Establishment and Maintenance of Central Registries for Child Abuse or Neglect Reports - Virginia

Establishment

Citation: Ann. Code § 63.2-1514

The State Department of Social Services shall maintain a child abuse and neglect information system that includes a central registry of founded complaints.

Purpose

Citation: Ann. Code § 63.2-1514

The purpose of these records is to provide local departments with information regarding prior complaints or reports.

Contents

Citation: Ann. Code §§ 63.2-1514; 63.2-1515; Admin. Code Tit. 22, § 40-705-130

The central registry shall include founded reports and such information as prescribed by State board regulation. When the founded case does not name a parent or guardian of the child as the abuser, the child's name shall not be entered in the registry without permission of the parent or guardian.

In regulation: The local department shall report all founded dispositions to the child abuse and neglect information system for inclusion in the central registry. Identifying information about the abuser or neglector and the victim child or children reported includes demographic information, type of abuse or neglect, and date of the complaint.

Maintenance

Citation: Ann. Code § 63.2-1514; Admin. Code Tit. 22, § 40-705-130

All records related to founded cases of child sexual abuse involving injuries or conditions, real or threatened, that result in or were likely to have resulted in serious harm to a child shall be maintained by the local department for a period of 25 years from the date of the complaint. The department shall maintain all unfounded investigations, family assessments, and reports determined not to be valid in a record that is separate from the central registry.

The record of unfounded investigations that involved reports of child abuse or neglect shall be purged 3 years after the date of the complaint or report if there are no subsequent complaints or reports regarding the same child or the person who is the subject of the complaint or report within such 3-year period. Records of complaints and reports determined to be not valid shall be purged 1 year after the date of the complaint or report if there are no subsequent complaints or reports regarding the same child or the person who is the subject of the complaint or report in that 1 year. The local department shall retain such records for an additional period of up to 2 years if requested in writing by the person who is the subject of such complaint or report.

In regulation: Identifying information in founded reports shall be retained based on the determined level of severity of the abuse or neglect, as follows:

• Level 1 complaints, 18 years past the date of complaint.
• Level 2 complaints, 7 years past the date of the complaint 
• Level 3 complaints, 3 years past the date of the complaint 

Pursuant to § 63.2-1514, all records related to founded, Level 1 dispositions of sexual abuse shall be maintained by the local department for a period of 25 years from the date of the complaint.