Section 441.175.36. Multidisciplinary teams.

Multidisciplinary teams shall be developed in county or multicounty areas in which more than 50 child abuse cases are received annually. These teams may be used as an advisory group to assist the department in conducting child abuse assessments. Multidisciplinary teams consist of professionals practicing in the disciplines of medicine, public health, mental health, social work, child development, education, law, juvenile probation, law enforcement, nursing, and substance abuse counseling. Members of multidisciplinary teams shall maintain confidentiality of cases in which they provide consultation. Rejected intakes shall not be shared with multidisciplinary teams since the rejected intakes are not considered to be child abuse information. During the course of a child abuse assessment, information regarding the initial report of child abuse and information related to the child and family functioning may be shared with the multidisciplinary team. After a conclusion is made, only report data and disposition data on confirmed cases of child abuse may be shared with the team members. When the multidisciplinary team is created, all team members shall execute an agreement, filed with the central abuse registry, which specifies:

       175.36(1) Consultation. The team shall be consulted solely for the purpose of assisting the department in the child abuse assessment and diagnosis of child abuse cases.

       175.36(2) Redissemination. No team member shall redisseminate child abuse information obtained through the multidisciplinary team. This shall not preclude redissemination of information as authorized by Iowa Code section 235A.17 when an individual team member has received information as a result of another authorized access provision of the Iowa Code.

       175.36(3) Department not bound. The department shall consider the recommendation of the team in a specific child abuse case but shall not, in any way, be bound by the recommendation.

       175.36(4) Confidentiality provisions. Any written report or document produced by the team pertaining to an assessment case shall be made a part of the file for the case and shall be subject to all confidentiality provisions of 441—Chapter 9, unless the child abuse assessment results in placement on the central abuse registry in which case the written report or document shall be subject to all confidentiality provisions of Iowa Code chapter 235A.

       175.36(5) Written records. Any written records maintained by the team which identify an individual child abuse assessment case shall be destroyed when the agreement lapses.

       175.36(6) Compensation. Consultation team members shall serve without compensation.

       175.36(7) Withdrawal from contract. Any party to the agreement may withdraw with or without cause upon the giving of 30 days’ notice.

       175.36(8) Expiration date. The date on which the agreement will expire shall be included.

[ARC 1156C, IAB 10/30/13, effective 1/1/14]