All records concerning reports of abuse, abandonment, neglect, financial exploitation, or self-neglect or reports of suspicious deaths due to abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation and all records generated as a result of such reports shall be confidential and shall not be disclosed except as specifically authorized by this Act or other applicable law. In accord with established law and Department protocols, procedures, and policies, access to such records, but not access to the identity of the person or persons making a report of alleged abuse, abandonment, neglect, financial exploitation, or self-neglect as contained in such records, shall be provided, upon request, to the following persons and for the following persons:
         (1) Department staff, provider agency staff, other
    
aging network staff, and regional administrative agency staff, including staff of the Chicago Department on Aging while that agency is designated as a regional administrative agency, in the furtherance of their responsibilities under this Act;
        (1.5) A representative of the public guardian acting
    
in the course of investigating the appropriateness of guardianship for the eligible adult or while pursuing a petition for guardianship of the eligible adult pursuant to the Probate Act of 1975;
        (2) A law enforcement agency or State‘s Attorney’s
    
office investigating known or suspected abuse, abandonment, neglect, financial exploitation, or self-neglect. Where a provider agency has reason to believe that the death of an eligible adult may be the result of abuse, abandonment, or neglect, including any reports made after death, the agency shall immediately provide the appropriate law enforcement agency with all records pertaining to the eligible adult;
        (2.5) A law enforcement agency, fire department
    
agency, or fire protection district having proper jurisdiction pursuant to a written agreement between a provider agency and the law enforcement agency, fire department agency, or fire protection district under which the provider agency may furnish to the law enforcement agency, fire department agency, or fire protection district a list of all eligible adults who may be at imminent risk of abuse, abandonment, neglect, financial exploitation, or self-neglect;
        (3) A physician who has before him or her or who is
    
involved in the treatment of an eligible adult whom he or she reasonably suspects may be abused, abandoned, neglected, financially exploited, or self-neglected or who has been referred to the Adult Protective Services Program;
        (4) An eligible adult reported to be abused,
    
abandoned, neglected, financially exploited, or self-neglected, or such adult’s authorized guardian or agent, unless such guardian or agent is the abuser or the alleged abuser;
        (4.5) An executor or administrator of the estate of
    
an eligible adult who is deceased;
        (5) A probate court with jurisdiction over the
    
guardianship of an alleged victim for an in camera inspection;
        (5.5) A guardian ad litem, unless such guardian ad
    
litem is the abuser or alleged abuser;
        (6) A grand jury, upon its determination that access
    
to such records is necessary in the conduct of its official business;
        (7) Any person authorized by the Director, in
    
writing, for audit or bona fide research purposes;
        (8) A coroner or medical examiner who has reason to
    
believe that an eligible adult has died as the result of abuse, abandonment, neglect, financial exploitation, or self-neglect. The provider agency shall immediately provide the coroner or medical examiner with all records pertaining to the eligible adult;
        (8.5) A coroner or medical examiner having proper
    
jurisdiction, pursuant to a written agreement between a provider agency and the coroner or medical examiner, under which the provider agency may furnish to the office of the coroner or medical examiner a list of all eligible adults who may be at imminent risk of death as a result of abuse, abandonment, neglect, financial exploitation, or self-neglect;
        (9) Department of Financial and Professional
    
Regulation staff and members of the Illinois Medical Disciplinary Board or the Social Work Examining and Disciplinary Board in the course of investigating alleged violations of the Clinical Social Work and Social Work Practice Act by provider agency staff or other licensing bodies at the discretion of the Director of the Department on Aging;
        (9-a) Department of Healthcare and Family Services
    
staff and provider agency staff when that Department is funding services to the eligible adult, including access to the identity of the eligible adult;
        (9-b) Department of Human Services staff and provider
    
agency staff when that Department is funding services to the eligible adult or is providing reimbursement for services provided by the abuser or alleged abuser, including access to the identity of the eligible adult;
        (10) Hearing officers in the course of conducting an
    
administrative hearing under this Act; parties to such hearing shall be entitled to discovery as established by rule;
        (11) A caregiver who challenges placement on the
    
Registry shall be given the statement of allegations in the abuse report and the substantiation decision in the final investigative report; and
        (12) The Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy
    
Commission and the agency designated by the Governor under § 1 of the Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Developmental Disabilities Act shall have access, through the Department, to records, including the findings, pertaining to a completed or closed investigation of a report of suspected abuse, abandonment, neglect, financial exploitation, or self-neglect of an eligible adult.

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Terms Used In Illinois Compiled Statutes 320 ILCS 20/8

  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
  • Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Probate: Proving a will
  • State: when applied to different parts of the United States, may be construed to include the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" may be construed to include the said district and territories. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 5 ILCS 70/1.14