[§350-2.5] Central registry; expungement. (a) The department shall maintain a central registry of reported child abuse or neglect cases. When the department confirms a report by a preponderance of the evidence that a person is the perpetrator of child abuse or neglect, harm, or threatened harm, the person's name shall be included in the central registry.
(b) The department shall promptly expunge a person's name from the central registry if:
(c) A person who has been confirmed as the perpetrator of abuse or neglect, harm, or threatened harm, whose name has not been expunged from the central registry pursuant to subsection (b), may submit a request for expungement to the department; provided that:
Requests submitted that do not meet these minimum requirements shall be denied.
(d) A person seeking to have the person's own name expunged pursuant to subsection (c) shall submit a request for expungement to the department on a form prescribed by the department. The request for expungement shall be reviewed in accordance with rules adopted by the department pursuant to chapter 91 that shall consider, at minimum, the following criteria:
(e) Upon review of a request for expungement, the department may grant the request for expungement based on a finding of good cause shown that the expungement would serve the interests of justice. A person whose request for expungement is denied shall not submit another request for expungement for a period of five years from the date of the denial or five years from the date the denial is affirmed on appeal, whichever is later.
(f) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the department may review reports on its own action and, in its discretion, may expunge a person's name from the central registry based on criteria established in rules adopted pursuant to chapter 91.
(g) Records and information contained in a report for which a person's name is expunged from the central registry shall be retained by the department solely for future risk and safety assessment purposes. [L 2024, c 147, §2]