Title 4, Public Care Systems.

(a) For the purposes of this section, the term "mandatory reporter" means any of the following: (1) An employee, agent, or contractor of the Child and Family Services Agency; (2) A physician; (3) A psychologist; (4) A medical examiner; (5) A dentist; (6) A chiropractor; (7) A reg…

(a) Each person required to make a report of a known or suspected neglected child shall: (1) Immediately make an oral report of the case to the Child and Family Services Agency or the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia; and (2) Make a written report of the…

Any person, hospital, or institution participating in good faith in the making of a report pursuant to this subchapter shall have immunity from liability, civil or criminal, that might otherwise be incurred or imposed with respect to the making of the report. Any such participati…

Notwithstanding the provisions of §§ 14-306 and 14-307, neither the spouse or domestic partner privilege nor the physician-patient privilege shall be grounds for excluding evidence in any proceeding in the Family Division of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia concerni…

Any person required to make a report under this subchapter who willfully fails to make such a report shall be fined not more than the amount set forth in § 22-3571.01, imprisoned not more than 180 days, or both. Violations of this subchapter shall be prosecuted by the Attorney Ge…

(a) By December 31, 2023, the Office of the Attorney General ("OAG") shall, in consultation with the Child and Family Services Agency ("CFSA"), develop and approve a training curriculum explaining the reporting requirements of this subchapter, which shall include: (1) The purpose…

(a) The Child and Family Services Agency shall file a missing person report with the Metropolitan Police Department (“MPD”) for any child in the custody of the Child and Family Services Agency immediately after discovering that the child is missing from the child’s home or out-of…

For the purposes of this subchapter, the term: (1) “Child” means a person under 18 years of age. (2) “Child abuse” means harm or threatened harm to a child’s health or welfare by a person responsible for the child’s health or welfare, which occurs through the intentional inflicti…

(a) There is established in the District of Columbia a private nonprofit corporation which shall be known as the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Children’s Trust Fund (“Trust Fund”). The sole purpose of the Trust Fund is to encourage child abuse and child neglect prevention pr…

(a) A self-perpetuating Board of Directors is established to manage the affairs of the Trust Fund. The Board of Directors shall have 15 members. The D.C. Treasurer and the Director of the Department of Human Services shall serve as members of the Board of Directors. The remaining…

(a) The Board of Directors shall: (1) Administer the Trust Fund; (2) File such papers as may be required by the Recorder of Deeds of the District of Columbia; (3) Have the power to adopt, amend, or repeal bylaws for operation of the Trust Fund; (4) Remove a member by a 2/3rd vote…

The Trust Fund shall maintain a designated agent to accept service of process for the Trust Fund. Notice to or service upon the agent is notice or service upon the Trust Fund.

The Trust Fund may exercise those powers conferred upon a nonprofit corporation pursuant to Chapters 1 and 4 of Title 29.

Except as otherwise provided in a contract or legacy transferring or loaning property to the Trust Fund, upon dissolution of the Trust Fund as a corporation, all remaining assets shall be transferred to the Mayor of the District of Columbia. The Mayor shall make every effort to u…

The Trust Fund may engage in such activities that make it eligible for treatment as an organization described in § 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(3) ) which may be exempt from federal taxation under § 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S…

The District of Columbia Child and Family Services Agency (referred to as “CFSA”) shall maintain an accurate database listing and tracking any child found by the Family Division of the District of Columbia Superior Court to be abused or neglected and who is in the custody of the …

Not later than September 30, 1999, CFSA shall enter into contracts with private service providers to perform some of the adoption recruitment and placement functions of CFSA, which may include recruitment, homestudy, and placement services. Any contract entered into pursuant to s…

This subchapter may be cited as the “Child Fatality Review Committee Establishment Act of 2001”.

For the purposes of this subchapter, the term: (1) “Child” means an individual who is 18 years of age or younger, or up to 21 years of age if the child is a committed ward of the child welfare, intellectual and developmental disabilities, or juvenile systems of the District of Co…

(a) There is established a Child Fatality Review Committee. Facilities and other administrative support shall be provided by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. (b) The Committee shall: (1) Identify and characterize the scope and nature of all child deaths in the District, …

(a) The Mayor shall appoint a minimum of one representative from appropriate programs providing services to children within the following public agencies: (1) Department of Human Services; (2) Department of Health; (3) Office of the Chief Medical Examiner; (4) Child and Family Se…

(a) The Committee shall be responsible for reviewing all deaths of children who were residents of the District of Columbia, and with particular attention, such children who, or whose families, at the time of death: (1) Or at any point during the 2 years prior to the child’s death…

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, immediately upon the request of the Committee and as necessary to carry out the Committee’s purpose and duties, the Committee shall be provided, without cost and without authorization of the persons to whom the information or record…

(a) When necessary for the discharge of its duties, the Committee shall have the authority to issue subpoenas to compel witnesses to appear and testify and to produce books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, documents, or other relevant records. (b) Except as provided in subsect…

(a) Proceedings of the Committee shall be closed to the public and shall not be subject to § 1-207.42, when the Committee is discussing cases of individual child deaths or where the identity of any person, other than a person who has consented to be identified, can be ascertained…

(a) All information and records generated by the Committee, including statistical compilations and reports, and all information and records acquired by, and in the possession of, the Committee are confidential. (b) Except as permitted by this section, information and records of t…

Any health-care provider or any other person or institution providing information to the Committee pursuant to this subchapter shall have immunity from administrative, civil, or criminal liability that might otherwise be incurred or imposed with respect to the disclosure of the i…

Whoever discloses, receives, makes use of, or knowingly permits the use of information concerning a deceased child or other person in violation of this subchapter shall be subject to a fine of not more than $1,000. Violations of this subchapter shall be prosecuted by the Attorney…

(a) Notwithstanding, but in addition to, the provisions of any law, including § 14-307 and Chapter 12 of Title 7, any person or official specified in subsection (b) of this section who has knowledge of the death of a child who died in the District of Columbia, or a ward of the Di…

Any person, hospital, or institution participating in good faith in the making of a report pursuant to this subchapter shall have immunity from administrative, civil, or criminal liability that might otherwise be incurred or imposed with respect to the making of the report. The s…

Any person required to make a report under § 4-1371.12 who willfully fails to make the report shall be fined not more than $100 or imprisoned for not more than 30 days, or both. Violations of § 4-1371.12 shall be prosecuted by the Attorney General in the name of the District of C…

The purpose of this subchapter is to secure for each child under 16 years of age who is placed in a family home, other than his own or that of a relative within the third degree, such care and guidance as will serve the child’s welfare and the best interests of the District of Co…

(a) Any person, firm, corporation, association, or public agency that receives or accepts a child under 16 years of age and places or offers to place such child for temporary or permanent care in a family home other than that of a relative within the third degree shall be deemed …

(a) An application for a license as a child-placing agency shall be made to the Mayor on forms provided by him and in the manner prescribed. Before such license is issued the Department of Health shall arrange to have an investigation made of the activities and standards of care …

(a) No person other than the parent, guardian, or relative within the third degree, and no firm, corporation, association, or agency, other than a licensed child-placing agency, may place or arrange or assist in placing or arranging for the placement of a child under 16 years of …

Notwithstanding the provisions of this subchapter, the Mayor is authorized to enter into agreements with any person, firm, corporation, association, or public agency licensed or authorized by a state or country for the care and placement of minors, permitting such person, firm, c…

(a)(1) Whenever a licensed child-placing agency shall have been given the permanent care and guardianship of any child and the rights of the parent or parents of such child have been terminated by order of the court of competent jurisdiction or by a legally executed relinquishmen…

The Mayor may refuse to reissue or may revoke or suspend the license of any child-placing agency after full hearing on proof of violation of any provisions of this subchapter or the rules and regulations promulgated hereunder. Before any license shall be suspended or revoked the …

Prior to placement of a child in a family home, a child-placing agency licensed in the District of Columbia and the Department of Human Services shall: (1) Obtain written consent from applicants for release of information from: (A) The D.C. Child Protection Register established u…

Any person, firm, corporation, association, or public agency who conducts a child-placing agency without a license as provided for in this chapter or who violates any of the provisions of this subchapter shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than $300 or imprisoned for not mo…

The Department of Health is authorized to make such investigations and inspections as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this subchapter.

(a)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, neither the Mayor nor a child-placing agency authorized to perform services in connection with placement of a child in a family home for adoption may make or receive any charge or compensation for these services. (2) …

The term “appropriate authority” as used in this compact means, with reference to the District of Columbia, the Director of the Child and Family Services Agency for children who have been abused or neglected and the Director of the Department of Human Services for all other child…

The Mayor of the District of Columbia (“District”) is authorized to execute a compact on behalf of the District with any state that legally joins the compact in the form substantially as follows: It is the purpose and policy of the party states to cooperate in the interstate plac…

An officer of the District that has the authority to place children and an official of a private agency licensed as a child placement agency by the District government pursuant to subchapter I of this chapter, is authorized to enter into an agreement with the appropriate officer …

(a) If a child is adjudicated delinquent and committed to the custody of the District of Columbia Department of Human Services (“DHS”), pursuant to § 16-2320, and DHS, pursuant to Article VI of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (“Compact”) places the child in an…