Multidisciplinary Review Committee

Multidisciplinary Review Committee. (a) The Department may establish multidisciplinary review committees in each region of the State to assure that mandated reporters have the ability to have a review conducted on any situation where a child abuse or neglect report made by them was "unfounded", and they have concerns about the adequacy of the investigation. These committees shall draw upon the expertise of the Child Death Review Teams as necessary and practicable. Each committee will be composed of the following: a health care professional, a Department employee, a law enforcement official, a licensed social worker, and a representative of the State's attorney's office. In appointing members of a committee, primary consideration shall be given to a prospective member's prior experience in dealing with cases of suspected child abuse or neglect. (b) Whenever the Department determines that a reported incident of child abuse or neglect from a mandated reporter is "unfounded", the mandated reporter may request a review of the investigation within 10 days of the notification of the final finding. A review under this subsection will be conducted by the committee. The Department shall make available to the committee all information in the Department's possession concerning the case. The committee shall make recommendations to the Department as to the adequacy of the investigation and of the accuracy of the final finding determination. These findings shall be forwarded to the Regional Child Protection Manager. (c) The Department shall provide complete records of these investigations to the committee. Records provided to the committee and recommendation reports generated by the committee shall not be public record. (c-5) On or before October 1 of each year, the Department shall prepare a report setting forth (i) the number of investigations reviewed by each committee during the previous fiscal year and (ii) the number of those investigations that the committee found to be inadequate. The report shall also include a summary of the committee's comments and a summary of the corrective action, if any, that was taken in response to the committee's recommendations. The report shall be a public record. The Department shall submit the report to the General Assembly and shall make the report available to the public upon request. (d) The Department shall adopt rules to implement this Section. (Source: P.A. 98-453, eff. 8-16-13.)