AB 676

Under current law, child abuse and neglect reports and records are confidential

and may be disclosed only to certain persons or for certain purposes specified in

current law, including for purposes of a caregiver background check.

The federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), however,

includes as an eligibility requirement for receipt of a grant under that act that a state

has in effect provisions requiring the prompt expungement, for purposes of

employment or other background checks, of records that relate to child abuse or

neglect cases determined to be unsubstantiated or false.

This bill conforms state law to CAPTA by: 1) permitting a determination made

before January 1, 2015, that a person has abused or neglected a child to be disclosed

for purposes of a caregiver background check only if that determination has not been

reversed or modified on appeal; and 2) permitting such a determination made on or

after January 1, 2015, to be disclosed for those purposes only if that determination

is a final agency determination that the person has abused or neglected the child or,

if a contested case hearing is held on such a determination, is a final administrative

or judicial decision that the person has abused or neglected the child. The bill also

provides that nothing in the bill prevents the disclosure of a child abuse or neglect

report or record as otherwise permitted under current law.