablished. The inspections bureau's records of the periodic checks shall be kept for thirty‑six months and are public records.
J. The records related to a missing child prescribed in this section shall be maintained until the child reaches, or would have reached if deceased, twenty‑one years of age. After this period, the department shall transfer these records to the appropriate law enforcement agency.
K. An employee or contractor of this state who is found to be out of conformance with this section shall be dismissed immediately and prohibited from working for this state for ten years. A supervisor who has two workers dismissed pursuant to this subsection shall be dismissed immediately and prohibited from working for this state for ten years.
L. For the purposes of this section:
1. "Current" means in effect on the effective date of this section.
2. "missing child" means a child whom the department cannot locate while the child is under the care and responsibility of the department.