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

(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…

(a) If a court of competent jurisdiction adjudicates a question that is an issue to be determined by the Office of Appeals and Hearings, the prevailing party to the judicial adjudication who is also a party to the administrative adjudication shall file a copy of the judicial adju…

(a) The Department of Human Services and the Department of Arkansas State Police shall notify the administrative law judge and the petitioner of the status of any juvenile division of circuit court proceeding involving the victim if child maltreatment at issue in the administrati…

(a) An administrative hearing decision and the hearing record, including all exhibits, under this chapter are confidential and shall remain confidential upon the filing of an appeal with a circuit court or an appellate court. (b) An administrative hearing decision and the hearing…

(a) An administrative law judge may amend an investigative determination to conform with the evidence presented. (b) (1) If the alleged offender could not reasonably infer the amended investigative determination from the investigative record and information submitted by the Depar…

(a) (1) If an alleged offender timely requests an administrative hearing, the Department of Human Services and the Department of Arkansas State Police may request that the administrative hearing be expedited if the alleged offender is engaged in child-related activities or employ…

(a) If the Department of Human Services and the Division of Arkansas State Police are unable to notify an offender of an investigative determination under this chapter, the Department of Human Services and the Division of Arkansas State Police may request a preliminary administra…

(a) (1) Due process has been satisfied when:(A) The alleged offender eighteen (18) years of age or older at the time the act or omission occurred was provided written notice of the true investigative determination as required by this chapter but failed to timely request an admini…

(a) The Division of Children and Family Services of the Department of Human Services shall provide written referrals to the Office of Appeals and Hearings of the Department of Human Services identifying each juvenile who is:(1) The subject of a true child maltreatment finding; an…

(a) In an administrative hearing held under this chapter, an administrative law judge shall determine whether:(1) A preponderance of the evidence supports a finding that an allegation of child maltreatment is true; and(2) The Department of Human Services abused its discretion in …

There is established within the Department of Human Services a statewide Child Maltreatment Central Registry.

The Child Maltreatment Central Registry shall contain records of cases on all true investigative determinations of child maltreatment.

(a) An offender's name shall be placed in the Child Maltreatment Central Registry if:(1) After notice, the offender eighteen (18) years of age or older at the time the act or omission occurred does not timely request an administrative hearing;(2) The alleged offender was a child …

(1) An offender's name shall remain in the Child Maltreatment Central Registry unless:(1) The name is removed pursuant to this chapter or another statute;(2) The name is removed under a rule;(3) The name was provisionally placed in the registry and the alleged offender subsequent…

If an alleged offender's name is provisionally placed in the Child Maltreatment Central Registry, any disclosure by the registry shall include the notation that the name has only been provisionally placed in the registry.