SEARCH SITE

VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL

SEARCHABLE DATABASES

ACROSS SESSIONS

Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.

1996 SESSION

  • | print version

SB 621 Child protective services.

Introduced by: Joseph V. Gartlan, Jr. | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY:

Child protective services. Provides that the standard of proof for a local department of social services to use in determining whether a reported case of child abuse or neglect is founded or unfounded is a preponderance of the evidence. Currently the standard of proof is clear and convincing and is set by State Board of Social Services' regulation. However, when the State Board of Social Services set the standard as clear and convincing there were three possible determinations: founded, reason to suspect and unfounded. Reason to suspect is no longer a category because in February 1995, the Virginia Court of Appeals ruled in Jackson v. Marshall, 19 Va. App. 628, 454 S.E. 2d 23 (1995) that there is no statutory authority to make a "reason to suspect" determination. The State Department of Social Services directed local departments to stop making this finding. The Department purged the central registry of all identifying information associated with the reason to suspect disposition and instructed local departments to purge the physical records.

The administrative appeal process for a person who is the subject of a founded case of child abuse or neglect is restructured to provide a trial de novo in the juvenile and domestic relations district court after the administrative hearing by a Department of Social Services' hearing officer. There will no longer be a provision for a circuit court review of the record under the Administrative Process Act.


FULL TEXT

AMENDMENTS

HISTORY