§350-1.1  Reports.  (a)  Notwithstandingany other state law concerning confidentiality to the contrary, the followingpersons who, in their professional or official capacity, have reason to believethat child abuse or neglect has occurred or that there exists a substantialrisk that child abuse or neglect may occur in the reasonably foreseeablefuture, shall immediately report the matter orally to the department or to thepolice department:

(1)  Any licensed or registered professional of thehealing arts or any health-related occupation who examines, attends, treats, orprovides other professional or specialized services, including but not limitedto physicians, including physicians in training, psychologists, dentists,nurses, osteopathic physicians and surgeons, optometrists, chiropractors,podiatrists, pharmacists, and other health-related professionals;

(2)  Employees or officers of any public or privateschool;

(3)  Employees or officers of any public or privateagency or institution, or other individuals, providing social, medical,hospital, or mental health services, including financial assistance;

(4)  Employees or officers of any law enforcementagency, including but not limited to the courts, police departments, departmentof public safety, correctional institutions, and parole or probation offices;

(5)  Individual providers of child care, or employeesor officers of any licensed or registered child care facility, foster home, orsimilar institution;

(6)  Medical examiners or coroners; and

(7)  Employees of any public or private agencyproviding recreational or sports activities.

(b)  Whenever a person designated in subsection(a) is a member of the staff of any public or private school, agency, orinstitution, that staff member shall immediately report the known or suspectedchild abuse or neglect directly to the department or to the police departmentand also shall immediately notify the person in charge or a designated delegateof the report made in accordance with this chapter.

(c)  The initial oral report shall be followedas soon as possible by a report in writing to the department.  If a policedepartment or the department of public safety is the initiating agency, awritten report shall be filed with the department for cases that the police orthe department of public safety takes further action on or for active cases inthe department under this chapter.  All written reports shall contain the nameand address of the child and the child's parents or other persons responsiblefor the child's care, if known, the child's age, the nature and extent of thechild's injuries, and any other information that the reporter believes might behelpful or relevant to the investigation of the child abuse or neglect.  Thissubsection shall not be construed to serve as a cause of action against thedepartment, the police, or the department of public safety.

(d)  Any person subject to subsection (a)shall, upon demand of the department or any police department, provide allinformation related to the alleged incident of child abuse or neglect,including, but not limited to, medical records and medical reports, which wasnot included in the written report submitted pursuant to subsection (c).

(e)  The director may adopt, amend, or repealrules, subject to chapter 91, to further define or clarify the specific formsof child abuse or neglect enumerated in section 350-1 for use in implementingthis chapter; provided that rules adopted under this subsection shall belimited to such further or clarifying definitions. [L 1967, c 261, §2; HRS§350-1; am L 1970, c 21, §1 and c 105, §5; am L 1975, c 147, §1; am L 1977, c81, §2; am L 1979, c 171, §1; am L 1981, c 59, §1; ren and am L 1982, c 77, §2;am L 1985, c 17, §1 and c 208, §3; am L 1987, c 204, §4 and c 339, §4; am L 1988,c 323, §2; am L 1998, c 134, §4; am L 1999, c 271, §4; am L 2000, c 248, §1; amL 2006, c 159, §1 and c 193, §2]

 

Cross References

 

  Criminal offense of promoting child abuse, see §§707-750,751.