1. a. If any child enrolled in a school district has an unexcused absence from school for five consecutive school days, the attendance officer of the district shall investigate the absence and notify the district superintendent of the absence. In the event the investigation leads the district superintendent to have reasonable cause to believe the child has been abused or neglected as defined in section 1 of P.L.1974, c.119 (C. 9:6-8.21), the district superintendent shall then notify the Division of Child Protection and Permanency in the Department of Children and Families for its determination of whether the division is or has been involved with the child and whether action, as appropriate, is warranted.

b. When a child’s parent, guardian, or other person having charge and control of the child notifies a school district that the child will be withdrawing from the district and transferring to another school district, the principal of the school from which the child is withdrawing shall request that the parent, guardian, or other person having charge and control of the child provide the principal with the name and location of the school district in which the child will subsequently be enrolled and the expected date of enrollment. The principal shall provide the information supplied by the parent, guardian, or other person having charge and control of the child to the district superintendent. Five school days following the expected date of enrollment, the superintendent of the district of last attendance shall contact the school district in which the child is to be subsequently enrolled to determine if the child has enrolled in the district. If the child has not been so enrolled, the attendance officer of the transfer district shall investigate the failure to enroll and notify the superintendent of the transfer district of the failure to enroll. In the event the investigation leads the superintendent of the transfer district to have reasonable cause to believe the child has been abused or neglected as defined in section 1 of P.L.1974, c.119 (C. 9:6-8.21), the superintendent of the transfer district shall then notify the Division of Child Protection and Permanency in the Department of Children and Families for its determination of whether the division is or has been involved with the child and whether action, as appropriate, is warranted. If the child has been so enrolled, the district of last attendance and the transfer district shall arrange for the transfer of the child’s records in accordance with the provisions of section 1 of P.L.1986, c.160 (C. 18A:36-19a) and subsection b. of section 4 of P.L.1995, c.395 (C. 18A:36-25.1).

c. School district policies for the early detection of missing and abused children required pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1984, c.228 (C. 18A:36-25) shall include provisions to implement the requirements of this section.

L.2007, c.248, s.1; amended 2012, c.16, s.42.