Iowa Code 235A.18 – Sealing and expungement of founded child abuse information
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1. Report data and disposition data relating to a particular case of alleged abuse which has been determined to be founded child abuse and placed in the central registry in accordance with section 232.71D shall be maintained in the registry as follows:
a. (1) Report and disposition data relating to a particular case of alleged child abuse shall be sealed ten years after the initial placement of the data in the registry unless good cause be shown why the data should remain open to authorized access. If a subsequent report of an alleged case of child abuse involving the child named in the initial data placed in the registry as the victim of abuse or a person named in the data as having abused a child is received by the department within this ten-year period, or within the period in which the person’s name is in the central registry, the data shall be sealed ten years after receipt of the subsequent report unless good cause be shown why the data should remain open to authorized access. Report and disposition data shall be made available to the department of justice if the department requests access to the alleged child abuse records for purposes of review by the prosecutor’s review committee or commitment of sexually violent predators under chapter 229A.
(2) Notwithstanding subparagraph (1), a person named in the initial data placed in the registry as having abused a child shall have the person’s name removed from the registry after ten years, if not previously removed from the registry pursuant to the other provisions of this subsection, if that person has not had a subsequent case of alleged abuse which resulted in the person’s name being placed in the registry as the person responsible for the abuse within the ten-year period.
(3) (a) A person named in the initial data placed in the registry as having abused a child shall have the person’s name removed from the registry after five years if the department determined in the report and disposition data that the person committed child abuse as defined in section 232.68, subsection 2, paragraph “a”, subparagraph (1), (4), or (6).
(b) Subparagraph division (a) shall not apply, and the name of a person named in the initial data as having abused a child shall remain in the registry as described in subparagraph (1), if the department determined in the initial report and disposition data that the person committed child abuse as defined in section 232.68, subsection 2, paragraph “a”, subparagraph (1), (4), or (6), and the child abuse resulted in the child’s death or a serious injury.
b. Data sealed in accordance with this section shall be expunged eight years after the date the data was sealed. However, if the report data and the disposition data involve child abuse as defined in section 232.68, subsection 2, paragraph “a”, subparagraph (3) or (5), the data shall not be expunged for a period of thirty years. Sealed data shall be made available to the department of justice upon request if the prosecutor’s review committee is reviewing records or if a prosecuting attorney has filed a petition to commit a sexually violent predator under chapter 229A.
Terms Used In Iowa Code 235A.18
- Child: includes but shall not be limited to a stepchild, foster child, or legally adopted child and means a child actually or apparently under eighteen years of age, and a dependent person eighteen years of age or over who is unable to maintain the person's self and is likely to become a public charge. See Iowa Code 252A.2
- Child abuse information: means any or all of the following data maintained by the department in a manual or automated data storage system and individually identified:a. See Iowa Code 235A.13
- Court: shall mean and include any court upon which jurisdiction has been conferred to determine the liability of persons for the support of dependents. See Iowa Code 252A.2
- Department: means the department of health and human services. See Iowa Code 249L.2
- Department: means the department of health and human services. See Iowa Code 235A.13
- Disposition data: means information pertaining to an opinion or decision as to the occurrence of child abuse, including:
a. See Iowa Code 235A.13- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- person: means individual, corporation, limited liability company, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, or any other legal entity. See Iowa Code 4.1
- Report data: means any of the following information pertaining to an assessment of an allegation of child abuse in which the department has determined the alleged child abuse meets the definition of child abuse:
a. See Iowa Code 235A.132. The juvenile or district court and county attorney shall expunge child abuse information upon notice from the registry. The supreme court shall prescribe rules establishing the period of time child abuse information is retained by the juvenile and district courts. A county attorney shall not retain child abuse information in excess of the time period the information would be retained under the rules prescribed by the supreme court. Child abuse information relating to a particular case of child abuse placed in the central registry that a juvenile or district court determines is unfounded in a written finding based upon a preponderance of evidence shall be expunged from the central registry.3. The department shall adopt rules establishing the period of time child abuse information which is not maintained in the central registry is retained by the department.