This provision requires child-abuse reports to be made orally, limits employer interference, and directs the department to notify, refer, and respond to reports within set timeframes.
1. Each report made by a mandatory reporter, as defined in section 232.69, subsection 1, or a permissive reporter, as defined in section 232.69, subsection 2, shall be oral. 2. The employer or supervisor of a person who is a mandatory or permissive reporter shall not apply a policy, work rule, or other requirement that interferes with the person making a report of child abuse. 3. The oral report shall be made by telephone or otherwise to the department. If the person making the report has reason to believe that immediate protection for the child is advisable, that person shall also make an oral report to an appropriate law enforcement agency. 4. Upon receipt of a report, the department shall do all of the following: a. Immediately make a determination as to whether the report constitutes an allegation of child abuse as defined in section 232.68. b. Notify the appropriate county attorney of the receipt of the report. 5. The oral and written reports shall contain the following information, or as much of the following information as the person making the report is able to furnish: a. The names and home address of the child and the child’s parents or other persons believed to be responsible for the child’s care. b. The child’s present whereabouts if not the same as the parent’s or other person’s home address. c. The child’s age. d. The nature and extent of the child’s injuries, including any evidence of previous injuries. e. The name, age and condition of other children in the same home. f. If the person making the report is a licensed school employee who reasonably believes the person responsible for the injury is also a licensed school employee, the identity of the licensed school employee the person making the report believes is responsible for the injury. g. Any other information which the person making the report believes might be helpful in establishing the cause of the injury to the child, the identity of the person or persons responsible for the injury, or in providing assistance to the child. h. The name and address of the person making the report. 6. A report made by a permissive reporter, as defined in section 232.69, subsection 2, shall be regarded as a report pursuant to this chapter whether or not the report contains all of the information required by this section and may be made to the department, county attorney, or law enforcement agency. If the report is made to any agency other than the department, such agency shall promptly refer the report to the department. 7. Within twenty-four hours of receiving a report from a mandatory or permissive reporter, the department shall inform the reporter, orally or by other appropriate means, whether or not the department has commenced an assessment of the allegation in the report. 8. If a report would be determined to constitute an allegation of child abuse as defined under section 232.68, subsection 2, paragraph “a”, subparagraph (3) or (5), except that the suspected abuse resulted from the acts or omissions of a person other than a person responsible for the care of the child, the department shall refer the report to the appropriate law enforcement agency having jurisdiction to investigate the allegation. The department shall refer the report orally as soon as practicable and in writing within seventy-two hours of receiving the report. 9. If the department has reasonable cause to believe that a child under the placement, care, or supervision of the department is, or is at risk of becoming, a sex trafficking victim, the department shall do all of the following: a. Identify the child as a sex trafficking victim or at risk of becoming a sex trafficking victim and include documentation in the child’s department records. b. Refer the child for appropriate services. c. Refer the child identified as a sex trafficking victim, within twenty-four hours, to the appropriate law enforcement agency having jurisdiction to investigate the allegation. [C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, §235A.4; C79, 81, §232.70] 83 Acts, ch 96, §157, 159; 87 Acts, ch 153, §4; 97 Acts, ch 176, §2, 17; 2000 Acts, ch 1137, §4, 14; 2001 Acts, ch 122, §4; 2013 Acts, ch 115, §2, 19; 2016 Acts, ch 1063, §10, 11; 2022 Acts, ch 1098, §22, 75; 2023 Acts, ch 19, §608; 2023 Acts, ch 95, §3 Referred to in §232.68, 232.69, 232.75 232.71 and 232.71ARepealed by 97 Acts, ch 35, §24, 2597 Acts, ch 35, §24, 25.