235A.18 - SEALING AND EXPUNGEMENT OF FOUNDED CHILD ABUSE INFORMATION. - Iowa Statutes

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