Bill Text: IL HB5417 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act. In a provision requiring all mandated reporters to complete mandated reporter training, provides that the required in-person or web-based training shall include information on the process for reporting suspected child abuse or neglect utilizing the Department of Children and Family Services' Online Reporting System for Mandated Reporters.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-02-18 - Referred to Rules Committee [HB5417 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2019-HB5417-Introduced.html

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101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2019 and 2020 HB5417 Introduced , by Rep. Terri Bryant - Grant Wehrli - Amy Grant SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
325 ILCS 5/4
Amends the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act. In a provision requiring all mandated reporters to complete mandated reporter training, provides that the required in-person or web-based training shall include information on the process for reporting suspected child abuse or neglect utilizing the Department of Children and Family Services' Online Reporting System for Mandated Reporters.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning children.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act is
amended by changing Section 4 as follows:
(325 ILCS 5/4)
Sec. 4. Persons required to report; privileged
communications; transmitting false report.
(a) The following persons are required to immediately
report to the Department when they have reasonable cause to
believe that a child known to them in their professional or
official capacities may be an abused child or a neglected
child:
(1) Medical personnel, including any: physician
licensed to practice medicine in any of its branches
(medical doctor or doctor of osteopathy); resident;
intern; medical administrator or personnel engaged in the
examination, care, and treatment of persons; psychiatrist;
surgeon; dentist; dental hygienist; chiropractic
physician; podiatric physician; physician assistant;
emergency medical technician; acupuncturist; registered
nurse; licensed practical nurse; advanced practice
registered nurse; genetic counselor; respiratory care

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practitioner; home health aide; or certified nursing
assistant.
(2) Social services and mental health personnel,
including any: licensed professional counselor; licensed
clinical professional counselor; licensed social worker;
licensed clinical social worker; licensed psychologist or
assistant working under the direct supervision of a
psychologist; associate licensed marriage and family
therapist; licensed marriage and family therapist; field
personnel of the Departments of Healthcare and Family
Services, Public Health, Human Services, Human Rights, or
Children and Family Services; supervisor or administrator
of the General Assistance program established under
Article VI of the Illinois Public Aid Code; social services
administrator; or substance abuse treatment personnel.
(3) Crisis intervention personnel, including any:
crisis line or hotline personnel; or domestic violence
program personnel.
(4) Education personnel, including any: school
personnel (including administrators and certified and
non-certified school employees); personnel of institutions
of higher education; educational advocate assigned to a
child in accordance with the School Code; member of a
school board or the Chicago Board of Education or the
governing body of a private school (but only to the extent
required under subsection (d)); or truant officer.

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(5) Recreation or athletic program or facility
personnel.
(6) Child care personnel, including any: early
intervention provider as defined in the Early Intervention
Services System Act; director or staff assistant of a
nursery school or a child day care center; or foster
parent, homemaker, or child care worker.
(7) Law enforcement personnel, including any: law
enforcement officer; field personnel of the Department of
Juvenile Justice; field personnel of the Department of
Corrections; probation officer; or animal control officer
or field investigator of the Department of Agriculture's
Bureau of Animal Health and Welfare.
(8) Any funeral home director; funeral home director
and embalmer; funeral home employee; coroner; or medical
examiner.
(9) Any member of the clergy.
(10) Any physician, physician assistant, registered
nurse, licensed practical nurse, medical technician,
certified nursing assistant, licensed social worker,
licensed clinical social worker, or licensed professional
counselor of any office, clinic, or any other physical
location that provides abortions, abortion referrals, or
contraceptives.
(b) When 2 or more persons who work within the same
workplace and are required to report under this Act share a

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reasonable cause to believe that a child may be an abused or
neglected child, one of those reporters may be designated to
make a single report. The report shall include the names and
contact information for the other mandated reporters sharing
the reasonable cause to believe that a child may be an abused
or neglected child. The designated reporter must provide
written confirmation of the report to those mandated reporters
within 48 hours. If confirmation is not provided, those
mandated reporters are individually responsible for
immediately ensuring a report is made. Nothing in this Section
precludes or may be used to preclude any person from reporting
child abuse or child neglect.
(c)(1) As used in this Section, "a child known to them in
their professional or official capacities" means:
(A) the mandated reporter comes into contact with the
child in the course of the reporter's employment or
practice of a profession, or through a regularly scheduled
program, activity, or service;
(B) the mandated reporter is affiliated with an agency,
institution, organization, school, school district,
regularly established church or religious organization, or
other entity that is directly responsible for the care,
supervision, guidance, or training of the child; or
(C) a person makes a specific disclosure to the
mandated reporter that an identifiable child is the victim
of child abuse or child neglect, and the disclosure happens

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while the mandated reporter is engaged in his or her
employment or practice of a profession, or in a regularly
scheduled program, activity, or service.
(2) Nothing in this Section requires a child to come before
the mandated reporter in order for the reporter to make a
report of suspected child abuse or child neglect.
(d) If an allegation is raised to a school board member
during the course of an open or closed school board meeting
that a child who is enrolled in the school district of which he
or she is a board member is an abused child as defined in
Section 3 of this Act, the member shall direct or cause the
school board to direct the superintendent of the school
district or other equivalent school administrator to comply
with the requirements of this Act concerning the reporting of
child abuse. For purposes of this paragraph, a school board
member is granted the authority in his or her individual
capacity to direct the superintendent of the school district or
other equivalent school administrator to comply with the
requirements of this Act concerning the reporting of child
abuse.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, if an
employee of a school district has made a report or caused a
report to be made to the Department under this Act involving
the conduct of a current or former employee of the school
district and a request is made by another school district for
the provision of information concerning the job performance or

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qualifications of the current or former employee because he or
she is an applicant for employment with the requesting school
district, the general superintendent of the school district to
which the request is being made must disclose to the requesting
school district the fact that an employee of the school
district has made a report involving the conduct of the
applicant or caused a report to be made to the Department, as
required under this Act. Only the fact that an employee of the
school district has made a report involving the conduct of the
applicant or caused a report to be made to the Department may
be disclosed by the general superintendent of the school
district to which the request for information concerning the
applicant is made, and this fact may be disclosed only in cases
where the employee and the general superintendent have not been
informed by the Department that the allegations were unfounded.
An employee of a school district who is or has been the subject
of a report made pursuant to this Act during his or her
employment with the school district must be informed by that
school district that if he or she applies for employment with
another school district, the general superintendent of the
former school district, upon the request of the school district
to which the employee applies, shall notify that requesting
school district that the employee is or was the subject of such
a report.
(e) Whenever such person is required to report under this
Act in his capacity as a member of the staff of a medical or

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other public or private institution, school, facility or
agency, or as a member of the clergy, he shall make report
immediately to the Department in accordance with the provisions
of this Act and may also notify the person in charge of such
institution, school, facility or agency, or church, synagogue,
temple, mosque, or other religious institution, or his
designated agent that such report has been made. Under no
circumstances shall any person in charge of such institution,
school, facility or agency, or church, synagogue, temple,
mosque, or other religious institution, or his designated agent
to whom such notification has been made, exercise any control,
restraint, modification or other change in the report or the
forwarding of such report to the Department.
(f) In addition to the persons required to report suspected
cases of child abuse or child neglect under this Section, any
other person may make a report if such person has reasonable
cause to believe a child may be an abused child or a neglected
child.
(g) The privileged quality of communication between any
professional person required to report and his patient or
client shall not apply to situations involving abused or
neglected children and shall not constitute grounds for failure
to report as required by this Act or constitute grounds for
failure to share information or documents with the Department
during the course of a child abuse or neglect investigation. If
requested by the professional, the Department shall confirm in

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writing that the information or documents disclosed by the
professional were gathered in the course of a child abuse or
neglect investigation.
The reporting requirements of this Act shall not apply to
the contents of a privileged communication between an attorney
and his or her client or to confidential information within the
meaning of Rule 1.6 of the Illinois Rules of Professional
Conduct relating to the legal representation of an individual
client.
A member of the clergy may claim the privilege under
Section 8-803 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
(h) Any office, clinic, or any other physical location that
provides abortions, abortion referrals, or contraceptives
shall provide to all office personnel copies of written
information and training materials about abuse and neglect and
the requirements of this Act that are provided to employees of
the office, clinic, or physical location who are required to
make reports to the Department under this Act, and instruct
such office personnel to bring to the attention of an employee
of the office, clinic, or physical location who is required to
make reports to the Department under this Act any reasonable
suspicion that a child known to him or her in his or her
professional or official capacity may be an abused child or a
neglected child.
(i) Any person who enters into employment on and after July
1, 1986 and is mandated by virtue of that employment to report

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under this Act, shall sign a statement on a form prescribed by
the Department, to the effect that the employee has knowledge
and understanding of the reporting requirements of this Act. On
and after January 1, 2019, the statement shall also include
information about available mandated reporter training
provided by the Department. The statement shall be signed prior
to commencement of the employment. The signed statement shall
be retained by the employer. The cost of printing,
distribution, and filing of the statement shall be borne by the
employer.
(j) Persons required to report child abuse or child neglect
as provided under this Section must complete an initial
mandated reporter training within 3 months of their date of
engagement in a professional or official capacity as a mandated
reporter, or within the time frame of any other applicable
State law that governs training requirements for a specific
profession, and at least every 3 years thereafter. The initial
requirement only applies to the first time they engage in their
professional or official capacity. In lieu of training every 3
years, medical personnel, as listed in paragraph (1) of
subsection (a), must meet the requirements described in
subsection (k).
The trainings shall be in-person or web-based, and shall
include, at a minimum, information on the following topics: (i)
indicators for recognizing child abuse and child neglect, as
defined under this Act; (ii) the process for reporting

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suspected child abuse and child neglect in Illinois as required
by this Act and the required documentation, including the
process for reporting suspected child abuse or neglect
utilizing the Department's Online Reporting System for
Mandated Reporters; (iii) responding to a child in a
trauma-informed manner; and (iv) understanding the response of
child protective services and the role of the reporter after a
call has been made. Child-serving organizations are encouraged
to provide in-person annual trainings.
The mandated reporter training shall be provided through
the Department, through an entity authorized to provide
continuing education for professionals licensed through the
Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, the State
Board of Education, the Illinois Law Enforcement Training
Standards Board, or the Department of State Police, or through
an organization approved by the Department to provide mandated
reporter training. The Department must make available a free
web-based training for reporters.
Each mandated reporter shall report to his or her employer
and, when applicable, to his or her licensing or certification
board that he or she received the mandated reporter training.
The mandated reporter shall maintain records of completion.
Beginning January 1, 2021, if a mandated reporter receives
licensure from the Department of Financial and Professional
Regulation or the State Board of Education, and his or her
profession has continuing education requirements, the training

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mandated under this Section shall count toward meeting the
licensee's required continuing education hours.
(k)(1) Medical personnel, as listed in paragraph (1) of
subsection (a), who work with children in their professional or
official capacity, must complete mandated reporter training at
least every 6 years. Such medical personnel, if licensed, must
attest at each time of licensure renewal on their renewal form
that they understand they are a mandated reporter of child
abuse and neglect, that they are aware of the process for
making a report, that they know how to respond to a child in a
trauma-informed manner, and that they are aware of the role of
child protective services and the role of a reporter after a
call has been made.
(2) In lieu of repeated training, medical personnel, as
listed in paragraph (1) of subsection (a), who do not work with
children in their professional or official capacity, may
instead attest each time at licensure renewal on their renewal
form that they understand they are a mandated reporter of child
abuse and neglect, that they are aware of the process for
making a report, that they know how to respond to a child in a
trauma-informed manner, and that they are aware of the role of
child protective services and the role of a reporter after a
call has been made. Nothing in this paragraph precludes medical
personnel from completing mandated reporter training and
receiving continuing education credits for that training.
(l) The Department shall provide copies of this Act, upon

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request, to all employers employing persons who shall be
required under the provisions of this Section to report under
this Act.
(m) Any person who knowingly transmits a false report to
the Department commits the offense of disorderly conduct under
subsection (a)(7) of Section 26-1 of the Criminal Code of 2012.
A violation of this provision is a Class 4 felony.
Any person who knowingly and willfully violates any
provision of this Section other than a second or subsequent
violation of transmitting a false report as described in the
preceding paragraph, is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor for a
first violation and a Class 4 felony for a second or subsequent
violation; except that if the person acted as part of a plan or
scheme having as its object the prevention of discovery of an
abused or neglected child by lawful authorities for the purpose
of protecting or insulating any person or entity from arrest or
prosecution, the person is guilty of a Class 4 felony for a
first offense and a Class 3 felony for a second or subsequent
offense (regardless of whether the second or subsequent offense
involves any of the same facts or persons as the first or other
prior offense).
(n) A child whose parent, guardian or custodian in good
faith selects and depends upon spiritual means through prayer
alone for the treatment or cure of disease or remedial care may
be considered neglected or abused, but not for the sole reason
that his parent, guardian or custodian accepts and practices

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such beliefs.
(o) A child shall not be considered neglected or abused
solely because the child is not attending school in accordance
with the requirements of Article 26 of the School Code, as
amended.
(p) Nothing in this Act prohibits a mandated reporter who
reasonably believes that an animal is being abused or neglected
in violation of the Humane Care for Animals Act from reporting
animal abuse or neglect to the Department of Agriculture's
Bureau of Animal Health and Welfare.
(q) A home rule unit may not regulate the reporting of
child abuse or neglect in a manner inconsistent with the
provisions of this Section. This Section is a limitation under
subsection (i) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois
Constitution on the concurrent exercise by home rule units of
powers and functions exercised by the State.
(r) For purposes of this Section "child abuse or neglect"
includes abuse or neglect of an adult resident as defined in
this Act.
(Source: P.A. 100-513, eff. 1-1-18; 100-1071, eff. 1-1-19;
101-564, eff. 1-1-20.)