Bill > S4093

Introduced Session

This bill requires a regional diagnostic and treatment center for child abuse and neglect to establish a mobile team to respond to certain hospital requests to perform forensic child abuse examinations on pediatric patients. The bill also appropriates State funds to support the establishment of the mobile teams. Currently, pursuant to State law, there are four such State-designated multidisciplinary centers designed to support the evaluation and treatment of abused and neglected children within a specific county-based region of the State. Services provided by these centers are largely center-based. Under the bill, each center is required to establish a mobile team of multidisciplinary professionals. The team is to be available 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year, to respond to a hospital's request, made in accordance with the provisions of the bill, to perform a forensic child abuse examination on a pediatric patient at the requesting hospital. Each center is also to develop a method by which a hospital may contact the center's mobile team to make a request for services. The bill provides that the Commissioner of Children and Families, in consultation with the New Jersey Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect, is to determine the number and types of staff required to compose a center's mobile team. The bill mandates that a hospital licensed in the State is to contact the center associated with the county in which the hospital is located and request a forensic child abuse evaluation of a pediatric patient, to be performed at the hospital by the center's mobile team, if: 1) the patient is under the age of 13; the patient has been referred to the hospital by a school nurse, pediatrician, health care provider, parent, or relative for an investigation of suspected child abuse or neglect; and the patient's alleged perpetrator of abuse or neglect is a caregiver; or 2) the patient is under the age of 13; the patient presents with any injury that is inconsistent with any account provided describing the circumstances that led to that injury or with the activity typical for the developmental level of that child; and the patient's alleged perpetrator of abuse or neglect is a caregiver. The bill also requires hospitals to ensure that all emergency department staff participate in an annual training program, selected by Department of Children and Families in consultation with the Attorney General, regarding the identification and reporting of diagnosed or suspected cases of child abuse or neglect. This provision codifies an existing requirement at N.J.A.C.8:43G-2.13, which directs hospitals to provide identical training to appropriate persons.

AI Summary

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Carmen Amato (R)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee (on 02/03/2025)

Official Document