235A.18 - SEALING AND EXPUNGEMENT OF FOUNDED CHILD ABUSE INFORMATION.
235A.18 SEALING AND EXPUNGEMENT OF FOUNDED CHILD
ABUSE INFORMATION.
1. Report data and disposition data relating to a particular case
of alleged abuse which has been determined to be founded child abuse
and placed in the central registry in accordance with section 232.71D
shall be maintained in the registry as follows:
a. Report and disposition data relating to a particular case
of alleged child abuse shall be sealed ten years after the initial
placement of the data in the registry unless good cause be shown why
the data should remain open to authorized access. If a subsequent
report of an alleged case of child abuse involving the child named in
the initial data placed in the registry as the victim of abuse or a
person named in the data as having abused a child is received by the
department within this ten-year period, the data shall be sealed ten
years after receipt of the subsequent report unless good cause be
shown why the data should remain open to authorized access. However,
such report and disposition data shall be made available to the
department of justice if the department requests access to the
alleged child abuse records for purposes of review by the
prosecutor's review committee or commitment of sexually violent
predators under chapter 229A.
b. Data sealed in accordance with this section shall be
expunged eight years after the date the data was sealed. However, if
the report data and the disposition data involve child abuse as
defined in section 232.68, subsection 2, paragraph "c" or
"e", the data shall not be expunged for a period of thirty years.
Sealed data shall be made available to the department of justice upon
request if the prosecutor's review committee is reviewing records or
if a prosecuting attorney has filed a petition to commit a sexually
violent predator under chapter 229A.
2. The juvenile or district court and county attorney shall
expunge child abuse information upon notice from the registry. The
supreme court shall prescribe rules establishing the period of time
child abuse information is retained by the juvenile and district
courts. A county attorney shall not retain child abuse information
in excess of the time period the information would be retained under
the rules prescribed by the supreme court. Child abuse information
relating to a particular case of child abuse placed in the central
registry that a juvenile or district court determines is unfounded in
a written finding based upon a preponderance of evidence shall be
expunged from the central registry.
3. If required by this subsection, for child abuse information in
the central registry as of July 1, 1997, the central registry shall
perform a review of the information utilizing the requirements for
referral of child abuse information to the central registry as
founded child abuse under section 232.71D. If the review indicates
the information would not be placed in the registry as founded child
abuse under section 232.71D, the information shall be expunged from
the central registry. Child abuse information which is expunged from
the central registry under this subsection shall not be retained by
the department any longer than the time period in the rule for
retaining information which is not placed in the central registry,
allowing credit for the amount of time the information was held in
the central registry. If the review indicates the child abuse
information would be placed in the central registry under section
232.71D, the information shall be subject to the provisions of
subsection 1, as to the time period the information is to be retained
in the registry. A review shall be performed under any of the
following conditions:
a. The department is considering the information while
performing a record check evaluation under law or administrative
rule.
b. A review is indicated under a procedure for performing
reviews adopted by the department.
4. The department of human services shall adopt rules
establishing the period of time child abuse information which is not
maintained in the central registry is retained by the department. Section History: Early Form
[C75, 77, 79, 81, § 235A.18] Section History: Recent Form
83 Acts, ch 96, § 157, 159; 84 Acts, ch 1279, § 24; 85 Acts, ch
173, §17; 89 Acts, ch 230, §20; 90 Acts, ch 1221, § 5, 6; 93 Acts, ch
76, §5, 6; 97 Acts, ch 176, § 11; 99 Acts, ch 61, §13, 14; 2000 Acts,
ch 1137, §11, 14; 2000 Acts, ch 1154, §18
Referred to in § 216A.136, 232.68, 235A.12, 235A.13, 235A.17,
235A.20, 235A.21