Title 12, Law Enforcement, Emergency Management, and Military Affairs

(a) The Department of Human Services and the Department of Arkansas State Police shall immediately notify local law enforcement of all reports of severe maltreatment. (b) (1) Notification of a report of child maltreatment shall be provided within five (5) business days to the pro…

The Department of Human Services shall notify the child's school if the department takes a seventy-two-hour hold on the child or if the court awards the department custody of the child.

(a) If the Child Abuse Hotline receives a report naming as an alleged offender a person who is engaged in child-related activities or employment, works with the elderly, an individual with a disability, or an individual with a mental illness, or is a juvenile and the Department o…

(a) If the Child Abuse Hotline receives a report that a client or a resident of a facility licensed or registered by the State of Arkansas has been subjected to child maltreatment while at the facility, the Department of Human Services and the Department of Arkansas State Police …

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Active duty service member” means a member of the armed forces on full-time duty status under Title 10 or Title 32 of the United States Code, as it existed on January 1, 2023;(2) “Child” means a biological child, adopted child, stepchild, foster c…

(a) (1) If a report of child maltreatment is accepted by the Child Abuse Hotline, an investigation shall be conducted under procedures established by the Department of Human Services unless the report is accepted for triage under subdivision (a)(2)(C) of this section.(2) The proc…

(a) The Department of Human Services and the Division of Arkansas State Police shall cause an investigation to be made upon receiving initial notification of suspected child maltreatment or notification of a child death. (b) (1) All investigations shall begin within seventy-two (…

Upon request, law enforcement shall accompany a person conducting an investigation required by this chapter.

The Department of Human Services may make referrals or provide services during the course of the child maltreatment investigation.

(a) An investigation of child maltreatment or suspected child maltreatment under this chapter shall include interviews with:(1) The child as provided under § 12-18-608;(2) The parents, both custodial and noncustodial;(3) If neither parent is the alleged offender, the alleged offe…

(1) If the alleged offender is a family member, fictive kin, or lives in the home with the alleged victim, an investigation under this chapter shall seek to ascertain:(1) The existence, cause, nature, and extent of the child maltreatment;(2) The existence and extent of previous i…

(1) If the alleged offender is not a family member or fictive kin living in the home with the alleged victim, the investigation under this chapter shall seek to ascertain:(1) The existence, cause, nature, and extent of child maltreatment;(2) The identity of the person responsible…

(a) A person conducting an interview with a child victim, sibling of a child victim, or any other children in the home or under the care of an alleged offender shall have the discretion:(1) In the child's best interest, to limit the persons allowed to be present when a child is b…

(a) A person conducting an investigation under this chapter shall have the right to enter into or upon a home, school, or any other place for the purpose of conducting the investigation and interviewing or completing the investigation. (b) (1) A publicly supported school, facilit…

(a) A person conducting an investigation under this chapter shall be allowed access to the child's public and private school records during the course of the child maltreatment investigation. (b) Upon request, a public or private school shall provide the child's records free of c…

A person conducting an investigation required by this chapter shall have the right to inspect personnel records of employees and volunteers in any place where an allegation of child maltreatment has been reported as having occurred at that place but the alleged offender is unknow…

(a) The person conducting an investigation under this chapter shall have the right to obtain a criminal background check, including a fingerprint-based check in any national crime information database, on any subject of the report. (b) The results of the criminal background check…

(1) Upon request by a person conducting an investigation under this chapter, a school, day care center, child care facility, residential facility, residential treatment facility, or similar institution shall provide the person conducting the investigation with:(1) The name, date …

(a) An investigation under this chapter may include a physical examination, a drug test, radiology procedures, photographs, and a psychological or psychiatric examination of all children subject to the care, custody, or control of the alleged offender. (b) (1) If the report of ch…

(a) A person who is required to make a report under this chapter may take or cause to be taken radiology procedures and photographs or compile medical records that may be relevant as to the existence or extent of child maltreatment. (b) A hospital, clinic, or child safety center,…

(a) (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, an investigative determination shall be made in each investigation under this chapter within forty-five (45) days regardless of whether the investigation is conducted by the Department of Human Services and the Department of A…

(a) Notwithstanding an investigative determination finding of true but exempted, the Department of Human Services may pursue:(1) Any legal remedies, including the authority to initiate legal proceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction; and(2) Medical care or treatment for a …

The Department of Human Services and the Department of Arkansas State Police shall investigate all allegations of child maltreatment without regard to the parent's practice of his or her religious beliefs and shall only consider whether the acts or omissions of the parent constit…

(a) If at any time before or during an investigation under this chapter it is determined that the alleged offender is not a caretaker of any child and the alleged victim has reached eighteen (18) years of age prior to notification, the child maltreatment investigation shall be cl…

(a) Information on a pending investigation under this chapter is confidential and may be disclosed only as provided in this chapter. (b) (1) The Department of Human Services shall not release data that would identify a person who made a report under this chapter unless a court of…

(a) Upon a request by a person conducting an investigation under this chapter, the keeper of the record shall provide the person conducting the investigation with the following:(1) Records showing the nature and extent of the child's present and past injuries;(2) Records showing …

(a) The Department of Human Services and the Department of Arkansas State Police may petition a circuit court to allow an investigator to access the controlled substance database under the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Act, § 20-7-601 et seq., for a record concerning a per…

(a) The agency responsible for an investigation under this chapter shall make a complete written report at the conclusion of the investigation. (b) The report of the investigation shall include the following information:(1) The names and addresses of the child and his or her lega…

(a) Upon completion of an investigation under this chapter, the Department of Human Services and the Division of Arkansas State Police shall determine whether the allegations of child maltreatment are:(1) (A) Unsubstantiated.(B) An unsubstantiated determination shall be entered w…

(a) The Department of Human Services and the Department of Arkansas State Police shall notify each alleged offender of the child maltreatment investigative determination whether true or unsubstantiated. (b) (1) In every case in which a report is determined to be true, the Departm…

If the investigative determination of the report was determined true but exempted under § 12-18-702(2)(C)(ii) and the alleged offender is a child at the time the act or omission occurred, the Department of Human Services and the Department of Arkansas State Police shall notify th…

(a) If the report was determined true and the alleged offender is at least fourteen (14) years of age and less than eighteen (18) years of age at the time the act or omission occurred, a notice shall be given as provided in this section. (b) The notice under this section shall be…

(1) Notification to an alleged offender who was eighteen (18) years of age or older at the time of the act or omission that resulted in a true finding of child maltreatment shall include the following:(1) The investigative determination, excluding data that would identify the per…

(a) If the child maltreatment investigative determination names as an alleged offender a person who is engaged in child-related activities or employment, works with the elderly, an individual with a disability, or an individual with a mental illness, or is a juvenile and the Depa…

(a) The Department of Human Services and the Department of Arkansas State Police shall confirm an investigative determination upon request from the following:(1) The responsible multidisciplinary team;(2) The juvenile division of circuit court if the victim or offender has an ope…

(a) Notice of an investigative determination under this chapter is confidential and may be disclosed only as provided in this chapter. (b) (1) The Department of Human Services and the Division of Arkansas State Police shall not release data that would identify the person who made…

(a) Information on a completed true investigation pending due process as referenced in this chapter is confidential and may be disclosed only as provided in this chapter. (b) (1) The Department of Human Services shall not release data that would identify the person who made the r…

(a) Except as provided under subsection (b) of this section, the Department of Human Services may charge:(1) A reasonable fee not to exceed ten dollars ($10.00) for researching, copying, or mailing records from a child maltreatment investigative file under this chapter; and(2) A …

(a) If an investigative determination of a report under this chapter was determined true and the alleged sex offender is a child under eighteen (18) years of age at the time the act or omission occurred, the alleged sex offender and the victim shall be referred for mental health …

(a) (1) The Department of Human Services and the Division of Arkansas State Police shall submit two (2) reports annually on true determinations made under this chapter that are administratively or judicially overturned to the Senate Interim Committee on Children and Youth and the…

(a) (1) (A) The administrative hearing under this chapter shall begin within one hundred eighty (180) days from the date of the receipt of the request for a hearing.(B) However, delays in completing the administrative hearing that are attributable to either party shall not count …

If any child served with a subpoena to be a witness in an administrative hearing is a party to an open dependency-neglect or family in need of services case, the child's attorney ad litem shall be provided a copy of the subpoena.

(a) It is the public policy of the State of Arkansas to protect the health, safety, and the welfare of children within the state. (b) No privilege, except that between a lawyer and client or between a minister, including a Christian Science practitioner, and a person confessing t…

(1) For any act or omission of child maltreatment that would be a criminal offense or an act of delinquency, any defense or affirmative defense, including the burden of proof regarding the affirmative defense, that would apply to the criminal offense or delinquent act is also cog…

(a) (1) An administrative law judge may conduct an administrative hearing under this chapter by video teleconference in lieu of an in-person hearing.(2) If neither party requests that the administrative hearing be conducted in person, the administrative hearing shall be conducted…

(a) (1) An administrative law judge shall grant a continuance if the record under this chapter tendered by the Department of Human Services to the alleged offender is determined by the administrative law judge to be incomplete.(2) The administrative law judge shall direct the dep…