HARRISBURG – On Friday, Senator Bob Mensch (R-24) circulated a co-sponsorship memo on a piece of legislation that he is sponsoring to improve multidisciplinary investigative teams (MDIT) investigations by enhancing the information sharing processes in the Child Protective Services Law (CPSL) and the Criminal History Record Information Act (CHRIA).
In March of this year, the Children’s Advocacy Center and Advisory Committee (CACAC) issued a memorandum with a list of items which they feel can be done legislatively to improve the detection, reporting, investigation, prosecution, and treatment of child abuse in all forms. This legislation is modeled after their chief recommendation.
According to the memorandum, “There are numerous sections in the CPSL that refer to information sharing between county children and youth services (CYS), law enforcement, the medical community, and victim advocates. However, the law has been interpreted differently across the Commonwealth, leading to confusion and disparate services and investigations. Since child abuse investigations are intended to be performed in a joint fashion, and access to children’s advocacy centers is continually expanding, open communication between all the relevant stakeholders is crucial to each case.”
“While we continue to focus on eliminating abuse of all forms in Pennsylvania, we would be remiss if we didn’t begin by looking into this information sharing recommendation which can be a simple step towards this goal,” Mensch said. “April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and there is no better time than right now to get this legislation introduced.”
For more information on Senator Mensch’s legislation, visit www.senatormensch.com. State updates can also be found on Senator Mensch’s Facebook at facebook.com/PASenatorBobMensch/ or Twitter @SenatorMensch.
CONTACT: Madison Scarfaro mscarfaro@pasen.gov (215) 541-2388