Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to present law.
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State of Arkansas 1
94th General Assembly A Bill 2
Regular Session, 2023 SENATE BILL 347 3
4
By: Senator Hester 5
By: Representative C. Fite 6
7
For An Act To Be Entitled 8
AN ACT TO PROMOTE CH ILD SAFETY WHILE RED UCING CHILD 9
WELFARE AGENCY INVOL VEMENT IN THE LIVES OF ARKANSAS 10
RESIDENTS; TO AMEND AND UPDATE THE LAW R EGARDING 11
DEPENDENCY-NEGLECT AND CHILD MA LTREATMENT; TO AMEND 12
AND UPDATE DEFINITIO NS UNDER THE ARKANSA S JUVENILE 13
CODE OF 1989 AND THE CHILD MALTREATMENT A CT; TO AMEND 14
INVESTIGATION ACCEPT ANCE, ASSIGNMENT, AN D NOTICE 15
PROVISIONS UNDER THE CHILD MALTREATMENT A CT; TO AMEND 16
LANGUAGE REGARDING P ROTECTION PLANS IN T HE CHILD 17
MALTREATMENT ACT; AN D FOR OTHER PURPOSES . 18
19
20
Subtitle 21
TO PROMOTE CHILD SAFETY WHILE REDUCING 22
CHILD WELFARE AGENCY INVOLVEMENT IN THE 23
LIVES OF ARKANSAS RESIDENTS. 24
25
26
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 27
28
SECTION 1. Arkansas Code § 9 -27-303(37)(A)(iii)-(viii), concerning the 29
definition of "neglect" under the Arkansas Juvenile Code of 1989, are amended 30
to read as follows: 31
(iii) Failure to take reasonable action to protect 32
the juvenile from abandonment, abuse, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, or 33
neglect, or parental unfitness when the existence of this condition was known 34
or should have been known, and, if for abuse or neglect, the failure to take 35
reasonable action to protect the juvenile causes the juvenile serious bodily 36 SB347
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injury; 1
(iv) Failure or irremediable inability to provide 2
for the essential and necessary physical, mental, or emotional needs of the 3
juvenile, including failure to provide a shelter that does not pose a risk to 4
the health or safety of the juvenile; 5
(v) Failure to provide for the juvenile's care and 6
maintenance, proper or necessary support, or medical, surgical, or other 7
necessary care; 8
(vi) Failure, although able, to assume 9
responsibility for the care and custody of the juvenile or to participate in 10
a plan to assume the responsibility; 11
(vii) Failure to appropriately supervise the 12
juvenile that results in the juvenile's being left alone: 13
(a) At an inappropriate age, creating a 14
dangerous situation or a situation that puts the juvenile at risk of harm; or 15
(b) In inappropriate circumstances, creating a 16
dangerous situation or a situation that puts the juvenile at risk of harm; 17
(viii) Failure to appropriately supervise the 18
juvenile that results in the juvenile being placed in: 19
(a) Inappropriate inappropriate circumstances, 20
creating a dangerous situation; or 21
(b) A situation that puts the juvenile at risk 22
of harm; or 23
24
SECTION 2. Arkansas Code § 9 -27-303(53)(D), concerning acts that are 25
considered sexual abuse under the Arkansas Juvenile Code of 1989 when the act 26
is performed by a caretaker to a person younger than eighteen (18) years of 27
age, is amended to add an additional subdivision to read as follows: 28
(vii) Solicitation of sexual intercourse, deviant 29
sexual activity, or sexual contact; 30
31
SECTION 3. Arkansas Code § 9 -27-303(53), concerning the definition of 32
"sexual abuse" under the Arkansas Juvenile Code of 1989, is amended to add an 33
additional subdivision to read as follows: 34
(G) Grooming, by a: 35
(i) Person eighteen (18) years o f age or older to a 36 SB347
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person not his or her spouse who is younger than fourteen (14) years of age; 1
or 2
(ii) Caretaker to a person younger than fourteen 3
(14) years of age; 4
5
SECTION 4. Arkansas Code § 9 -27-303, concerning the definitions under 6
the Arkansas Juvenile Code of 1989, is amended to add an additional 7
subdivision to read as follows: 8
(67)(A) "Grooming" means to knowingly disseminate to a child 9
thirteen (13) years of age or younger with or without consideration a visual 10
or print medium depicting sexually explicit content with the purpose to 11
entice, induce, or groom the child to engage in the following with a person: 12
(i) Sexual intercourse; 13
(ii) Sexually explicit conduct; or 14
(iii) Deviant sexual activity. 15
(B) As used in subdivision (67)(A) of this section, 16
"disseminate" means to allow to view, expose, furnish, present, sell, or 17
otherwise distribute, including on an electronic device or virtual platform, 18
and is not limited to an act that takes place in the physical presen ce of a 19
child. 20
(C) It is an affirmative defense to an allegation of 21
grooming that the actor is not more than three (3) years older than the 22
victim. 23
24
SECTION 5. Arkansas Code § 12 -18-103(14)(A)(iii)-(viii), concerning 25
the definition of "neglect" under the Child Maltreatment Act, are amended to 26
read as follows: 27
(iii) Failure to take reasonable action to protect 28
the child from abandonment, abuse, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, or 29
neglect, or parental unfitness when the existence of the condition was known 30
or should have been known , and, if for abuse or neglect , the failure to take 31
reasonable action to protect the juvenile causes the juvenile serious bodily 32
injury; 33
(iv) Failure or irremediable inability to provide 34
for the essential and necessary physical, mental, or emotional needs of the 35
child, including the failure to provide a shelter that does not pose a risk 36 SB347
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to the health or safety of the child; 1
(v) Failure to provide for the child's care and 2
maintenance, proper or necessary support, or medical, surgical, or other 3
necessary care; 4
(vi) Failure, although able, to assume 5
responsibility for the care and custody of the child or to participate in a 6
plan to assume such responsibility; 7
(vii) Failure to appropriately supervise the child 8
that results in the child's being left alone: 9
(a) At an inappropriate age creating a 10
dangerous situation or a situation that puts the child at risk of harm; or 11
(b) In inappropriate circumstances creating a 12
dangerous situation or a situation that puts the child at risk of harm; 13
(viii) Failure to appropriately supervise the child 14
that results in the child's being placed in: 15
(a) Inappropriate inappropriate circumstances 16
creating a dangerous situation; or 17
(b) A situation that puts the child at risk of 18
harm; 19
20
SECTION 6. Arkansas Code § 12 -18-103(20), concerning the definition of 21
"sexual abuse" under the Child Maltreatment Act, is amended to add an 22
additional subdivision to read as follows: 23
(G) Grooming, by a: 24
(i) Person eighteen (18) years of age or older to a 25
person not his or her spouse who is younger than fourteen (14) years of age; 26
or 27
(ii) Caretaker to a person younger than fourteen 28
(14) years of age; 29
30
SECTION 7. Arkansas Code § 12 -18-103, concerning the definitions under 31
the Child Maltreatment Act, is amended to add an additional subdivision to 32
read as follows: 33
(32)(A) "Grooming" means to knowingly disseminate to a child 34
thirteen (13) years of age or younger with or without consideration a visual 35
or print medium depicting sexually explicit content with the purpose to 36 SB347
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entice, induce, or groom the child to engage in the following with a person: 1
(i) Sexual intercourse; 2
(ii) Sexually explicit conduct; or 3
(iii) Deviate sexual activity. 4
(B) As used in subdivision (32)(A) of this section, 5
"disseminate" means to allow to view, expose, furnish, present, sell, or 6
otherwise distribute, including on an electronic device or virtual platform, 7
and is not limited to an act that takes place in the physical presence of a 8
child. 9
(C) It is an affirmative defense to an allegation of 10
grooming that the actor is not more than three (3) years older than the 11
victim. 12
13
SECTION 8. Arkansas Code § 12-18-304(d), concerning acceptance of a 14
report of child maltreatment under the Child Maltreatment Act involving a 15
bruise to a child even if at the time of the report the bruise is not 16
visible, is repealed. 17
(d)(1) The Child Abuse Hotline shall accept a report of child 18
maltreatment involving a bruise to a child even if at the time of the report 19
the bruise is not visible if the bruising occurred: 20
(A) Within the past fourteen (14) days; and 21
(B) As a result of child maltreatment as des cribed under 22
subsections (a)-(c) of this section. 23
(2) However, the report under this subsection shall not be 24
determined to be true unless the existence of the bruise is corroborated. 25
26
SECTION 9. Arkansas Code § 12 -18-304, concerning what reports quali fy 27
for acceptance by the Child Abuse Hotline, is amended to add an additional 28
subsection to read as follows: 29
(h) The Child Abuse Hotline shall accept a report from a medical 30
provider concerning a child eleven (11) years of age or younger if there is 31
documented evidence of the child being pregnant or having a sexually 32
transmitted disease, despite insufficient evidence of child maltreatment. 33
34
SECTION 10. Arkansas Code § 12 -18-506(a), concerning notice of a 35
report made to the Child Abuse Hotline when the a lleged offender is engaged 36 SB347
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in certain activities or employment, is amended to add an additional 1
subdivision to read as follows: 2
(5) The school the alleged offender is enrolled in, if the 3
alleged offender is eighteen (18) years of age or older. 4
5
SECTION 11. Arkansas Code § 12 -18-601(a)(1), concerning procedures 6
followed after the Child Abuse Hotline's acceptance of a report of child 7
maltreatment under the Child Maltreatment Act, is amended to read as follows: 8
(a)(1) If a report of child maltreatment is accepted by the Child 9
Abuse Hotline, an investigation shall be conducted under procedures 10
established by the Department of Human Services unless the report is accepted 11
for triage under subdivision (a)(2)(C) of this section. 12
13
SECTION 12. Arkansas Code § 12-18-601(a)(2)(B)(ii), concerning the 14
circumstances in which a report of child maltreatment is assigned to the 15
Division of Arkansas State Police under the Child Maltreatment Act, is 16
amended to read as follows: 17
(ii) A person, An agency, corporation, or 18
partnership that provides substitute care for a child who is in the custody 19
of the Department of Human Services; or 20
21
SECTION 13. Arkansas Code § 12 -18-601(b)(1)(A), concerning the 22
initiation of an investigation under the Child Ma ltreatment Act after the 23
assignment of a report of child maltreatment, is amended to read as follows: 24
(b)(1)(A) After the assignment of a report of child maltreatment, the 25
investigating agency shall initiate an investigation as provided under this 26
subchapter or follow triage procedures under subdivision (a)(2)(C) of this 27
section. 28
29
SECTION 14. Arkansas Code § 12 -18-601(c)(1), concerning the 30
development and implementation of triage procedures for accepting and 31
documenting reports of child maltreatment of a child not at risk of immediate 32
harm under the Child Maltreatment Act, is amended to read as follows: 33
(c)(1) The Department of Human Services and the Division of Arkansas 34
State Police may develop and implement triage procedures for accepting and, 35
documenting, and assigning reports of child maltreatment of a child not at 36 SB347
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risk of imminent harm . 1
2
SECTION 15. Arkansas Code § 12 -18-710(e)(1), concerning the release of 3
information on a true investigative determination pending due process to the 4
alleged offender under the Child Maltreatment Act, is amended to read as 5
follows: 6
(1) The alleged offender and any person, agency, or potential employer 7
with the written consent of the alleged offender ; 8
9
SECTION 16. Arkansas Code § 12 -18-807(a), concerning the filing of a 10
certified copy of a judicial determination with the Office of Appeals and 11
Hearings, is amended to read as follows: 12
(a) If a court of competent jurisdiction adjudicates a question that 13
is an issue to be determined by the Office of Appeals and Hearings of the 14
Department of Human Services , the prevailing party to the judicial 15
adjudication who is also a party to the administrative adjudication shall 16
file a certified copy of the judicial adjudication with the office. 17
18
SECTION 17. Arkansas Code § 12-18-1001(d)(1) and (2), concerning the 19
implementation of a protection plan under the Child Maltreatment Act, are 20
amended to read as follows: 21
(d)(1) If the department assesses the health and safety of a child and 22
determines that the child cannot safely remain in the care, custody, or 23
control of the legal parent, guardian, or custodian without the 24
implementation of a protection plan an immediate safety plan , the department 25
may implement a protection plan an immediate safety plan that allows the 26
child to remain in his or her place of residence and includes services to 27
address the safety of the child. 28
(2)(A) If a protection plan an immediate safety plan is 29
implemented under subdivision (d)(1) of this section, then the department 30
shall reassess the health and safety of the child within thirty (30) days of 31
the date on which the protection plan immediate safety plan was implemented. 32
(B) If the department determines that a substantial risk 33
of serious harm to the health and safety of the child remains after a 34
reassessment under subdivision (d)(2)(A) of this section is performed, then 35
the department shall file a petition for dependency -neglect. 36