Sponsored by:
Assemblyman KEVIN J. ROONEY
District 40 (Bergen, Essex, Morris and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits Institutional Abuse Investigation Unit investigators from interviewing certain children without prior parental consent.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning institutional abuse investigations and supplementing Title 9 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Notwithstanding any law or regulation to the contrary, an Institutional Abuse Investigation Unit investigator conducting an investigation of an allegation of child abuse or neglect in a licensed child care center, resource home, or other out-of-home care setting shall not interview any child under the age of five years old, other than the child who is the subject the investigation, without the prior knowledge of, and the consent to interview by, the child’s parent or legal guardian.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
Currently, Department of Children and Family regulations governing child protection investigations, N.J.A.C.3A:10-1.1 et seq., allow an Institutional Abuse Investigation Unit (IAIU) investigator, during the course of an investigation of an allegation of child abuse or neglect in a licensed child care center, resource home, or other out-of-home care setting, to interview any child, other than the child who is the subject of the investigation, without the knowledge and consent of that child’s parent.
This bill prohibits an IAIU investigator conducting an investigation of an allegation of child abuse or neglect in a licensed child care center, resource home, or other out-of-home care setting from interviewing any child under the age of five years old, other than the child who is the subject the investigation, without the prior knowledge of, and the consent to interview by, the child’s parent or legal guardian.