Title PEN, California Penal Code

(a) An oral or written communication or a document shared within or produced by a homeless death review committee related to a homeless death review is confidential and not subject to disclosure or discoverable by another third party. (b) An oral or written communication or a doc…

(a) An organization represented on the homeless death review committee may share with other members of the committee information in its possession concerning the decedent who is the subject of the review or any person who was in contact with the decedent and any other information…

Information gathered by the homeless death review committee and any recommendations made by the committee shall be used by the county to develop education and prevention strategies that will lead to improved coordination of services for the homeless population. (Added by Stats. 2…

(a) This article shall be known and may be cited as the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act. (b) The intent and purpose of this article is to protect children from abuse and neglect. In any investigation of suspected child abuse or neglect, all persons participating in the inve…

As used in this article “child” means a person under the age of 18 years. (Repealed and added by Stats. 1987, Ch. 1459, Sec. 2.)

As used in this article, “sexual abuse” means sexual assault or sexual exploitation as defined by the following: (a) “Sexual assault” means conduct in violation of one or more of the following sections: Section 261 (rape), subdivision (d) of Section 261.5 (statutory rape), Sectio…

As used in this article, “licensing agency” means the State Department of Social Services office responsible for the licensing and enforcement of the California Community Care Facilities Act (Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 1500) of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code), t…

As used in this article, the following definitions shall control: (a) “Unfounded report” means a report that is determined by the investigator who conducted the investigation to be false, to be inherently improbable, to involve an accidental injury, or not to constitute child abu…

For purposes of this article, a positive toxicology screen at the time of the delivery of an infant is not in and of itself a sufficient basis for reporting child abuse or neglect. However, any indication of maternal substance abuse shall lead to an assessment of the needs of the…

The appropriate local law enforcement agency shall investigate a child abuse complaint filed by a parent or guardian of a pupil with a school or an agency specified in Section 11165.9 against a school employee or other person that commits an act of child abuse, as defined in this…

For the purposes of this article, the fact that a child is homeless or is classified as an unaccompanied youth, as defined in Section 11434a of the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 11301 et seq.), is not, in and of itself, a sufficient basis for repo…

As used in this article, “neglect” means the negligent treatment or the maltreatment of a child by a person responsible for the child’s welfare under circumstances indicating harm or threatened harm to the child’s health or welfare. The term includes both acts and omissions on th…

As used in this article, “the willful harming or injuring of a child or the endangering of the person or health of a child,” means a situation in which any person willfully causes or permits any child to suffer, or inflicts thereon, unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering…

As used in this article, “unlawful corporal punishment or injury” means a situation where any person willfully inflicts upon any child any cruel or inhuman corporal punishment or injury resulting in a traumatic condition. It does not include an amount of force that is reasonable …

As used in this article, the term “abuse or neglect in out-of-home care” includes physical injury or death inflicted upon a child by another person by other than accidental means, sexual abuse as defined in Section 11165.1, neglect as defined in Section 11165.2, unlawful corporal…

As used in this article, the term “child abuse or neglect” includes physical injury or death inflicted by other than accidental means upon a child by another person, sexual abuse as defined in Section 11165.1, neglect as defined in Section 11165.2, the willful harming or injuring…

(a) As used in this article, “mandated reporter” is defined as any of the following: (1) An employee, volunteer, or governing board or body member of a school district, county office of education, charter school, or private school. For purposes of this paragraph, a volunteer is a…

Reports of suspected child abuse or neglect shall be made by mandated reporters, or in the case of reports pursuant to Section 11166.05, may be made, to any police department or sheriff’s department, not including a school district police or security department, county probation …

(a) Except as provided in subdivision (d), and in Section 11166.05, a mandated reporter shall make a report to an agency specified in Section 11165.9 whenever the mandated reporter, in the mandated reporter’s professional capacity or within the scope of the mandated reporter’s em…

(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), any supervisor or administrator who violates paragraph (1) of subdivision (i) of Section 11166 shall be punished by not more than six months in a county jail, by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that fine…

(a) A county welfare agency, in accordance with Section 10612.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, may develop a program for internet-based reporting of child abuse and neglect. The program may receive reports by mandated reporters, as defined in Section 11165.7, of suspected …

Any mandated reporter who has knowledge of or who reasonably suspects that a child is suffering serious emotional damage or is at a substantial risk of suffering serious emotional damage, evidenced by states of being or behavior, including, but not limited to, severe anxiety, dep…

(a) (1) When an agency receives a report pursuant to Section 11166 that contains either of the following, it shall, within 24 hours, notify the licensing office with jurisdiction over the facility: (A) A report of abuse alleged to have occurred in facilities licensed to care for …

In addition to the reports required under Section 11166, any agency specified in Section 11165.9 shall immediately or as soon as practically possible report by telephone, fax, or electronic transmission to the appropriate licensing agency every known or suspected instance of chil…

(a) The Legislature intends that in each county the law enforcement agencies and the county welfare or probation department shall develop and implement cooperative arrangements in order to coordinate existing duties in connection with the investigation of suspected child abuse or…

(a) Each county may use a children’s advocacy center to implement a coordinated multidisciplinary response pursuant to Section 18961.7 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to investigate reports involving child physical or sexual abuse, exploitation, or maltreatment. (b) A count…

(a) On and after January 1, 1985, any mandated reporter as specified in Section 11165.7, with the exception of child visitation monitors, prior to commencing his or her employment, and as a prerequisite to that employment, shall sign a statement on a form provided to him or her b…

(a) Reports of known or reasonably suspected child abuse or neglect pursuant to Section 11166 or Section 11166.05 shall include the name, business address, and telephone number of the mandated reporter; the capacity that makes the person a mandated reporter; and the information t…

(a) The reports required by Sections 11166 and 11166.2, or authorized by Section 11166.05, and child abuse or neglect investigative reports that result in a summary report being filed with the Department of Justice pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 11169 shall be confidentia…

The written reports required by Section 11166 shall be submitted on forms adopted by the Department of Justice after consultation with representatives of the various professional medical associations and hospital associations and county probation or welfare departments. Those for…

(a) An agency specified in Section 11165.9 shall forward to the Department of Justice a report in writing of every case it investigates of known or suspected child abuse or severe neglect that is determined to be substantiated, other than cases coming within subdivision (b) of Se…

(a) (1) The Department of Justice shall maintain an index of all reports of child abuse and severe neglect submitted pursuant to Section 11169. The index shall be continually updated by the department and shall not contain any reports that are determined to be not substantiated. …

(a) Notwithstanding paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) of Section 11170, the Department of Justice shall make available to a licensed adoption agency, as defined in Section 8530 of the Family Code, information regarding a known or suspected child abuser maintained in the Child Abus…

(a) (1) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that adequate protection of victims of child physical abuse or neglect has been hampered by the lack of consistent and comprehensive medical examinations. (2) Enhancing examination procedures, documentation, and evidence collectio…

(a) A physician and surgeon or dentist or their agents and by their direction may take skeletal X-rays of the child without the consent of the child’s parent or guardian, but only for purposes of diagnosing the case as one of possible child abuse or neglect and determining the ex…

(a) If a peace officer, in the course of an investigation of child abuse or neglect, has reasonable cause to believe that the child has been the victim of physical abuse, the officer may apply to a magistrate for an order directing that the victim be X-rayed without parental cons…

(a) No mandated reporter shall be civilly or criminally liable for any report required or authorized by this article, and this immunity shall apply even if the mandated reporter acquired the knowledge or reasonable suspicion of child abuse or neglect outside of their professional…

The Department of Justice, in cooperation with the State Department of Social Services, shall prescribe by regulation guidelines for the investigation of abuse in out-of-home care, as defined in Section 11165.5, and shall ensure that the investigation is conducted in accordance w…

(a) The Department of Justice, in cooperation with the State Department of Social Services, shall prescribe by regulation guidelines for the investigation of child abuse or neglect, as defined in Section 11165.6, in facilities licensed to care for children, and shall ensure that …

(a) Whenever a representative of a government agency investigating suspected child abuse or neglect or the State Department of Social Services deems it necessary, a suspected victim of child abuse or neglect may be interviewed during school hours, on school premises, concerning a…

(a) Each county may establish an interagency child death review team to assist local agencies in identifying and reviewing suspicious child deaths and facilitating communication among persons who perform autopsies and the various persons and agencies involved in child abuse or ne…

Subject to available funding, the Attorney General, working with the California Consortium of Child Abuse Councils, shall develop a protocol for the development and implementation of interagency child death teams for use by counties, which shall include relevant procedures for bo…

(a) (1) The purpose of this section shall be to coordinate and integrate state and local efforts to address fatal child abuse or neglect, and to create a body of information to prevent child deaths. (2) It is the intent of the Legislature that the California State Child Death Rev…

The State Department of Social Services shall work with state and local child death review teams and child protective services agencies in order to identify child death cases that were, or should have been, reported to or by county child protective services agencies. Findings mad…

The following definitions shall govern the construction of this article, unless the context requires otherwise: (a) “Elder” means any person who is 65 years of age or older. (b) (1) “Abuse” means any of the conduct described in Article 2 (commencing with Section 15610) of Chapter…

(a) Each county may establish an interagency elder and dependent adult death review team to assist local agencies in identifying and reviewing suspicious elder and dependent adult deaths and facilitating communication among persons who perform autopsies and the various persons an…