(a) As used in this section, “facility” means a child care center, a group child care home and a family child care home, as defined in section 19a-77, and a youth camp, as defined in section 19a-420.
(b) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, the Commissioner of Children and Families, or the commissioner's designee, shall provide to the Office of Early Childhood all records concerning reports and investigations of child abuse or neglect that have been reported to, or are being investigated by, the Department of Children and Families pursuant to section 17a-101g, including records of any administrative hearing held pursuant to section 17a-101k: (1) Occurring at any facility, and (2) by any staff member or licensee of any facility and by any household member of any family child care home, as defined in section 19a-77, irrespective of where the abuse or neglect occurred.
(c) The Department of Children and Families and the Office of Early Childhood shall jointly investigate reports of abuse or neglect occurring at any facility. All information, records and reports concerning such investigation shall be shared between agencies as part of the investigative process.
(d) The Commissioner of Early Childhood shall compile a listing of allegations of violations that have been substantiated by the Office of Early Childhood concerning a facility during the prior three-year period. The commissioner shall disclose information contained in the listing to any person who requests it, provided the information may be disclosed pursuant to sections 17a-101g and 17a-101k and does not identify children or family members of those children.
(e) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, when the Commissioner of Children and Families has made a finding substantiating abuse or neglect: (1) That occurred at a facility, or (2) by any staff member or licensee of any facility, or by any household member of any family child care home and such finding is included on the state child abuse or neglect registry, maintained by the Department of Children and Families pursuant to section 17a-101k, such finding may be included in the listing compiled by the Office of Early Childhood pursuant to subsection (d) of this section and may be disclosed to the public by the Office of Early Childhood.
(f) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, when the Commissioner of Children and Families, pursuant to section 17a-101j, has notified the Office of Early Childhood of a recommended finding of child abuse or neglect at a facility and if such child abuse or neglect resulted in or involves (1) the death of a child; (2) the risk of serious physical injury or emotional harm of a child; (3) the serious physical harm of a child; (4) the arrest of a person due to abuse or neglect of a child; (5) a petition filed by the Commissioner of Children and Families pursuant to section 17a-112 or 46b-129; or (6) sexual abuse of a child, the Commissioner of Early Childhood may include such finding of child abuse or neglect in the listing under subsection (d) of this section and may disclose such finding to the public. The Commissioner of Children and Families, or the commissioner's designee, shall immediately notify the Commissioner of Early Childhood when such child abuse or neglect is not substantiated after an investigation has been completed pursuant to subsection (b) of section 17a-101g or a recommended finding of child abuse or neglect is reversed after a hearing or appeal conducted in accordance with the provisions of section 17a-101k. The Commissioner of Early Childhood shall immediately remove such information from the listing and shall not further disclose any such information to the public.
(g) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, all records provided by the Commissioner of Children and Families, or the commissioner's designee, to the Office of Early Childhood regarding child abuse or neglect occurring at any facility, may be utilized in an administrative proceeding or court proceeding relative to facility licensing. In any such proceeding, such records shall be confidential, except as provided under section 4-177c, and such records shall not be subject to disclosure pursuant to section 1-210.
(P.A. 97-259, S. 9, 41; P.A. 09-232, S. 98; P.A. 11-242, S. 57; P.A. 14-39, S. 51; P.A. 15-227, S. 25.)
History: P.A. 97-259 effective July 1, 1997; P.A. 09-232 replaced former provisions with Subsecs. (a) to (g) re joint investigations between Departments of Children and Families and Public Health concerning allegations of suspected child abuse or neglect involving child day care facilities and youth camps licensed by Department of Public Health, information and record sharing between said departments and compilation of a listing by Department of Public Health of substantiated allegations of abuse or neglect; P.A. 11-242 amended Subsec. (b) to require Commissioner of Children and Families to provide records re reports or investigations of child abuse “that have been reported to, or are being investigated by, the Department of Children and Families pursuant to section 17a-101g”, amended Subsec. (d) to add provisions re disclosure of information pursuant to Secs. 17a-101g and 17a-101k, and amended Subsec. (f) by substituting “a recommended finding of child abuse or neglect” for “suspected child abuse or neglect” re notification and, in Subdiv. (6), by adding references to Secs. 17a-101g and 17a-101k re findings of abuse or neglect that are not substantiated or reversed after investigation, hearing or appeal; P.A. 14-39 replaced references to Commissioner and Department of Public Health with references to Commissioner and Office of Early Childhood, and made a technical change in Subsec. (g), effective July 1, 2014; pursuant to P.A. 15-227, “child day care center”, “group day care home” and “family day care home” were changed editorially by the Revisors to “child care center”, “group child care home” and “family child care home”, respectively, effective July 1, 2015.