The House Family, Children & Human Affairs Committee heard HB 1123 on child advocacy centersauthored by Rep. DeVon. The bill provides that DCS may use a child advocacy center to coordinate a multidisciplinary team for responding to reports involving child abuse or neglect. The bill requires the child advocacy center to:
- coordinate a multidisciplinary team that consists of certain professionals;
- ensure that the multidisciplinary team members have certain training;
- provide a dedicated child-focused setting designed to provide a safe, comfortable, and neutral place for a forensic interview and other child advocacy center services;
- use written protocols for case review;
- use a case tracking system to provide information on essential demographic and case information; and
- verify that multidisciplinary team members responsible for providing medical evaluations and mental health services have certain training.
The bill provides the child advocacy center’s agents and employees civil immunity in certain circumstances and allows otherwise confidential information regarding an investigation of child abuse or neglect to be made available to child advocacy centers.
The Southwest Indiana Child Advocacy Center, Susie’s Place, the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council, and the Hendricks County Prosecutor’s Office testified in support of the bill, which passed 10-0.
Read the bill at https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2024/bills/house/1123