§ 7B-1413. Access to records. - North Carolina Statutes

§ 7B‑1413.  Access torecords.

(a)        The State Team, theLocal Teams, and the Task Force during its existence, shall have access to allmedical records, hospital records, and records maintained by this State, anycounty, or any local agency as necessary to carry out the purposes of thisArticle, including police investigations data, medical examiner investigativedata, health records, mental health records, and social services records. TheState Team, the Task Force, and the Local Teams shall not, as part of thereviews authorized under this Article, contact, question, or interview thechild, the parent of the child, or any other family member of the child whoserecord is being reviewed. Any member of a Local Team may share, only in anofficial meeting of that Local Team, any information available to that memberthat the Local Team needs to carry out its duties.

(b)        Meetings of theState Team and the Local Teams are not subject to the provisions of Article 33Cof Chapter 143 of the General Statutes. However, the Local Teams may holdperiodic public meetings to discuss, in a general manner not revealingconfidential information about children and families, the findings of theirreviews and their recommendations for preventive actions. Minutes of all publicmeetings, excluding those of executive sessions, shall be kept in compliancewith Article 33C of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes. Any minutes or anyother information generated during any closed session shall be sealed frompublic inspection.

(c)        All otherwiseconfidential information and records acquired by the State Team, the LocalTeams, and the Task Force during its existence, in the exercise of their dutiesare confidential; are not subject to discovery or introduction into evidence inany proceedings; and may only be disclosed as necessary to carry out thepurposes of the State Team, the Local Teams, and the Task Force. In addition,all otherwise confidential information and records created by a Local Team inthe exercise of its duties are confidential; are not subject to discovery orintroduction into evidence in any proceedings; and may only be disclosed asnecessary to carry out the purposes of the Local Team. No member of the StateTeam, a Local Team, nor any person who attends a meeting of the State Team or aLocal Team, may testify in any proceeding about what transpired at the meeting,about information presented at the meeting, or about opinions formed by theperson as a result of the meetings. This subsection shall not, however,prohibit a person from testifying in a civil or criminal action about matterswithin that person's independent knowledge.

(d)        Each member of aLocal Team and invited participant shall sign a statement indicating anunderstanding of and adherence to confidentiality requirements, including thepossible civil or criminal consequences of any breach of confidentiality.

(e)        Cases receivingchild protective services at the time of review by a Local Team shall have anentry in the child's protective services record to indicate that the case wasreceived by that Team. Additional entry into the record shall be at thediscretion of the director of the county department of social services.

(f)         The SocialServices Commission shall adopt rules to implement this section in connectionwith reviews conducted by Community Child Protection Teams. The Commission forPublic Health shall adopt rules to implement this section in connection withLocal Teams that review additional child fatalities. In particular, these rulesshall allow information generated by an executive session of a Local Team to beaccessible for administrative or research purposes only. (1991, c. 689, s. 233(a);1993, c. 321, s. 285(a); 1998‑202, s. 6; 2007‑182, s. 1.3.)